Chapter 9 - ROSALIE’S WILL
Then came the document Aurelia cited most.
Rosalie’s will.
Signed three years earlier.
Before Clara.
Before the embolism.
It nominated:
Me as primary guardian of any minor children if a guardian were ever legally needed.
Obviously, while I was alive and fit, I was already their parent.
Backup guardian if I died or became incapacitated:
Aurelia.
Why Aurelia?
Because Rosalie trusted her then.
They had disagreements.
Still family.
Aurelia treated that backup nomination as moral proof.
“Rosalie chose me.”
Only if I was unavailable.
I was not.
Then Rosalie’s letter of wishes.
Not legally binding.
She wrote:
If something happens to both of us, I want Elliot with someone who knows this family but still lets him be a child.
Aurelia’s name appeared below.
Then another line:
If Aurelia ever forgets that love is different from command, Daniel should reconsider.
Daniel had been Rosalie’s brother.
The backup-backup choice.
Aurelia had not included that sentence in her continuity folder.
She had photocopied only the page with her name.
Not a forgery.
May you like
Selection.
The dead are easy to quote when you choose the paragraph.
