Or at least that was the story Ruby had told me then. I had always suspected there was more to it, but what did it matter now?
My mouth is dry, but my glass is empty, so I clear my throat before saying, “Nathan called me this afternoon. He’d gotten a call from someone at First Carolina Bank, saying that a McTavish had been in with the key to a safety-deposit box that Ruby had set up in 2010. You, I’m guessing?”
I nod to Ben, who is now almost purple with rage.
“You knew,” he says again. “You’ve known for the past fourteen fucking years that she had no right to give any of this to anyone. She had no right to it herself.”
“She had every right,” I fire back, my own temper sparking. “Blood doesn’t fucking matter, Benji. Mason left it all to her. Not to the eldest surviving McTavish, not to the ‘heirs of his body’ or whatever bullshit term you want to pull out of your little legal hat. He left it all to Ruby. Who then left it all to me.”
“You grasping little bastard,” Nelle says, rising shakily to her feet, one hand still clutching her chair. “Waltzing around here these last few days like lord of the manor. No wonder she loved you. Like calls to like, and you were both trash.”
“Nana,” Libby says, reaching over, but Nelle shakes her off.
“I won’t have it!” she goes on, her voice breathless and shrill.
“You really thought you’d uncovered something, didn’t you?” I say, almost laughing now. “Let me guess,” I continue, turning to Ben. “When Howell died, you started going through his things. His office, right? Which used to be Ruby’s. You found that key taped to the back of a drawer. Which your dad never did because he wasn’t nearly as diligent as you. Or as desperate.”
I remember Ruby putting it there, tapping the handle once she was done.
First Carolina Bank, Box 1306. I’ll ask you to keep this information between us, but once I’m gone, do with it what you will.
Another burden, another responsibility bequeathed to me that I’d never asked for, never wanted.
And now you know my biggest secret, Ruby had said, her eyes twinkling, and then she’d given a little shrug.
You could destroy me with it if you ever wanted to, I suppose.
I wouldn’t, I’d said, and I’d meant it. Wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t want to.
She’d smiled at that, and reached over, squeezed my hand, her fingers cold, the skin papery thin. You and me …
Against the world, I’d finished.
Because it really had been the two of us against everyone, against it all. And even after everything that had happened, there was still a part of me that was instinctually loyal to Ruby, that had sworn to keep her secrets and had chosen to do so, over and over again.
Even from my own wife.
* * *
THE LAUGH DIES a bitter death in my throat, and I swallow hard. “And then what? You go to the bank, you find the safety-deposit box. You read the DNA report. You learn the truth about Ruby. You must think you’ve really blown the case wide open, don’t you? You’re certain you’re going to find some kind of loophole in the will now. Something that yanks all this shit away from me and hands it back to you, right?” I pause, staring intently at Ben. “I mean, I assume that was your big reason for becoming a lawyer. And not just any lawyer, but one who specializes in estates. You’ve spent the past decade trying to figure out a way to screw me out of my inheritance, but there isn’t one, is there?”
When he doesn’t answer, I shake my head. “No. I know there isn’t, because I had Nathan Collins go over every bit of that damn will with a fine-tooth fucking comb a decade ago. Ruby was too smart for you.”
I look around the table, at everyone but Jules, who I can feel staring at the side of my face.
Later. I’ll apologize. I’ll make her understand.
“She was too smart for all of you. Still, you wanted to play out this little scene. You figured I’d be shocked, figured I hadn’t done my own homework because––what is it I am again?”
I swing my gaze to Ben. “‘Hillbilly trash’？”
Back at Nelle. “A ‘grasping little bastard’？”
“Okay, can we all just stop talking about this now?” Libby says, dropping her forehead into her hand, and I pluck my napkin off my lap, throwing it onto the table.
“I have nothing left to say.” I shrug. “Except, go ahead. Tell the world Ruby wasn’t a McTavish. Make a big thing about it, if you want. Tangle us all up in court for a million years until every dime of your precious fucking money is in lawyers’ pockets.”