"Yes, what?"
"Yes".
She gave him a mysterious look and they headed to the limo.
He didn't want to discuss it in front of her aunts and her father, so he just sat next to her in the limo, and laced his fingers through hers.
They rode to Gretchen and Michael's house for the reception.
Jennifer jumped in and started helping get everything set up. Gretchen had hired a caterer, who had dropped off a lot of food.
"Ok, everyone help yourselves. Drinks are in the sunroom, and desserts are on the buffet. Sit where you are comfortable."
Jennifer and Jonathan sat with her Aunt Emmaline and Uncle Doug, and Aunt Victoria.
A few of her aunt's friends stopped by to pay their condolences, so pretty soon the house was full.
When it was just them, Jennifer looked over at Jennifer.
"Did you figure it out yet?"
"What your yes means? No, I haven't".
"Darling, I'm saying yes to moving to California with you".
His face lit up.
"You are? Oh, I'm so glad".
He leaned over and kissed her just as her aunts came to sit with them.
"Ahem".
"Victoria, leave them alone. She's a grown woman in love, for God's sake, and she found herself a damn good man to boot".
Jennifer and Jonathan finished their plates, and he took them to the trash.
He came back with a water for her and a tea for him.
"Thank you, darling. You read my mind".
Everyone sat around chatting for another hour or so, and several of the aunts' friends had come up to Jonathan and Jennifer and spoke to them about recognizing them from the plane crash coverage, or recognizing Jennifer from the Times.
"Thank you very much".
After it was just family again, the lawyer officially called them together to start the will reading.
"I am required to read you the statement that she left. Please note that these are her words, not mine. I am simply following the instructions as she laid them out".
Everyone agreed.
"I, Jane Suzanne Campbell, being of sound mind and body, do hereby leave the following: To my daughters Victoria, Emmaline, and Gretchen, I leave my home, at 125 S. Maple Street, along with the balance therein of my bank accounts at Bank of America, First Boston Bank, and my life insurance policies. Along with my house comes all of the furnishings in it, save for the ones that I have previously designated.
To my granddaughter Jennifer, I leave the baby grand piano. Your mother learned to play on this piano, sweetheart. I pray you enjoy it and love it as much as she did. I also leave you the contents of the box labeled Jennifer, and the contents of my safe deposit box at First Massachusetts Bank."
He took a deep breath.
"Finally, there is a secret I have never told you girls until now. There is a Bainbridge family trust, and as I was the only daughter of Frank and Jamie Bainbridge, I am the only recipient. I thankfully married your father and he made more money than we ever needed, so I never had to access the Bainbridge family trust. I am passing it on to you girls. Split it 4 ways, and give Suzanne's share to Jennifer. Jennifer, split your share between you and your father if he's still living. Mr. Lawson, the lawyer, has all the forms you will need. I love each of you, and I will see you when you get here. Love-Momma, Grand-mere".
Everyone was stunned. Nobody had heard of the Bainbridge family trust.
"Darling, what was your great-grandfather's name?"
"Alexander Bainbridge".
"Alexander Bainbridge was your great-grandfather? THE Alexander Bainbridge?"
"Do you know him?"
"Know him? Darling, he was a very profitable and successful businessman. He started one of the companies that I purchased after I started Hart Industries. Bainbridge Electronics is what put me and Hart Industries on the map".
Victoria turned to look at Jonathan.
"You purchased Bainbridge Electronics?"
"Yes, I did. About 10 years ago. It was struggling when I bought it, but I brought it back to life and made it profitable again".
"What a small world".
"If I recall correctly, somewhere in the house, Mom should have had some of the stock certificates for Bainbridge Electronics".
"Well, since my company owns them now, whoever has them would own a percentage of Hart Industries".
Mr. Lawson pulled another file out of his briefcase and handed it to Jennifer.
"Read this letter".
She took it and read it.
"My sweet Jennifer, the contents of the file that Mr. Lawson has are yours. I won't go into long, boring details, but years ago, my father was taken advantage of in a huge business deal. It resulted in him being forced out of his own company. To make amends, his business partner's family left us what is in the file. I am leaving it to you, as you are the one with the wandering heart and I know you will enjoy it."
She opened the file and looked it over.
"Darling, it's a deed to a house, in Los Angeles."
"She left you a house?1?"
"That's what this says. Buildings, property, and all furnishings at 3100 Willow Pond Road, Bel Air, California".
He looked over the deed and the accompanying photos and papers.
"Pretty impressive. They bought this house when it was in foreclosure, for about 1/6 of the appraised value. The area of Los Angeles that this is in is pretty exclusive."
"How exclusive?"
"You know how I research companies before I buy them?"
"Yeah".
"The realtors do that to prospective buyers to decide if they are even going to show them a house in this neighborhood. And after that, you have to pass an interview with the HOA. You don't call your realtor and say "I want to buy a house in Canyon Hills in Bel Air. They call you and ask you if you would be willing to relocate to their neighborhood. They've been after me for years to buy a house in this neighborhood".
The lawyer set the safe deposit box on the table.
"Ma'am, I believe this key belongs to you, as she left the contents of this box solely to you".
"Thank you".
Jennifer opened it, and lifted the lid.
Inside were several little velvet pouches, along with 3 stacks of several envelopes rubber-banded together.
She opened one of the pouches and found several flawless, high clarity loose diamonds. She counted 18 diamonds, and then put them back in the pouch. There were 5 pouches in all, 4 diamond ones and 1 sapphire one. There was a letter pinned to the last pouch.
"Uncle Webster inherited these from Aunt Amelia's father".
She opened the envelopes next.
As soon as she opened the first one, she knew what it was.
"Darling?"
She passed him all the envelopes.
He looked at Gretchen.
"By any chance would you have yesterday's paper?"
"Certainly".
She got up and got it for him and brought it back to him.
He quickly did the math.
"Ladies, Stephen, these are the missing stock certificates. If my math is correct, they are all together worth about 8 million dollars".
Jennifer put everything back in the box and locked it.
Mr. Lawson was sorting out the forms for the trust.
"Ok, I have these papers ready. There is one for each of you to sign. Stephen and Jennifer, you will both sign the same one. The total of the trust was $42,864,000. Divided 4 ways, that gives each of you three $10,716,000 each, before taxes. Split two ways, that gives each of you two a little over $5 million dollars before taxes."
Jennifer couldn't remember when she had seen her aunts so happy.
"It all makes sense now, how mom was able to afford to live comfortably in her final years".
Everyone signed the papers and handed them back to Mr. Lawson.
Jennifer and Stephen had decided to just lump their checks together and Stephen was going to put it in the account with the rest of her trust.
They boxed up everything and Mr. Lawson took the actual safe deposit box with him when he left.
"Darling, can you put these pouches in your jacket pocket till we get back to the hotel?"
"Certainly".
Everyone sort of relaxed and just enjoyed each other's company.
Finally, around 7, they all decided to leave.
Jonathan leaned over to Jennifer and kissed her cheek.
"How about we find a good seafood restaurant to go to?"
"Great idea". She looked over at her father.
"Pa, want to join us for dinner?"
"I'm afraid I cannot. My flight back to London leaves in 3 hours. I must be getting to the airport".
"Oh, boo. I hate it when you leave".
"I know. But it has to occur sometime".
"Well, it was wonderful seeing you. I love you, I'm sure we'll see you soon".
She gave him a long hug.
"Jonathan, great to see you. Thank you for looking after my favorite kid here".
"My pleasure, sir. It was great to see you".
They said goodbye to her aunts next.
"Are you two coming to family breakfast in the morning?"
"Yes, we were planning on it. What time were you thinking?"
"Well, what time is your flight?"
"Whenever we want it to be. Jonathan has his own plane".
"Wow! His own plane and he's great in-"
Jennifer stepped forward and covered her aunt's mouth.
Victoria looked at Jennifer.
"8:30 will be fine".
"Thank you, we will see you then".
She let go of Gretchen's mouth and walked with Jonathan to the cab they had called.
After they were settled in the cab and on their way, he turned to Jennifer.
"What exactly was it that you didn't want her to say?"
"Well, while you were in the bathroom before the service, they were asking me if you and I saw wedding bells in our future. I told them not yet. Aunt Gretchen asked me if you were good in bed, and everyone admonished her, including my father".
"What was your answer?"
"Well, before I could say anything, Pa said he would prefer if I didn't answer. So, then Aunt Gretch said that she just knew he had wondered about it, and I was shocked. He insisted that he hadn't. So, she turned to me and said "That good, huh?" and I was shocked again, and then Aunt Vic told her to mind her manners".
"The conversations that you miss when you go to the bathroom".
"I am almost positive that if he could have, my father would have joined you".
They took their things back to the hotel and changed clothes. Just to be safe, Jonathan rented a safe from the hotel.
It was the kind that looked like a briefcase and you set your own combination. He chose Jennifer's birthday and put everything inside it.
After they were both changed, they headed to the front desk.
"Hi, can you recommend a good seafood restaurant?"
"My absolute favorite is Neptune's. The Lobster Claw is good, and so is Rocky and Vito's".
"Thank you".
They headed outside to get a cab and decided on Neptune's.
They managed to get a table fairly quickly.
A bubbly blond waitress came over to their table.
"What can I getcha?"
"Want to split a bottle of wine?"
"I don't think so, darling. I don't really feel like anything other than water".
"Well, then two designer waters it is".
"Jonathan, if you want wine, get it."
"No, that's alright".
They perused the menu. Jennifer finally decided on a salad with blood orange vinaigrette. Jonathan decided on the Captain's plate.
When the waitress came back, they placed their orders and then sat back.
Jennifer was lost in thought. Jonathan leaned over and kissed her temple.
"Penny for your thoughts".
"I was just thinking this morning I didn't really have much of anything, but by this afternoon, I have money from a trust that nobody in my family even knew existed, a house that coincidentally is in the same city I had just hours before agreed to move to, along with lots of loose stones and stock in my very dashing boyfriend's company".
"Darling, if you want me to take those stock certificates off your hands, I will be happy to pay you top dollar for them".
"Not on your life! I'm keeping them".
"May I ask why?"
"Because my grandmother left them to me, darling".
"So, now that we have the funeral behind us, how soon do you want to move to LA?"
"Well, I will need to pack my things at my apartment, and my things at your apartment. So, after that, I suppose".
She looked over at him.
"What about you? How soon are you planning on going to LA?"
"Well, I have a meeting in New York Monday morning, and one in LA Tuesday evening."
"I see".
"So, if you pack up your apartment, you could be out of there in 3 days? 4 days?"
"Yeah, something like that".
"Well, I tell you what. Why don't you stay at the penthouse while you pack up your stuff at your apartment? That way, you can take breaks if you need to, you can pack your entire bedroom at once, if you need to, and I'll feel better knowing you are in a protected building like the penthouse".
"I love that idea".
"Do you own your apartment or rent it?"
"Own it".
"Great, then there's not a lease to break or anything like that".
"Ok, one salad with grilled shrimp with blood orange vinaigrette. And one captain's plate. Let me know if you need anything".
Jennifer looked over at Jonathan's plate. He had shrimp, lobster, fish, scallops, sea urchin, and squid.
"Oh my heavens".
He tried the sea urchin first. Jennifer had to look away when he cut into it.
"Mmm, nice and gooey".
"Jonathan, please".
He gave her a smirk.
She took a bite of her salad and tasted the dressing and absolutely fell in love.
"Darling, you have to taste this".
She gave him a bite and he agreed it was good.
As soon as they finished their meals, live music started.
Jonathan paid the check and then looked at her.
"Care to dance?"
"I would love to, but darling, I'm so tired. Would you mind if we skipped it?"
"Not at all".
"I promise to dance with you extra next time".
She leaned over and kissed him.
They headed back to the hotel and went to their room.
She changed into a nightgown and he changed into his pajamas.
As soon as she settled on to his chest, she fell into a deep sleep.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"Goodnight, I love you".