Chapter 13: Sunny

We arrive at the bank via a side alley, I look at Justin in the driver’s seat with Alison next to him. They exit the car and I turn to Logan, “Do you think they are watching?”

“No, I have had men stationed here for two days and they have not reported anything.” He nods toward the surrounding buildings. “They have not seen any one out of the ordinary, however, I am not taking any chances when it comes to your safety.” He kisses my forehead and I find myself leaning in. A gentle knock on his window interrupts our little moment. “That would be Justin with the all clear.”

I nod and together we slide out of the car and into the balmy air, my hair instantly starts to frizz. Following Justin and Alison into the bank, I take a hold of Logan’s arm for extra strength. We stride up to the main desk and the Branch Manager hops up and greets us.

“Mr. Marshall,” He says with a slight bow, then he looks at me and where my hand is, then back at Logan, “And this must be Ms. Russell.”

“Not any longer, she is Mrs. Marshall, and she is here to gain access to her vault,” Logan clips, “It is vault number four.”

The Manager pales slightly, if I had not been paying attention, I would have missed it. Logan, however, did not.

“Is there a problem?” He asks in a stern tone.

“No,” he stutters out. “It is just that there has been some confusion as to who the rightful owner of that vault is.” He looks nervously at me and then back at Logan. “Do you by any chance have the proper documents?”

At this I pull out the letter from my Auntie and hand it to Logan, he in turn hands it over to the manager. “Trust this will be sufficient. We also have the only key to said vault.”

“Oh, now that is good news, for we only have our key and will need the other in order to enter.” The manager looks relieved and hands the letter back to me. “Shall we see your vault.” He motions to a door behind his desk then grabs a set of keys out of his drawer. “When we get down there, I will have some papers for you to fill out and need a copy of your ID.” He says over his shoulder as he unlocks the door and steps inside and waits for us to follow.

Holding my hand, Logan walks in first with me following, then Justin and Alison join us, and we all follow the Manager down a small hallway toward the elevator doors at the end. He inserts a key and opens the elevator and we all enter, once inside he puts another key into the panel and presses level two. The doors close and we are whisked down two stories underground. The doors open and I see a long hallway with only two doors on either side of each other.

“Okay, if you would sign here and here, and let me see the key, we can get you inside your vault.” He states and hands me a clipboard.

I look over the form before I sign, it is your basic NDA and proof of claim to have access. After I sign the pages, I take my key out, but I don’t wish to just hand it over, it is truly one of the last things my Auntie touched. I look at the key and then Logan, he seems to understand what I am thinking because he looks at the manager and says, “I think she should be allowed to test the key on her own, don’t you?”

The manager nods and glides over to my vault and pushes his key into one slot and looks at her, “Your key goes here, and we turn at the same time.”

“Okay,” is the only thing I can say as I step up to the slot and enter my key.

“On three, okay?”

I nod and he counts to three, and we both turn, a series of clicks and clanks happen, and the door pops open just enough to pull it open the rest of the way.

Logan and Justin pull the door the rest of the way open and we enter a small main area and I see another door, but this one has a keypad, confused I turn and look at the manager.

“This is an eight-digit code and the true owner of this vault should know it.” He says with a bit of muted smugness.

I look at Logan, “I am not sure if I know this code.” I say with a small voice.

Logan steps up to me and says quietly into my ear, “Think about what your Auntie would use, it would have to be something that you would be able to figure out.”

I nod and step up to the pad and pray this works. I enter in my birthday with the full year. The door clicks and opens. I let out a sigh of relief and look back at Logan.

The manager just nods and says, “I will be out in the hall when you are ready to seal it back up.” With that he takes his leave.

Justin watches him go and then looks at Logan and with a slight head nod he takes Alison by the hand and they leave the vault as well. I take a deep breath and push the door open further and with wide eyes I see rows and rows of items I thought were lost to me and on the far wall is a floor to ceiling file cabinet. With another deep breath I make my way silently and slowly through the large vault to the back wall. One of the drawers says please Sunshine open me first.

With tears in my eyes I do as the note says and inside in a single folded letter. I lift it with trembling hands and slowly open it and read what are the last words I will ever get in my Aunties handwriting.

My Dearest Sunshine,

If you are reading this, then I am truly gone, and my only hope and wish is that your parents are still in the dark about this place. Your Uncle Ed and I wanted to make sure you could stand on your own two feet and get away from our awful nephew, I just don’t know where we went wrong with him, and we are truly sorry we could not do more to help you. However, we hope this will help you.

Oh, my dear watching you grow into the amazing woman that you have become has made these last few years of my life worth all the pain. I want you to know that I never wanted to leave you or hurt you. I am glad that you found a friend in Alison and know that she will help you in any way she can. I know I should have let you know sooner about her, but I could not risk your father finding out about her and banishing her from your life like he had all your little friends. Again, I am sorry I was not stronger and could not protect you from all the hurt and loneliness you had to suffer at their hands.

I want you to find what makes you happy and live your life how you want too. Please don’t be afraid of the adventure, life gets messy and it gets hard, but my last wish is that you find someone to love you with their whole heart. For through love all things are possible my dear. I will miss you dearly and I am sorry that I will not be able to watch you walk down the aisle or see your first child being born. But know that I will always be looking down and watching you, plus whenever you need me, I will be there, even if only in spirit.

I love you my little ray of Sunshine, please never forget that. I will always look out for you.

Love always your Honey.

I am in soul wrenching sobs as I finish reading the note, if not for Logan’s arms around me, I would be laying in the fetal position on the floor. I sob into his shoulder for what feels like forever, he just holds me and kisses the top of my head and whispers words of love.

~~~

Logan

As I hold her, I can’t help but think that her Auntie is the reason I even have this opportunity. She is the reason Sunny had the courage to leave her home and make her temporary home on my mountain, which allowed me to find her. I send a look to the heavens and mouth a thank you to a woman I will never have the privilege to meet, but one that I owe so much too.

“Sunny,” I say into her hair. “Did you want to come back another day?”

She looks up at me with red rimmed eyes and some small tears still running down her face. “No, I need to do this.” She sniffs then looks around the vault and takes a deep stuttering breath. “Will you stay with me?”

She sounds so broken, and I don’t like that one bit. I pull her into my chest and say, “I am not going anywhere. You are stuck with me for life. Remember, you signed the paper.”

She gives a watery chuckle at this and looks up at me with a small smile, “Yes I did, as did you.”

“Your damn right I did.” I kiss her tears away and ask, “Where do you want to start?”

She straightens herself and looks around, “How about with these files.”

I nod and we turn toward the wall of filing cabinets in front of us. She pulls out the one just below the one where the letter came from. Inside it has several files all color coded and labeled. She pulls the one that states Estate Will, once she opens it, she looks at me with wide eyes. I lean over and my eyes go wide, the first page says for Sunny’s eyes only and it is a deed to the college she went to and an Olive Oil farm in the Siena Province of Tuscany, Italy. I am speechless as is she.

She flips the page to see a code and drawer number. We walk over to drawer R23 and punch in the code and it opens to reveal a set of keys and another envelope with her Aunties handwriting. “It’s the keys to the property in Italy and all the papers I will need to give the reality management company that was put in charge ten years ago.” She says as she holds the keys and looks at me, “She really did plan all this out so my parents would have no way of getting their hands on any of this.”

“Hmm, so It looks like we will be honeymooning in Italy.” I add to try and lighten the mood.

“It looks like it.” She takes the keys and the letter and places them in her purse and closes the drawer. Then she takes a deep breath and looks around. “I think I am done for today.”

I give her a quick kiss and say, “Anything you want my dear.” I take her hand and start to lead her back to the door. “Are you hungry?”

“Starved.” She answers with a chuckle and with one last look back into the vault she closes the door and the security features re-engage.

Once out in the main hallway, Justin and Alison stand up straighter and the Branch Manager stiffens. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he is shady as fuck, I have only had to deal with him one other time, but he does not invoke confidence. If anything, he makes me want to do a full background check on him, in fact I will have Justin do just that.

“All done Boss?” Justin asks in a firm tone. I nod and he and Alison stride over to the elevator while Sunny and the Manager lock up the outer vault doors.

I wait until they are done before I take Sunny’s hand and lead her to the elevator. I kiss her hand and ask, “Are you doing okay my sweet?”

She smiles, but it does not meet her eyes and she says, “I will be. Thank you so much for bringing me here.” She stows the key to the outer vault in her purse, then for some reason she pulls it out and hands it to me. “I would feel better if you hold on to it.”

“Okay my sweet anything you want.” I put the key in my front pocket and wrap my arm around her as we wait for the elevator to open.

“I also want to have Logan added as someone who can have unlimited access to the vault.” She says in a firm voice as we enter the elevator.

“Of course, ma’am.” The manager answers in his squeaky voice. “I will get the paperwork together and with a couple of signatures you will have unlimited access.” Straightening his spin and presses the button for the main level.

The ride up is done in silence and I take the opportunity to just hold Sunny and show that I will always be here for her. Once the elevators open, the manager rushes to his desk and gets the paperwork completed, within ten minutes we are done and on our way toward food.