Two parts of my brain seemed in direct confrontation. One part began to scream “It’s Glynnis! She’s dead but she’s alive!”
The more rational part countered with, “Glynnis is dead. This is merely someone who resembles her.”
I stood in silent shock as the contentious match behind my eyes continued until the rational mechanisms told the primitive to shut the hell up.
The woman smiled slightly. I was to find out she registered all emotions slightly—several degrees of restraint above my ex’s emotional control, which itself had been quite strong.
“I’m terribly sorry,” she said, voice as soft and alto-pitched as Glynnis. “Seeing me must have been a shock. I should have called, I suppose, but I had to look up your address, which took some time, so I thought I’d just pop over for a brief visit.”
Still taken aback, way, way, way aback, I managed to say. “Sorry for the confusion. You resemble my former wife.”
“I should,” she replied. “We were identical twins, although we were raised separately.”
I gawked again. “You and Glynnis were . . . ?”
As I trailed off, she said, “Yes, twin sisters. If you don’t mind, could I come in? I live in Florida and didn’t bring any warm clothing. I thought Texas would be like Florida, but tonight is chilly.”
“Uh, sure.” I backed into the foyer to let her inside. A small SUV, probably a rental, was parked in front of the house.
She held out her hand. “I’m Glenna Patterson. I’ve lived most of my life in Fort Meyers. Glynnis and I connected shortly before her death.”
It occurred to me despite the impact of the earthshaking revelations I just heard, I needed to be polite.
“Would, uh, would you like to join us the the den? My wife and I finished dinner, but I could offer you dessert or a drink.”
“No, that’s fine, I ate earlier. I do need to talk to you a few moments, if you have the time.”
I turned, saying, “Please follow me,” and headed to the den. As I entered, I said, “Kaley, prepare to be shocked. We have a visitor who is a relative of Glynnis’s.” I walked in, Glenna directly behind me.
Kaley stood. Perplexed at my warning, her brow creased, she spied Glenna, and her complexion lost a couple of shades of color.
Kaley couldn’t help herself. “Holy shit.”
She didn’t say anything else, so I filled the vacuum. “This is Glenna Patterson. She is Glynnis’s identical twin. The girls were adopted by different families, so they weren’t aware of each other until recently.”
Kaley appeared to absorb that, so I told Ms. Patterson, “Please have a seat.” I indicated the overlarge reclining chair to the left of the couch.
Glynnis’s sister seated herself. After a few seconds, Kaley said, “Would you like a drink or a snack?” She stuttered a bit, which showed she felt as bolluxed as I did.
Ms. Patterson, Glenna, hard to think of her with that name, formed another weak smile and said, “Just a glass of water, please. No ice.”
Kaley fled the room as if pursued by demons. I didn’t blame her. I took my seat on the sofa and tried to converse a bit. “You’ll have to pardon us. My ex-wife created a great deal of problems for us, which left my wife shaken. Your appearance hasn’t helped her. Frankly, it hasn’t helped me either.”
She didn’t smile this time. “I read about the situation. Please forgive me if I have a hard time believing such things of my twin.”
I could understand that, but understanding didn’t give me much sympathy. In this first meeting with the woman claiming to be Glynnis’s sister, I did not feel constrained to hold her hand and whisper platitudes.
She eyed me for a moment, and I stared back. Just as Kaley reentered the room, I said, “Glynnis never told me she was adopted, or that she had any living relatives.”
Kaley set the glass on an end table by the chair, and sank beside me with a great deal of force, as though her legs had given out.
Glenna surveyed us a moment. “I think it would help,” she said,” if I told my story from the start.”
Made sense to me. I nodded, Kaley still and silent. “Please do.”
She cleared her throat. “I can understand,” she said, “why my sister might not have wanted to reveal her origins. We were born, as they used to say, out of wedlock. Our mother, whoever she was, wanted to keep us, but could not afford to support a family of three.”
Kaley and I exchanged glances. Her look still said, “What the hell?”
I agreed silently. To Glenna, I said, “So you’re both adopted. Since you didn’t know about each other, the adoption agency your biological mother chose couldn’t find a family who would take both of you.”
She nodded. “I’ve searched for our birthmother over a number of years, but I’ve never been able to discover her identity, or find a trace of her. I do know her surname was Truscott. Of course, by the time I started a careful investigation, nearly thirty years had passed since our birth, and I could find no trace of her. The original address given to the agency was in a modest neighborhood that had been torn down to make way for a large apartment complex.
“I had better luck with the parents who adopted my sister. That record led me, first to them and then to Glynnis.”
“I assume Glynnis was happy to meet you,” I said.
“She was as astonished as you. Glynnis had no idea she was adopted. Her parents never told her, since from their point of view, the information might not be to her benefit. She was equally ignorant that she was a twin.
“When I was able to contact her, only a few months before she died, she was surprised and didn’t seem anxious to meet. It took me several calls to persuade her. I think she agreed only because I told her I discovered we were identical twins.”
“Your parents told you you’re adopted?”
“Yes, when I was about ten years old. They did a nice job of telling me they wanted a child but my mother had been unable to conceive. They were sweet about it, told me that I was their great gift, and, I accepted the news and went on.”
“Did they mention you were a twin?” I asked.
“No. I don’t think they tried to conceal anything. I think they felt it wasn’t relevant at the time.”
Kaley stirred. “How did you find out?”
“They died in a car accident when I was in college. I have a degree in business from Florida State, and I’ve been working as a bookkeeper for a company in Fort Myers. My parents left me a modest inheritance, which I used to supplement my salary. A little over two years ago, I began to feel an imperative to find out a bit more about my origins.
“Some research in the city records led me to the discovery that my twin and I had been adopted shortly after our birth. As I said, no amount of research provided any more information on my birthmother. However, I did discover the family name of Glynnis’s adoptive parents, and I began a search for them. Although they were also deceased, I found the lead to Glynnis, and I made contact a few months before she died.”
Her story seemed plausible. So far as I was concerned, there could be no doubt the woman was Glynnis’s sister. Now that I had heard her speak, I could tell subtle differences between them. She was even more slender than Glynnis, verging on frail. Her voice, though a soft alto like her twin, seemed to be pitched a few notes on the treble scale higher, and her mannerisms were different. She used her hands when she spoke, whereas Glynnis almost never made any gestures at all, hands in her lap.
So, our guest wasn’t Glynnis, but she was a damned good ringer.
I regarded her for a moment, and marveled at the resemblance. “She wasn’t anxious to meet.”
Glenna nodded. “No, I think her curiosity got the better of her, when I told her we were identical twins. She had a business trip to Miami. After finishing her business, she flew to Fort Meyers to meet me. We talked for a couple of hours, but she was convinced. She marveled at our resemblance, told me it was like looking into a mirror. We had some fun about that, and I must say we spent a pleasant evening together.”
“Did you see her again?” I asked.
She nodded. “Just once. She invited me to come here. I stayed with her for two days. That was after your divorce. She took a few days vacation and showed me around the Dallas area. It was great fun for me because I had never been to Texas before.
“That was the last time I saw her.”
Glenna regarded me for a moment. “Now we get to the reason for my call. A week or two before her death, she sent me a letter. Not electronic, but a real paper letter. Very formal and dignified. It had been apparent my financial circumstances were nothing compared to hers. It’s not like I’m poverty-stricken, but even with my parents’ inheritance, I live within modest means. In her letter, Glynnis informed me she was making me her heir. She joked about it, said she didn’t expect to pass away anytime soon, but you never could tell. Now that she was divorced, she didn’t intend for you to be her heir.
“If anything happened to her, she wanted me to have her inheritance, which she made clear was substantial, even in the millions of dollars. I was astonished, called her and expressed my surprise. She laughed and said she expected to live to a ripe old age, but if not, she wanted me to have her estate.”
I mulled on Glenna’s statement. Shocking as it appeared, it seemed Glynnis had done something nice. For once.
Her expression serious, Glenna said, “That’s why I needed to see you, Dr. Hays. After I found out about her death, and I didn’t find out about it until weeks after she died, I waited for a call from her attorney, to verify what she had told me. No call came. I was able to find the name of the attorney, called him and asked about the inheritance. He informed me that although she expressed her intention to rewrite her will, Glynnis never made any changes.
“You can imagine my shock. For a while, I pondered the situation, but I finally decided to contact you. I’ve read enough about you to know you’re fabulously wealthy. I have come to ask you, to plead with you, to help me gain possession of her estate.”
Glenna opened her rather large purse and came up with a folded sheaf of papers. “This is the letter Glynnis sent me. It outlines the extent of her estate and clearly states her wish for me to be her sole beneficiary. I ask that you help me, as it appears to me you don’t need her inheritance. I’m quite desperate, and would even suggest, if you wish, that we share the estate. It would help me to be able to live a more secure life.”
Of all the things I would have guessed, the request was about the last on the list but it made perfect sense. I had no desire to inherit a single dollar from Glynnis’s estate. Giving it to her twin made a sort of crazy sense. I’d never bothered to have Glynnis’s will read or probated. My lawyer, Guy Smith, and I discussed it once, but life intervened. More than half a year after Glynnis’s death, I hadn’t taken a step to settle Glynnis’s estate. Guy had called me about it once or twice, but eventually subsided, noting that in Texas, I had four years from date of death to complete the proceedings.
Glynnis’s estate was substantial. Given her partnership at the advertising firm, investments, bonuses, and savings accounts, Glynnis’s legacy amounted to sixty million dollars or more, as an educated guess. Glenna was right, I didn’t need it. I was worth somewhere between fifty and a hundred times that much. I didn’t want one single damn thing, not money, stock, anything, that could be traced back to my conniving, psychopath ex-wife. I wondered if Glenna had inherited any of the personality traits of her twin. I hoped not.
I cleared my throat, then said, “On the surface, you appear to have a legitimate claim. Could I see the letter?”
Glenna reached into her voluminous purse again, coming out with a second set of papers. “Here.” She proffered the sheaf, and I took it. As I did so, she said, “That’s a copy I made for you. I wanted you to be able to see her exact words.”
She stood. “I know what I’ve told you is a lot to take in. I’ll be in the city for several days, at the hotel near here on Interstate Twenty. I wrote the room phone number on the front page.
“I’ve disturbed your evening. I’d like to call you tomorrow, or the next day, if you need time to process all this.”
“It is a surprise ,” I told her. “I do need to think this over. I know you need an answer in a reasonable amount of time. I expect you have a job to get back to. Please ask the hotel to call my office. You won’t need to pay for your stay here.”
My statement seemed to shake her. After a moment, she said, voice a bit wobbly, “That is very nice of you. I appreciate it.”
With no more comment, she turned and headed for the front door. I followed and Kaley brought up the rear.
Glenna turned at the door. “Thank you again. I know it must seem I have a great deal of temerity, but the money would be a great help to me. I do think it is what Glynnis wished.”
With that, she left, and I was too bemused to say so much as a “so long.” Reaching her rental car, she got in and drove away.
I closed the door and turned to Kaley. She repeated herself. “Holy shit.”