Grace rubbed her temples as she sat at the conference table Gramps' lawyer had procured for the reading of his will. The reading was supposed to have started five minutes ago and she was still the only person there.
"I apologize in advance about my family, Mr. White" she sighed. The man had to have better things to do than wait around for this shit show to get on the road.
"I assure you, Miss Price, I've seen just about everything in my years as an estate lawyer, I doubt your family will surprise me too greatly." His words were kind enough, but his steepled fingers and the glint in his eyes told her he was already unimpressed. She had been here thirty minutes early to go over everything one more time before the family arrived, so she knew it wasn't directed toward her at least.
She'd been more than a little shocked when Gramps had told her, about a year ago, that he was changing his will around a bit and naming her executor of it, but she was the only family member who kept in touch with him and who he trusted to carry out his wishes. When she got the call about his sudden heart attack, which had sadly resulted in his death, she was barely off the phone with her dad when Mr. White rang asking if she could meet with him to go over everything. He had a job to do, she kept reminding herself, and strove to not take his lack of emotion surrounding Gramps' death personally, but it was hard.
Suddenly the door burst open, two of her cousins stumbling in reeking of alcohol followed by their parents, who couldn't even be bothered to nod in the direction of either Mr. White or herself. Unsurprising really, for all of them. Her parents were next and were at least apologetic about being late. Gramps and Gram had five kids total, and this was already a better turn out than Grace had anticipated. It took twenty-four minutes and thirty-seven seconds for the whole family to finally make their way in, only one of them in pajama pants miraculously. One of her aunts had a suspicious bulge in her coat and Grace suspected her mangy little chihuahua was stuffed in there. She resisted the urge to slide out of her chair and under the table, though she did silently wish for a portal to another dimension to swallow her whole.
"Welcome to all of you. First, I'd like to offer you my condolences on the loss of your father and grandfather. Are there any questions or concerns before we begin the reading of the late Mr. Price's last will and testament?" Mr. White's voice was cool, barely pausing before he continued. "Excellent, let's proceed then, shall we?"
Grace's stomach was in knots and the throbbing behind her eyes had grown from a dull ache to little spikes of pain. Nobody knew about the changes in the will and she knew there would be an uproar. This is going to be painful to get through. Why me, Gramps? I asked you so many times to change this, I never wanted to be the one to deal with this.
"Mr. Price," the lawyer stated pulling her back to the present, "has named his grand-daughter, Miss Grace Price, as the executor of his will." The ensuing chaos was immediate and deafening and he had no choice but to wait to continue.
Her father was the first to speak up. As the oldest everybody had assumed he would be the executor. "Excuse me? He bypassed his own fucking kids and picked a grandkid?" He had the presence of mind to look at Grace "No offense, Sweetie." She rolled her eyes as he looked back at Mr. White and continued his tirade. "There has to be a mistake. When did that get written into his will? Was he of sound mind when it happened? He couldn't have been, let me see that." His voice had long been overshadowed by the rest of the family, piping up with their opinions about why there was no way Gramps would have picked her over them, coming up with all sorts of bullshit reasons as to why they would have been a better choice.
Mr. White let everybody rage for a few minutes before speaking again with a loud voice. "If you'll kindly allow me to continue now?" He gave a pointed look to everybody in the room, save Grace, and resumed reading. Gramps didn't hold back, spelling it out very clearly that the lack of communication and visits from anybody other than Grace are what influenced his decision. He had wisely gotten a medical exam at the same time he changed his will stating he was in perfect health, shutting up most of the family.
Mr. White went on to read in detail what each member of the family would be receiving; all the grandchildren, save Grace, were receiving a dollar amount, while the children had certain pieces of furniture or memorabilia left to them along side a dollar amount. She was the only one who hadn't been mentioned yet and the knots in her stomach tightened as the lawyer read the final bit of Gramps will.
"Finally, I leave to my grand-daughter, Miss Grace Price, my farm and all the land associated with it. She also is to receive funds appropriate to cover the cost of moving and the first years' living expenses. The rest of my belongings are left to the discretion of the same Miss Price to do with as she deems best. If any items are sold the monies earned are to go to a charity of her choice." It was signed and dated, and when Mr. White had finished reading a tense silence descended over the room.
Some of the family simply got up and left, blessedly the intoxicated cousins among them. Grace's parents, her two uncles and their families remained. Her dad sat staring at her accusitorily, her mom into the distance, and the uncles were discussing things quietly with their wives, glancing her way occasionally. Thankfully the remaining cousins just looked bored; they were some of the youngest ones in the family, ranging in ages from five to nine, and didn't seem to truly understand what had just been gifted to them. She was glad Gramps had the foresight to instruct that the money was to be put in trust funds for anybody under eighteen; her dad's siblings, and even her dad, she had to admit after today, could be very selfish and she wouldn't want her cousins to end up with nothing because their parents had easy access to it.
"What did you have to do for the old man to name you executor?" Her father's accusation cut through the murmurs floating in the room, sharp as a knife to her heart.
Grace couldn't draw in a breath for a moment. How dare he accuse her of manipulating Gramps into doing something? Her own father, who had raised her to work hard for everything she wanted out of life, to treat others the way she would like to be treated, was sitting here before her with accusations of trying to get an easy leg up in life and screwing over her whole family in the process? Today she was seeing a side to him she had never seen; she had always believed he was nothing like the rest of his siblings, but clearly she was wrong. It might have been buried deep inside him, but death has a way of bringing out the worst in people.
Grace had already tidied all her paperwork, so she stood and walked toward the door. Pausing before she exited, she looked her father directly in the eyes and simply said, "All I did was talk to him."
…
City skylines gradually gave way to trees and mountains as the bus ambled along route fifty-nine. Grace hadn't made this trip since Gram had died; she had forgotten how clean the air felt and smelled out here. She closed her eyes and relived for the thousandth time the events of the past weeks leading up to the move.
So many threatening phone calls and emails, demands that she sell the farm and give her family the amount of money they 'truly' deserved, all that among countless accusations of manipulating Gramps for the farm. Her headache hadn't dissipated since the reading of the will. If only they knew how much she wished someone else had the responsibility of dealing with all this.
Years ago she had moved out of her parents house, gotten a studio apartment in Zuzu City, and landed herself a job at the billing center for Joja. They had various businesses around the Republic, and Gramps said they had put in a Joja-Mart in the valley a while ago. He wasn't happy about it, or that she was working for them and told her every time they talked he wanted her to find a different job. She told him just as often that jobs were hard to come by these days and this one paid the bills so she was thankful for it, even if it did suck her soul dry. She often wondered if that was secretly part of why Gramps left her the farm, but she kept that to herself.
The bus' automated speakers dinged, announcing they were approaching the stop for Stardew Valley. Coming out of her reverie Grace opened her eyes to see a bus stop that looked vaguely familiar. It had been twelve years since her last visit, and while it had changed it felt more like home than where she had just left. The vice around her heart loosened and her breathing got easier as she grabbed her suitcase with her essential belongings in it. She had arranged for the rest of her things to be shipped and they should be arriving in the next day or two.
There were two people waiting and chatting as she stepped down from the bus, presumably Robin and Lewis. She had written to 'whom it may concern' about moving into the farm and was responded to by a man, Lewis, who informed her he was the mayor of Stardew Valley and would meet her at the bus stop with Robin, the local carpenter. They would accompany her to the farm and make sure she got settled in for the night where it had sat empty for a bit. She supposed she should be grateful there were people willing to help her out right away, but something about his response had left her uneasy.
"Hi! You must be Grace, I'm Robin" the woman exclaimed with a bright smile. She looped her arm through Grace's and led them away from Lewis at a brisk pace. Whispering, she continued "He'll tell you he invited me along but it was really my idea, I thought you might be more comfortable with a woman around."
The tension in Grace's shoulders eased bit as Robin started chatting about her family; she had two kids that weren't too much younger than her, Sebastian and Maru, and Maru was pretty excited to meet her. Grace caught on to the use of 'they' and 'them' when Robin talked about Maru and made a mental note to be aware of that when she met them. Robin single handedly kept the conversation going for the duration of their walk to the farm, which suited Grace just fine; she was talked out after these past few weeks and was happy to let the older woman carry the conversation.
In the distance Grace saw a rather old looking fence and it's gate swinging open and guessed they were getting close. Tuning Robin's voice out she thought to herself, This is it! This is where my new life starts! I guess Gramps didn't have time to keep up with the landscaping after Gram died, it's pretty rough but should be easy enough to fix up. The fence will need some work too it looks like, though maybe I can just tear it down and use it for firewood. Gramps never mentioned updating the heating from just the fireplace and I doubt there's much wood left considering winter just ended. Really don't want to have to add chopping wood to my list of - Her thoughts halted as they all walked through the gate and collectively stopped in their tracks.
"Oh, Honey" Robin murmured as Grace took in the utter chaos that was the old farm. She slowly pulled away from Robin and walked up the bowing steps to the porch. The door swung open on one hinge, and the front windows were shattered, glass strewn everywhere inside and out. Peering inside the open door showed the open living space and kitchen had been ransacked. Robin came up and pulled Grace into a motherly hug as she let out a strangled sob.