A Death And A Secret

Sometimes being the responsible one sucks. At least when it comes to times like this. Aunt Mildred died so suddenly. No one in the family even knows why. Hopefully the autopsy can give us some answers.

Now it's just my mom, brother, and I left in the family. Aunt Mildred never had any kids or even got married. We all wondered why but since none of us were really close with her we never asked. Really sad given she was moms only sibling, but it's too late to change anything now.

Since I'm the responsible one, I got put in charge of planning her funeral, going over her will, going through all of her belongings, and dividing everything up. Thankfully she owned her house so I don't have to rush through it all before a landlord locks me out.

Being in a small town instead of city really helps with getting the autopsy done quickly so that we can host her funeral. I already got those arrangements set up. I even already had a meeting with Aunt Mildred's lawyer to go over her will.

I was rather shocked at her will. Even though we hardly visited or talked much except at holidays and birthdays Aunt Mildred left most of her things to me. There wasn't much in there for my mom or brother. She left all of her books and family pictures to my mom along with $15,000 while my brother was given her record player, all her records, and $10,000. Everything else was left to me, including her house.

I figure since there was still about 5 hours left of the day I might as well order some take out and go start going through her belongings. I decided that I would go room by room. Everything I didn't want I would put in boxes for my mom and brother to go through before donating it to the local church and shelter.

Being that most people put important papers in their offices, I decided to start with Aunt Mildred's office in case there was something missed by the lawyer. I'm not really sure if it should be called a miniature library or an office though, as the walls were covered in book shelves and filled with books. Since I knew all of those were going to mom I decided to start with the desk.

Nothing of much importance on the top of her desk, so I started going through the drawers. I never realized that someone needed a drawer full of pens but there was one in Aunt Mildred's desk. Another drawer held various letters that I could not understand what they were referring to. Another drawer held a bunch of empty notebooks. The final drawer was locked. I hadn't noticed a key in the other three drawers. I remembered reading in one of my favorite novels about there being keys hidden under the top of desks so I decided to check. Sure enough there was a key under the middle of the desk.

There was a small package with a note taped to it inside the locked drawer. It seemed like a little over kill to lock something so small in the biggest drawer of her desk. I picked up the package to read the letter taped to it and was shocked to see the note was addressed to me! Did Aunt Mildred know her time was coming to an end? Only way to find out was to read her note!

"My dearest Penny, If you are reading this then it means I have left this world and gone to the next. I'm sorry to put all this on you but you are the only one left in the family who can be trusted. I was not the shut in that everybody thought I was. I actually traveled to may different places doing research for the novels I wrote. I wrote under an alias so that no one knew it was me. I completed 39 novels in my life time. A few of them became hit movies as well. Wrapped in the package with this note is a book containing all the information you need about my editor, publisher, movie deals, and various bank accounts where my money is held as well as instructions on what I would like you to do with the money and how. I kept this a secret to avoid any fighting among you, your brother, and your mother. I am trusting in you to continue this secret to avoid any fighting. I do not want any of you to fight but to be cared for and never worry about anything again. All my love, Aunt Mildred."

I wasn't sure what to make of this information or even what to do with it, but Aunt Mildred was trusting me to handle this and handle it with discretion. All I could do would be to open the package and do my best to follow her wishes.

Inside the package was a black, leather bound book. I was hesitant to open it and discover any more shocking secrets but it needed to be done. Aunt Mildred had labeled by section what was on all the pages in the book on the first page.

There was about 20 pages about her movie deals, a page on how to contact her editor and her publisher. What I couldn't fathom was that there seemed to be 15 pages for just her bank accounts! Up until finding this book I had thought she only had the one bank account which I was to give my mom and brother money from. So I opened up to those banking pages. Aunt Mildred had one bank account per page! Each page held what country the account was in, with the name of the bank as well as phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses to contact the banks, the amount within the bank account, how the money was earned, and clear instructions on how she wanted each account to be used.

I could only sit there in awe at the amount of money in each account. Each account held almost 2 million dollars in it. She had left one account for each of us with instructions to take $75,000 out of it every 6 months for our use but to make sure my brother and mom believed that I did not have access to the money at any time only to the pre-approved withdrawals set up by her with the bank to keep them from taking all the money at once. Most of the other accounts were each labeled with various charities Aunt Mildred supported with instructions to donate $100,00 to each once a year until the money was gone. Only 4 of the accounts did not have specific instructions for them. The only thing Aunt Mildred had put for those accounts was for me to pick what I wanted to use them for. She wrote that I could save them for my future children, use them to donate to charities, split them between my brother and I, or whatever else I wanted to do with them that she trusted I would make the right decision.

It was in the moments after reading through that little black book that I realized how truly amazing my Aunt Mildred was and how much i regretted not spending more time with her when she was alive. I couldn't change the past, but I could look to the future and do as Aunt Mildred asked. Another thing I realized was that Aunt Mildred really cared for us and made it so that we could be debt free and follow whatever dream we each had without accumulating any major debt. I could finally get my new car and open up my cupcake business I always dreamed of starting.

There truly was no way I could ever thank Aunt Mildred for her kindness and all she had done for us without our knowledge. But I knew I could make her smile by following her wishes and becoming the best me I could be. Never before had my future looked so bright. And never before I had I ever felt so loved, cared for, appreciated, and trusted than I did after reading the secrets in that little black book.