Vivien K. Wilk

Mr. Steel's office was on the second floor of a very narrow house. There was a hair saloon on the first floor, while the other floors were apparently private apartments. Grace wasn't sure, but she thought she saw his name on another doorbell, too. It would definitely be convenient to live in the same house. The office consisted of a small hallway, a large room, a bathroom and a small kitchen. Apparently Mr. Steel had already made coffee because the pot and cups were at his desk. This was the most dominant in the room. There were two visitor chairs, as well as other chairs that were against the wall. One side of the wall was packed with filing cabinets while another wall was stuffed with bookshelves. It contained books on law and folders.

After Grace was seated, Mr. Steel handed her a document.

"The official opening of the will is the day after the funeral. Evellyn had drawn up an order with which you can access her bank account and are authorized to make all important decisions."

Grace looked thoughtfully at the paper in her hand. She didn't really know what to say about it. It was still a surreal situation and this paper didn't make it any better.

"What exactly .... could I do?"

"The first thing I need is a signature to pay my salary. Then you would have to meet with the undertaker to confirm the decisions I made on behalf of your great-aunt. I have a list of Evellyn's requests that you can make be able to orientate yourself. "

"That's good. Otherwise, I would have no idea what she would have wanted."

"It is not expensive. She would like to be buried with her husband. She had already paid for the grave when she burried him. It will only come up to you in the future, to continue to pay for it if it is to last . "

"I see. I suppose I can ask the undertaker how this works?"

"I think so."

Mr. Steel handed her another slip of paper. It was handwritten and from her memories of the letters Evellyn had sent her, she thought she recognized the handwriting. Her eyes blurred for a few seconds while dizziness seized her. Evellyn had apparently thought of everything. Just not about notifying the family.

Or thought of it but didn't do it on purpose.

To her surprise, she felt the bitter feeling of anger well up inside her. Brigitte's words echoed through her head as she continued to stare at the paper.

Why didn't she let us know? I would have gone to her immediately!

Grace paused. Would she had done that? She couldn't really tell if her thought was true. It made her restless. She quickly pushed the sheet under the first and looked up again. She met Mr. Steel's attentive gaze.

"Is everything all right, Grace?"

"Yes."

She was less convincing than she wanted to be. Her voice failed her. She had to clear her throat to continue speaking.

"I was just in thought."

"All right. If it gets too much for you, please let me know."

The lawyer turned back to the file.

"Shall I call the undertaker over to you or do you want to call him?"

"Go ahead and do it. I have nothing else to do," Grace replied a little more composed, "I ... don't want to sound rude. But how is it financially ... I mean ..."

Grace broke off. Now that she broached the subject, she felt kind of bad. Of course, it made sense to know beforehand what one would inherit, but she felt that she was implying that Evellyn had lacked skill in running her business.

"You mean how is the store doing financially?"

Grace was relieved when Mr. Steel finished her sentence. Still, she slumped a little in her chair. Mr. Steel began searching his records before handing her bank statements.

"The shop is in the black. It doesn't need to be renovated either. She did that six years ago. There are no debts on the house and Evellyn has saved a small reserves that you can use to pay the salaries for a while if there are problems or you have to pay taxes. I'll give you Evellyn's tax consultants number in case you have any questions. Evellyn has been very careful about that. So you don't have to worry about falling into a debt trap. "

"I didn't mean to say that .... Thanks. That's good to hear."

"Don't look like that now. I can see why you have to ask that. You have no idea how business was going and you are a young woman with no reserves. That is only sensible."

"It doesn't feel like that," Grace muttered.

"I don't think you have any bad intentions behind your questions, do you? Don't worry."

Grace nodded slowly. At least that stumbling block was out of her way now. But she still didn't feel particularly good. Mr. Steel gathered all the information for her in a folder and handed it to her. Then he picked up the phone and made an appointment with the undertaker for the next day. Grace learned that the funeral was scheduled for the following Monday. A week to organize everything seemed quite possible. Especially since the undertaker assured that this was a perfectly normal period. As soon as that was all done, Mr. Steel drove Grace back to the store. On the way, Grace told about Evellyn's sister-in-law's visit and Mr. Steel asked her to give Brigitte his regards. They didn't have much time to talk, however, as they were already back at the bookstore quickly.

"Maybe we can have coffee together tomorrow after the undertaker is here," suggested Mr. Steel. "You may have other questions."

"That would be nice," Grace replied.

In fact, she was excited about the idea. The longer she talked with Mr. Steel, the more she wanted to know how well he had known her great-aunt. They said goodbye and Grace returned to the store.