I could not get my grandfather's words out of my mind.
Time is the love in the form of visible.
It was just a few minutes since I'd been given the pocket watch by Jonathan Reeves.
I brought it to work with me.
Using it by the side of my laptop at meetings.
Rotated it in my hand when I lost my concentration.
In their minds the executives thought I was not paying attention.
They were right.
I had no thoughts of expanding the Blackwood empire for the first time in years.
I wondered if the empire was in some sense shrinking us.
---
Jonathan phoned 3 days later.
"Ethan."
"Jonathan."
"I've found something."
His voice was very serious.
"It has to do with your grandad's trust."
I frowned.
I felt like years ago, it was all taken care of.
"So it was with everyone else."
A pause.
But I had been looking at some old paperwork following your visit.
"And?"
I believe you and Grace should be in.
"Today."
---
As we entered Jonathan's office, he was already standing in front of us with several thick books of reports laid out on his desk.
Grace took a glance at the pile and laughed nervously.
"That is not something that could be good."
Jonathan smiled.
People don't get nervous when they hear good news from their lawyers.
Even Ethan chuckled.
There was some respite, for a little while anyway.
Jonathan called them to a seat.
In the past few days, I've been looking through documents that haven't been opened in almost two decades.
He took his glasses off.
I was as surprised as you are going to be what I am about to show you.
---
He slowly unrolled a musty legal document.
This is the original family trust of your grandfather.
Ethan frowned.
I have encountered the trust at least once in my life.
(Have you watched the revised version?)
He looked Jonathan in the eye.
This is the first time you've seen this.
There was a sudden hush in the room.
Grace was able to move her hand under the table and grab Ethan's hand.
---
Jonathan started reading out loud.
> The Blackwood Family Trust is not just about keeping wealth alive, it's about keeping the family alive.
He looked up.
This sentence has been cut out of the final product.
Ethan's eyebrows furrowed into a frown.
"Removed by who?"
Jonathan hesitated.
The amendments were requested because your grandfather's health was not good and it was necessary to make the changes.
He didn't have to mention their names.
Victoria.
---
Jonathan continued.
> 'No inheritance shall ever become more important than the relationships it was meant to protect.'
Grace's chest clenched.
Those words didn't sound like the Blackwood family she'd come to know.
They were like the family that Charles Blackwood had dreamed of having.
---
"Another stipulation was there...
Jonathan leafed through a few pages and then stopped.
This one is in an Appendix.
He pushed the document over the desk.
I think your grandfather intentionally buried it where very few people would think to look, I believe.
Ethan leaned forward.
"What does it say?"
Jonathan smiled faintly.
I'll let you read it.
Ethan scanned the paper with his eyes slowly sweeping over it.
He was constantly changing his face with each line.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
Then something deeper.
Heartbreak.
---
Grace quietly asked,
"Ethan?"
He took a drink, and then he handed it to her.
She read aloud.
> If the Blackwood family should split due to 'unnecessary conflict, manipulation or estrangement', the trustees are tasked with 'delaying significant distributions until a genuine reconciliation is shown'.
She blinked.
"Genuine reconciliation?"
Jonathan nodded.
"Not public appearances."
"Not staged photographs."
Press conferences that are not properly managed.
He rested his back against his chair.
"Your grandfather was very particular."
---
Jonathan went to another folder.
He made explanatory notes.
He was able to locate the page he needed and started to read.
> "Families have learned to act as if all is well while secretly tearing each other apart in private."
Grace's throat tightened.
Jonathan continued.
> "Giving rewards for performance is an absolute no-go."
> 'Unity is not sitting at the same dinner table.'
> When nobody is looking, 'Unity is choosing each other.
It was deathly quiet in the room.
Grace thought back to the aquarium.
The nursery.
Their quiet breakfasts.
Those moments had all been for no one else.
No cameras.
No audience.
Just them.
---
Ethan slowly sat back in his chair.
"So..."
He eyed Jonathan.
My grandfather thought that the family heritage was bound up in...
He was on the verge of laughing in amazement.
"Well, if it is a family, it is one of the most unusual ones I've ever experienced."
Jonathan smiled.
"Precisely."
Grace couldn't help but smile as well.
"He was more intelligent than he was credited.
Out of regret he became wise.
The memory was heavy in Jonathan's voice.
"That is not the same.
---
Ethan gazed down upon the trust once more.
For years, my mother had taken care of the honor of this family.
Jonathan nodded.
"Yes."
"But, according to Grandpa . . . ."
He shook his head.
"Beauty was never the objective.
"No."
Jonathan folded his hands together in prayer.
"They were the ones who caused the problem."
---
Grace looked down at an old picture of Charles and Eleanor on the bookshelf.
"They looked happy."
Jonathan looked up where she was staring.
"They were."
"For many years."
"What changed?"
Jonathan's smile faded.
"Success."
Neither Ethan or Grace had anything to say.
Jonathan sighed.
"Charles became consumed with expanding the company."
"He missed birthdays."
"Anniversaries."
"School plays."
He has always said that he'll make up for it after the next acquisition.
He smiled sadly.
"But it was never an end to the acquisitions."
Grace felt the grip of Ethan's hands tighten around her.
I recall a time when Eleanor said, "I will never forget what she said to me.
Jonathan's eyes wandered off.
"She said..."
The lonely mansion remains a lonely home.
He glanced around the room.
"That will never be taken from my mind."
Neither had Charles.
Not by the end.
Jonathan closed the file down.
"You have got to know another thing."
Ethan straightened.
"For years, the trustees have been watching the family covertly."
Grace looked surprised.
"They have?"
"They don't care about your finances."
"They're interested in the health of the family."
He smiled.
"And lately..."
He turned his gaze towards Ethan.
"They've noticed something."
"What?"
Jonathan's eyes softened.
"Everyone knows you are home.
Ethan frowned.
I've come home every time.
"No."
Jonathan smiled gently.
In the past you went back to your home.
He paused.
"Now..."
"...you come home."
Ethan was more affected by the difference than he'd thought.
For it is true.
He had been sleeping in the penthouse a few months ago.
That was where Grace laughed.
Where their baby pushed.
The place the nursery awaited.
He was asked how his day was every day.
It had become home.
Grace put her hand into Ethan's hand as they were leaving Jonathan's office.
They wouldn't talk until they got to the car.
Finally, Ethan spoke.
What frightens me is…
"What?"
He watched a pocket watch in his hand.
"For years I've been trying to get an inheritance."
He looked at her.
The best that my grandfather desired to pass on to me was...
His eyes glistened.
"…had the freedom to love my family well."
Grace lifted up her lips to kiss his cheek.
"You don't need permission anymore."
He smiled.
"No."
He took his gaze from her, and he saw her hand placed over their baby.
"I think..."
He let out a long breath.
"That's when I'm finally realizing that I deserve it."
Both of them were oblivious to the dark sedan across the street as they drove away.
The investigator hired by Victoria quietly lowered his camera inside.
He had come to his law office, where he was to meet them for business.
Instead, he had seen something he didn't expect.
The man is opening his car door for his wife.
A woman instinctively reaching out to her husband's hand.
No performance.
No photographers.
A man and a woman picking each other out.
He saw his notebook.
After a great silence, he erased the phrase "Marriage of convenience" quietly.
And substituted three words that he never thought he would write.
A real family.