Slow Burn

Chapter Five

Kiera drove Kate home from the hospital the next afternoon. They pulled into the driveway just as a messenger from a CPA firm was about to knock on their front door. While Kiera signed for the delivery, the messenger dropped a fat package into Kate's arms.

"Guess what we're going to be doing tonight," Kate said as she opened the door and headed to the kitchen. She took a knife to the envelope and emptied the contents on the table.

Isabel followed her sisters into the kitchen. "What's all that?" she asked. She disappeared behind the refrigerator door as she searched for something to munch on.

Kiera answered her. "Bills. I had Tucker Simmons, the CPA, send over all of the accounts Mom handled."

Isabel shut the refrigerator and walked over to the table with a celery stick in her hand. "So why are they giving us the bills now?"

"When Mom became so gravely ill, she set it up that Mr. Simmons would take over the bills for one year after she was gone. I told her I could handle it, but she insisted it would be too difficult for me to manage from Boston. And you know how persuasive Mom could be."

"Is there enough money left to pay all of these bills?" Isabel asked, waving her celery stick at the pile of envelopes.

"I guess we're about to find out," Kiera said. "Mom was so secretive about her budget. Whenever I asked her how the money situation was, she always said the same thing, 'We're doing just fine.' "

"That's what she always said to me, too," Kate added. "It was so aggravating."

Isabel took exception to her sisters daring to criticize their mother. "She was being thoughtful. She didn't want any of us to worry. Kiera, she wanted you to focus on medicine, and Kate, she wanted you to finish your master's. Neither one of you needed any money because you both had scholarships and grants. Nora and I were dependent on Mom though, and she wanted to make it easy for us. That's why she did what she did. I'm sure of it."

"I wonder how much is left in the trust," Kiera said, ignoring Isabel's impassioned defense of their mother's financial decisions. "And do we know how much is still to come from Mom's pension?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't even know how much her monthly checks were. She refused to discuss it. Somewhere in these statements we'll get the answers."

"I'm not worried," Isabel said. "Even if we had to use up the money, Kate will figure out something."

"Why me?"

"Because Kiera has to do her last year of medical school, and she'll never get to come home then, and I'm going off to college in a week, so that leaves you. Besides, you and Kiera got all the brains in the family. You know what? I used to think I was stupid because I wasn't in advanced classes or got perfect scores on tests, but Mom told me that I was normal. Yes, normal," she insisted, pointing the celery at Kate. "You two are the weird ones. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you're both kind of… nerds."

Kate laughed. "Mom never called us weird or nerds."

Isabel frowned. "She didn't call you normal, either. Kate, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm opening the bills. I want to get started."

"Don't do that now. All of this can wait until after dinner," Kiera said. "You look worn out. Go rest for a little while. These bills aren't going anywhere."

Kate didn't argue. She still had a lingering headache, and she wanted to take a shower and change out of the pair of slacks and silk blouse Kiera had brought to the hospital for her, so she headed to her room.

After her shower, she slipped into a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt, and fell asleep curled up on the bed.

She awoke to the sound of her sisters and aunt maneuvering around the kitchen, the aroma of baked chicken and apple dumplings wafting up the stairs.

The kitchen was directly beneath her bedroom, and she could hear their chatter.

"Kiera, you and Isabel are going to have to do cleanup tonight. I'm running late," her aunt said.

"What is it tonight, Aunt Nora?" Isabel asked.

"My support group, Miss Nosy."

Ever since the sisters could remember, Aunt Nora had been a regular at a support group. For years she attended one in St. Louis, and as soon as she moved to Silver Springs, she joined one at the local church. None of the girls knew what Nora was supporting all those years, but they knew better than to ask. They'd heard her right-to-privacy speech too many times to keep count.

She wouldn't allow them any privacy, though. She wanted to know where they were every minute.

"And where will you be off to tonight, young lady?" Kate heard Nora ask Isabel.

"It's my night to sing at Golden Meadows," Isabel answered. "The men and women at that nursing home are surely going to miss you while you're away at school."

"I think I'll miss them more," Isabel said. "They've been so sweet."

"You wake me when you get home," Nora ordered.

Isabel argued. "I'm a grown-up, and I don't think I need to-"

Nora interrupted her. "I promised your mother I would watch out for you, and that's what I'm doing. You're grown up when you go off to college."

Kate heard the back door open. "I forgot to tell you," Nora said. "The movers have changed the date on me. They'll be here on Friday. I expect some help packing my boxes."

"Of course we'll help you," Kiera promised.

"Does that mean you'll be leaving on Friday?" Isabel asked.

"Yes, it does," she answered. "But don't think you're getting rid of me for good because I'll be coming to see you as often as I used to visit my daughter. I'll just be living there instead of here. Now enough of this talk. You're making me late. Where's my pocket-book?"

"On your arm," Isabel said.

Kate heard the door close. She got out of bed, splashed water on her face, and went downstairs.

After dinner Isabel rushed off, and Kiera left to pick up some things at the supermarket, so Kate decided to get a start on the papers the accountant had sent over.

She began with a large envelope from Summit Bank and Trust. Kate didn't know her mother had done any business with Summit. The household account she had set up was with a local Silver Springs bank. Kate thought perhaps the papers had something to do with the pension. There were several invoices, copies of a loan application, and a letter on top of the stack from Mr. Edward Wallace, senior loan officer.

She read the letter and looked at the loan papers. "No," she whispered. "This has to be wrong." She read the letter again. She couldn't accept what she was reading, wouldn't accept it.

Yet she knew it was true, for there it was, her mother's distinctive signature.

"Oh, God," she whispered. "Mother, what did you do? What did you do?"

There was no pension, no trust, no insurance money, no savings. Her mother had taken out a three-year loan with a balloon payment of almost three hundred thousand dollars, and it was due in just four weeks' time.

She had put up everything she owned as collateral, and every asset would go to the bank if the payment wasn't made.

One of those assets was Kate's company. Another was her name.