Page 103 (2/2)

" 'Quinn, you're a battered soul,' he said to me 'And probably the better for it I can't deny how coe that you present to me Yes, I want to be your teacher I'd be honored to be your teacher, and I do think there are things we could achieve together But you don't know e your s become clear to you ¡¯

" 'Nothing will ever change this love, Nash,' I responded 'Any e what I feel for Mona Mayfair ¡¯

"He gavesmile

" 'And now you need to go in and get dressed,' he said 'The reading of your grandfather's will, remember?¡¯

"How could I forget?

"I bolted down a huge breakfast in the kitchen and then went up to shower and change, half afraid of what I ht find in the bathroo was done to perfection

"Feeling lightheaded and like a conquistador of grand emotions, I piled into the limousine with Aunt Queen and Patsy, who looked like deliberate and absolute trash in her red leather clothes, and Jaseous black suit and stiletto heels, and off ent to the lawyer's office in Ruby River City Big Ramona and Felix were supposed to have come too, but there was no way the house could spare the the liot there And Lolly, as up front with Clem, was also included

"In short order, we settled down in one of those generic legal places of which I've seen several in lass-covered any desk for the man who reads the document that is bound to make somebody feel rotten

"Our pleasant-voiced lawyer, Grady Breen (Gravier's old and dear friend, and a relic of soe), made all the appropriate offers of coffee or soft drinks, which we all in our anxiety declined, and then ere off and running

"Last time it had been Patsy as so brutally hurt with a trust-fund inheritance that didn't amount in herit was Patsy again ould get scalded and leave the office yowling

"But what unfolded surprised everyone The smaller bequests -- one hundred thousand dollars each to Clereat shock And that Pops had left them handsome annuities for retirement as wellthe case This part of the will made Clem and Jasmine and Lolly jubilant Jas up as well, and Clem just shook his head at the marvel of it

"But then there came the real meat of the feast and no one could have been randfather Gravier had left a trust fund to Pops which was bound by its original tero in its entirety to Pops' only child, Patsy The principal of the trust was in the high double-digit millions, and the income so handsohter

"As to Pops' re trust funds, also enormous, one went to Aunt Queen until her death and then toamount of income

"In summary, Pops had disinherited Patsy, but it made no difference because he couldn't stop Grandpa Gravier's trust fro hi trust its earnings, had even increased Patsy's fortune Of course Patsy couldn't touch the principal of the big trust, and when she died I would inherit it

"Patsy was so delirious that she threw her ar the floor with her red leather boots