Brian and Justin had barely checked into their hotel room in Pittsburgh when Brian’s phone rang.  He recognized the number of the detective he had spoken to before.  He answered right away, watching Justin as he set their luggage down and began unpacking.  They hadn’t packed a lot, hoping to make this visit a short one, although Justin had insisted they visit some of the Liberty Avenue gang once their tasks were completed.

“Hello, Mr. Kinney?”

“Yes.  We just arrived here.  I was going to call you as soon as we were settled.  Are there any legal things I need to take care of outside of handling funeral arrangements and such?”

“No.  I’ve already given you the information you need on who to contact.  However, you may be interested to know that there will be charges made against the driver who struck your mother’s car.  And, of course, there may be a trial.  We will keep you informed, and you can call me if you have any questions.”

Brian hadn’t even thought about the driver who was responsible for their deaths.  He knew he should care, but somehow couldn’t muster up any strong feelings about it one way or another.  Then, out of nowhere came a strange thought about his mother… ‘If only you had shown me just an ounce of love, I might have cared about what happened to you.’  Brian shook his head, desperate to shake loose the brief moment of grief he felt, not so much for her passing but for what could have been.  Brian quickly thanked the detective and hung up.  He was about to say something to Justin when his phone rang again.  A quick glimpse at the phone told him that it was once again a number he didn’t recognize.  Cautiously, he answered.

“Yes, who is this?”

“Am I speaking with Mr. Brian Kinney?”

“I asked you first,” Brian answered snippily.

“My name, sir, is Lloyd Jenkins.  You don’t know me, but I was your mother’s lawyer.  I got your name from her records.”

“Lawyer?  What the hell was she doing with a lawyer?  The woman never even got a speeding ticket.”

“Not her criminal lawyer, Mr. Kinney.  I am speaking with Brian Kinney?  Is that correct?”

“Yes.  But what do you want with me?  Look, I have a lot of issues to deal with right now.  I don’t have time to chat about Joan’s legal issues,” Brian told the man dismissively.

“Mr. Kinney, I’m afraid you’ll need to make time.  You see, I am the one who handled your mother’s will and…”

Brian interrupted.  “If this has to do with a will, then I doubt you need to speak to me.  There is no way she left me a damn thing, even if she had anything worth leaving.”

“Oh, I assure you, Mr. Kinney, she had a fairly decent estate left behind, although not exorbitantly high.  The thing is, she left everything to her daughter, Claire.  However, as you know your sister was also killed in the accident.  Let me explain.  If your mother passed away before your sister, the entire estate would go to Claire’s next of kin.  However, I have learned from the hospital that Claire passed first, thus the entire estate goes to Joan Kinney’s closest next of kin.  That, sir, is you.  What I will need is for you to come to my office at your earliest convenience, so that I can go over all that your inheritance entails.  So, when can I expect you?”

Once again, Brian found himself perplexed.  He knew he couldn’t handle this news without talking to Justin first.  “Just give me the address of your office and I’ll get back to you, Mr. Jenkins.  I presume at this number?”

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Kinney.  I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

The moment the phone hung up, Brian told Justin all about the strange call from his mother’s lawyer.  They spent some time discussing what to do next.  In the end, Brian called the lawyer and made an appointment to meet late the next afternoon.  It would give Brian and Justin time to deal with the funeral home that they had talked to before leaving home and settle all the last details before seeing the lawyer.

************************************************************************

The next day was extremely stressful.  All the funeral arrangements for his father had been handled by his mother.  This was the first time Brian had had to deal with anything like this and he didn’t like it one bit.  The only thing that kept him from walking away from the whole affair was the supportive hand of his husband.  It helped that there was a family plot, which included a spot right next to Jack Kinney for his wife.  Although Brian had not once visited his father’s gravesite, he did know where it was located and which funeral home had handled all the details.  Unfortunately, there was no such prepaid spot for his sister, Claire, so Brian had to purchase one for her.  The only brief moment of levity he experienced throughout the entire business came when Justin joked how Jack was probably not going to be too thrilled to have Joan spending eternity next to him and vice versa, even though they had purchased the adjoining plots years earlier.

Finally, all the details were taken care of and the funeral home was given permission to pick up the bodies.  By this time, it was close to time to keep their appointment with the lawyer.  The couple drove to the Liberty Diner for a quick bite first.  It was a bit disappointing that neither of them recognized any of the staff or patrons in the diner, even though the place looked exactly as it had more than fifteen years ago.  Debbie had retired after she and Carl were finally married, so that they could enjoy their golden years together.  After eating, the couple took a short trip down Memory Lane while driving by Brian’s old loft and past all their favorite haunts on Liberty Avenue.  Memories flooded over them as they made their way to the other side of town where the lawyer’s office was.  Once they arrived, Brian parked the car and sat with his hands gripping the steering wheel. 

“Come on, Brian.  It’s going to be fine.  No matter what Joan’s will says, you are your own man.  You will abide by her wishes as best you can and then that will be the end of it.  That chapter of your life will be closed, once and for all.”

Justin gently pulled Brian’s head around and kissed him warmly.  Brian relaxed and got out of the car.  They walked into the three-story building, checked the names on the plaque by the door, and found the office number they were looking for.  They rode the elevator up to the third floor in total silence, but with their fingers entwined in a reassuring grip.  They stepped through the door of the office, and into a sterile looking waiting room, with a row of half a dozen brown chairs that looked none too comfortable.  A receptionist at the small desk across from the row of chairs looked up and smiled.

“Can I help you?” she asked pleasantly.

Brian told her who he was and watched as she spoke into an intercom.  A voice that Brian recognized as the man he had talked to on the phone, answered.  The receptionist asked the couple to be seated and that Mr. Jenkins would be with them shortly.  They complied and waited.  Ten minutes passed before the lone inter-office door opened, and a tall thin man, of approximately fifty years or more, stepped out behind an older lady with grey thinning hair.  The two spoke for a few minutes, before the elderly woman smiled at the receptionist and left the office.  The gentleman stepped over to Brian and Justin and put out his hand.

“Mr. Kinney?” he asked, speaking directly to Brian.  “I’m Mr. Jenkins, your mother’s attorney.  Will you please follow me?”

He turned and made his way back through his office door, with Brian and Justin following close behind.  Once inside the office, which was tastefully and simply decorated, he motioned to two brown leather chairs facing a large office desk filled with supplies, two photos in frames, and several stacks of stuffed folders.  Once seated behind his desk, Jenkins started shuffling the folders until he found the one he was looking for.  He pulled it out and opened it up.  Inside was a sheaf of papers bound in a blue colored cover.  There were actually two separate sets of these papers.  He handed one over to Brian and kept the other for himself.

“Now, Mr. Kinney, what you have in your hands is the last will and testament of Mrs. Joan Kinney.  If you will read it over, it will explain what she intended after her passing.  As I’ve already told you, although Mrs. Kinney intended to leave her entire estate to her daughter, Claire, circumstances have changed that.  Because her daughter died before Mrs. Kinney, the estate has to go to the closest next of kin, which is her son.  I believe she had two grandsons…”

Brian interrupted.  “Three… she had three grandsons.”

“Three?”

“Yes, three.  I have a son too, but he was raised by his two mothers and they are his legal parents.  But do go on.”

“Yes, well as I was saying, the grandsons may want to dispute your right to the inheritance, if they ever return to Pittsburgh, but the law is quite clear on this matter.  Because she designated that her entire estate would go to one person only, and never even mentioned the grandsons, then they have no legal claim to any of it.  Now I’m sure you would like to know what the inheritance entails.  If you read further into the will, it states everything quite clearly.”

Brian settled in his chair and began reading the documents.  Justin sat beside him, waiting.  He sensed that there were parts of the will that surprised Brian but said nothing.  He knew his husband would explain everything as soon as they were alone.  When Brian finished with the last page of the will, he set it down on his lap and looked up at the lawyer.

“I know what to do with all the stocks and bonds she had purchased, but what the fuck am I supposed to do with all her property… the house and everything in it?  I sure as Hell have no plans of living in that mausoleum.”

“That’s entirely up to you, Mr. Kinney.  The house had no mortgage attached to it, so all we must do is have the deed transferred into your name.  Then you can do what you will with it… rent it, sell it, have it torn down.  It’s your prerogative.  Same goes for the contents.  My advice, if you don’t wish to live in it, and you have no desire to keep track of any rentals, is to sell the property.  Of course, if you choose to do that you will first need to empty it of all its contents.  Those things you can either keep, give away, donate, sell, or dispose of.  That choice is yours too.”

Brian felt his head throbbing for the umpteenth time since he first got the call from the police.  Even in death, his family was a giant headache.

“Alright, Mr. Jenkins.  Can you handle getting the necessary paperwork taken care of so I can move ahead with whatever I decide to do with the house and all?”

“Of course, Mr. Kinney.”

The three men shook hands, then Brian and Justin left the office.  The couple drove back to the hotel in relative silence.  Justin knew that Brian was struggling with the whole situation.  He wisely waited until they were back in their hotel room before asking the obvious question.

“Do you want to tell me what is going through your mind right now?”

“I don’t know exactly what I should do.  Joan didn’t leave behind a small fortune, but she sure as Hell had more money put away than I ever suspected.  I knew that Jack left her a decent sized life insurance payout, and she had her Social Security as well as widow’s pension from Jack’s job, but apparently she was a lot more frugal than I would have expected.   The stocks and bonds are worth somewhere in the low six figures.  Looks like we’ll have a tidy little nest egg for our old age, and of course I’ll make sure that Gus gets his share.  After all, whether she liked it or not, he was her grandson too.”

“That sounds like a good idea, Brian.  But what do you want to do about the house?  Although I’ve never seen it myself, I’ve heard stories from Debbie and Michael that it is quite a nice middle-class home in a very good neighborhood.  It’s probably worth a pretty penny in today’s market, as long as she took good care of the upkeep.”

“Well, the one thing I’m not going to do is live in that place.  It was never a real home for me.  Debbie’s house was more home for me than the Kinney house could have ever been.  And personally, I want to get back to New York and forget about Pittsburgh, except for the occasional visit with our friends.  I don’t feel like having to deal with rental agents or renters.  You never know what kind of jerks might rent your place.  Too many issues to deal with.  The best bet is to sell the old place.”

“That makes sense, but that means we will then have the task of emptying it out for it to be sold.  Are you prepared to do that?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice.  And I’ll have you to help me.  We’ll get through it and then I’ll be done with that family once and for all.  We’ll go there and check it out first.  Then I’ll hire someone to handle the details of anything that is worth putting into an estate sale.  Anything left over after that we will just donate to some charity or toss, if it isn’t worth anything to anyone.”

“Sounds like a plan.”  Justin hugged Brian tightly.  “Don’t worry.  This will all be behind you before you know it.  I love you, Brian.”

“I love you too, Sunshine.  But right now I love the idea of getting drunk as a skunk even better.  Let’s see just what the mini bar has to offer.”

Thus, began a night of one drink followed by another.  Justin made sure to keep his head about him, knowing they had a monumental task ahead of them in the morning.  He made a couple of weak attempts to get Brian to slow down his drinking, but then decided to let the poor man slip into much-needed oblivion for now.  Time enough to face their tasks when they had to, he decided.  And he knew Brian would handle things successfully.  He always did in the end.

To be continued…………