“Rayanne?”

“Grammy?”

“Ray, sweetie, there’s been an accident.”

“What? Accident?”

“Your mother and Tyler...”

“Mom’s on her way here right now, nothing’s wrong with her.”

“Ray, she didn’t make it.”

“That’s not true.”

“Rayanne, listen to me.”

“No! Why are you doing this?!” she said, starting to cry.

“Ray?” Nick walked over to her, lifting her head to look her in the eye.

“Honey, I’m going to come get you and-”

“No! God, they’re fine. I have to go, she’ll be here for lunch any minute.”

“Rayanne, listen to me. You’re mother and Tyler were in an accident, they didn’t make it.”

Rayanne let what her grandmother was saying sink in. Her body went numb and the phone slipped out of her hand and hit the ground, the battery pack falling out as it did. She fell to the ground, holding her head between her knees and began crying, softly at first, still in shock.

“Ray?!” he knelt down beside her and picked her head up. “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer and her crying grew louder until it bordered on hysterical.

“Ray?! Is your mother OK?! What happened?” he said reaching down the pick up the phone.

He replaced the battery pack and checked to see if anyone was on the phone. Nothing.

“Ray, talk to me, tell me what’s going on.”

“My mother...Tyler.” she sobbed, her body shaking.

“What happened?”

“They were in an accident. Oh my God Nick, they’re gone.”

“Oh my God Ray...” he trailed off and wrapped his arms around her.

They sat on the floor, him holding her, crying and not speaking.

“Nick?” she finally pulled away.

“Yeah?”

“Am I being punished because I wouldn’t tell her?”

“No, of course not! You were going to tell her.”

“I should have sooner. She’s going to be, was going to be a grandmother and I didn’t tell her.”

“Hun, it was an accident, this did not happen to punish you.”

“She’ll never know.” She leaned her head against his neck and let her tears flow freely.

*3 hours later*
“Rayanne?”

She stood up and walked toward her grandmother and the tall, gentle looking man who owned the funeral parlor.

“Rayanne, my name is Mr. Potter. I’ll be helping you and your grandmother handle the arrangements.”

“Grammy, I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Rayanne, I’m here to do it with you. You were everything to them. They’d like you to do this.”

“We wanted you to be as comfortable as possible, so everyone you’ll need to talk to is here.”

“Who do you mean?”

“You’re mother’s lawyer is here to go over her Will with you.”

“I’ll stay here with you honey when you do that.”

“OK. Thanks. Can Nick come in too?”

“Nick?” Mr. Potter looked at her confused.

“My boyfriend.”

“Yes, if you want him to, he can.”

“I do.”

“We can do that now if you wish.”

“OK, let me get him.”

She walked back to where she had left Nick sitting near a row of large windows.

“We have to go talk to some guy about my moms will.” she said quietly.

He stood up taking her hand in his. “You can do this hun. You’ll be OK.”

“Thanks.”

They walked to where her grandmother and Mr. Potter were waiting for her. Mr. Potter opened the door on his immediate left and ushered them inside. There was a tiny brown meeting table surrounded by six cushioned brown chairs. One was already occupied with a gentleman who appeared fairly young. Too young, Rayanne thought, to be a lawyer. He stood up as her grandmother approached him.

“Mrs. Mason?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Gregory McCall.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. McCall, this is my granddaughter Rayanne, and her fiancée Nick.”

Rayanne’s face involuntarily scrunched up in confusion at the mention of ‘fiancée’. She looked at Nick, who’s eyebrow was raised.

“Rayanne. Nick.” Gregory held his hand out to each of them in turn.

“Nice to meet you.” Rayanne held out her hand.

Mr. McCall held his hand out in a gesture for them to sit. “Make yourselves comfortable.”

Rayanne chose a seat between Nick and her grandmother. Nick pulled her hand to his and held it tightly.

“Miss Winters, I understand this just happened. Are you sure you can do this now?”

Rayanne thought for a minute before answering. “Yes, I have to do it now.”

She listened to legal jargon she didn’t understand and let her thoughts float away from where she was. She paid attention when she could actually understand what Mr. McCall was saying, which wasn’t often.

“The house is paid for Miss Winters. That has been left to you.”

“The house?”

“Yes. You can do what you wish with it, it belongs to you now.”

Rayanne’s state of mind didn’t allow her to be anything but devastated.

“I can’t be in that house. Why would she think I could? My God, that’s where we were together...” she trailed off.

“You can make decisions about the property later. I understand this is hard on you now, I’m just here to inform you of what is happening to your mothers belongings.”

“I know.”

“That only leaves on matter of your mother’s to discuss.”

“What else is there?” she asked quietly, running through the things in her mind. They had already gone over what would happen to everything her mother had owned, down to her toothbrush it seemed.

“Your mother has a large sum of money in an account that no one else had access to. Her Will states that in the event of her death, fifty percent would go to Tyler and fifty percent would go to you.”

“So much for that working.” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

“In the event only one child remains her, the money goes in full to that child.”

“So I get money?”

“All that she had.”

“I don’t want the stupid money.”

“Rayanne...” Nick started, squeezing her hand.

“What? I don’t care about the money, it won’t bring her back; or Tyler.”

“I know that sweetie.”

She pulled her hand away from him and rested her head in it, along with her other one.

“Rayanne?” her grandmother said from beside her, putting her hand on her granddaughter’s back.

“My head.” she said, crying.

“I’m going to take her outside for a few minutes. Fresh air might help, she’s got to get up and walk around.”

Everyone agreed to let Nick take Rayanne outside as they went over some more ‘legal matters’.

“God Nick, why is this happening?” she asked, leaning against the cold brick wall of the building.

“I can’t answer that hun, but I know you’ll get through this. We’ll get through this, I’m not letting you do this alone.”

“I really don’t care about the money.”

“I know you don’t.”

“I could use it for the baby though, keep it, untouched.”

“I want you to do what you want to do. You don’t need to worry about money for our baby.”

“Thank you.” she said looking up to give him a soft kiss on the lips.

He pulled her into a tight hug and rubbed the back of her head gently with his fingertips.

“How bad does it hurt?”

“Pretty bad. I thought it was gone, but I guess I thought wrong.”

“The Doctor said it would come and go.”

“I know. It’s just, on top of all this, it makes it feel so much worse.”

“You have had such a rough week.” he said, with a hint of a grin.

“I know, and it’s not funny. But I guess to think about everything that has happened, I have to smile, cause what else can I do?”

“There’s the Rayanne I know can get through this.” he said kissing her forehead. “Ready to go back in?”

“Yes. I’m going to go finish this up, I want to get home.”

They walked back inside and to the room they had left no more than five minutes ago. They found her grandmother talking to Mr. McCall quietly.

“Welcome back. Your grandmother and I were just discussing you.” he said with a smile.

“Me?”

“Yes, I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t. Anyway, can we finish this up? Are there any more surprises for me?”

“The house and the money, as we discussed are yours, along with the various pieces of jewelry and the paintings. The...” he kept talking but Rayanne’s attention drifted away from him.

”I want to live here forever, ya know that?”
“You do, huh? You’re just going to get married and have kids and live with me the whole time?”
“Yup! And when you’re gone...I want to be here still. When I’m old and have grandchildren, I want to be here still.”
“Why is that?”
“I grew up here. You’re everything and this house reminds me of you. I want it to be a part of me forever.
“Then will your daughter live here?”
“She sure will. I’m even going to keep it the same, so I can always think of you. Everytime I cook on the same oven you did. Everytime I fall asleep in the same bed you did. Everytime I look at these beautiful paintings that I have seen everyday since I was born. They’re all you. And you’re everything.

“Rayanne?”

“Oh. Sorry.” she focused her eyes on her grandmother.

“Is your head OK?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“Did you hear what Mr. McCall told you?”

“No. I’m sorry Mr. McCall.”

“I was telling the three of you that the amount left to you is written here as four and a half million dollars.”