THE ETERNAL INHERITANCE

 Candy knew this had to be a joke. She had never heard of Cody Davis. How could she have an uncle she had never heard of, but this telegram said she did. Even more unbelievable it said he had died and she was his heir. The heir to his estate worth ten million dollars. Someone had a good sense of humor, but she really wasn’t that amused. She walked over to the sofa and sat down. She read the telegram again, it still said the same thing. Candy Wright was the heir of the Cody Davis estate. Well if it wasn’t a joke it had to be a mistake. Prehaps there is another Candy Wright she thought. Candy picked her phone up from where it lay on the table. She quickly clicked on the picture of her mother and waited for it to ring. “Please answer Mama,” she whispered. She knew her mother would know if she had an uncle Cody, and she needed to know now. 

           “Hello,” her mother answered. 

            “O Mama I am so glad you answered”

             “ What’s wrong honey you sound upset?”

              “I am not upset, just confused. Do I have an uncle named Cody Davis? 

               “Well of course not. Why would you ask that? You know your father was an only child and I have  only one sibling, your Aunt Sophie.”

                “Because I just received a telegram saying that my uncle Cody Davis passed away and that he left me his estate worth ten million dollars”

                  “What? It must be a mistake or a joke. You don’t have an uncle and I have never heard of a Cody Davis in our family or your father’s either.”

              “Well the telegram says I need to be at the lawyers office at two p.m. tomorrow for the reading of the will. Do you think I should go?” Candy knew she needed to make her own decisions. Even though she was thirty, she was still very dependent on her mother.  

                 “What’s the lawyer's name?” Her mother asked. 

                “ Let me see, it is Mark Preston, an attorney at law, in  Westin Texas. Have you ever heard of him?”

                 “Yes, I have seen his ads on tv. I Think you should go. I am sure it is some kind of mix up but you really need to go find out what is going on.”

            “Will you go with me Mama? I am really nervous  about this.” Candy twisted a piece of her hair around her finger and chewed her lower lip.

                “I will,” her mother replied. “You don’t have an uncle.”                                                   

Nothing seemed to intimidate her mother, if only she could be more like her mother in actions instead    of just looks. She had thick black hair just like her mother’s.  She wore her hair long while her mother kept hers short, but people were always saying how much she favored her mother. 

            “Thanks so much. I'll pick you up at one, since it will take about an hour to drive there.” she said.

             “Ok I’ll be ready, Bye.”

              “Goodbye Mama” 

                  Candy and her mother exited the elevator and walked down the hall to the first office on the right. Candy read the title on the door Mark Preston Attorney At Law.

                     “Well this is it,  I am so nervous. If only I knew what was going to happen,” Candy said. She had worn her most professional looking dress hoping to portray confidence. If only she could feel as confident as she looked.

                       “ The way to find out is to go inside, standing in the hall will not accomplish anything,”

her mother laughed.

Candy knew her mother was right. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. They entered a small office and walked  up to the receptionist’s desk.

                  “May I help you.” a middle aged woman with short brown hair asked.

                  “Yes, I am Candy Wright. I have an appointment with Mr. Preston.” 

The receptionist buzzed his office. 

                    “ Candy Wright is here Mr.Preston.”

                     “ Great, send her in please.”

                    “Follow me please.”

Candy and her mother followed her into the office. It was a larger Office very professional looking, but nothing extravagant. 

                     “Hello I am Mark Preston. It is nice to meet you Miss Wright.”

She was surprised to see he was a young man. He looked to be in his early thirties. She had expected an older man for some reason. He was also rather good looking. She was surprised her mother hadn’t mentioned that.                                   

                     “Thank you this is my mother April, I hope you don’t mind her coming with me?” Candy asked.

                      “ It is nice to meet you April,” He responded  as he shook her hand.  “I am glad you came with your daughter. I know my telegram has probably confused you, but I can assure you it is legitimate. Please have a seat and I will explain everything.”

                      “Thank you,” Candy said as they took a seat. “ I am confused, because I don’t have an uncle Cody Davis. My mother says she has never heard of him either.” 

                      “ You never heard of your uncle Cody because your Grandmother gave him up for adoption before she married your grandfather.” 

                 “I  have never heard anything about this. My mother never had a child before she married my father.” Candy’s mother stated. 

              “That is true. I was referring to Candy’s paternal grandmother, Irene Wright. She gave up her child after her first husband was killed in a wreck. She was only 16 and her parents never liked her husband. They talked her into giving the baby up for adoption. I assume she never told anyone, because she was ashamed of what she had done. My client, Mr Davis hired an investigator to find his birth mom, but unfortunately by the time he located her she had already passed away. He wanted to meet the rest of the family but didn’t want to cause problems. He did keep up with the family and was very saddened when he learned his brother Frank had passed away. He regretted that he had not made himself known, so they could have met each other.

                 “Do you have proof of all this? I just want to make sure this is true.” her mother said. “After all, we have never heard about this before.”

              “Yes I do. I have all the documents here. You may take them and study them. Take them to your own lawyer if you wish. They are all in order. I would really like to go ahead with the reading of the will, if that is ok with both of you?” 

                Candy looked at her mother. Her mother shook her head yes. Candy knew she was  leaning on her mother again. She had always been the shy type, but she needed to learn to make her own decisions.

                     “Yes go ahead with the reading of the will” she said hoping she didn’t sound as nervous as she felt.

                     “ I will begin then,” He begins to read.  “I, Cody Davis, being of sound mind and body  do leave the majority of my estate to my niece Candy Wright. I do have one request that she must adhere to in order to inherit. I want her to attend worship service at my congregation, Main St. church of Christ,  every Sunday for one year. If she does not do so she will forfeit the money and it will be given to my chosen charities. Candy I hope this is not too much to ask. I only want you to know the Lord the way I do. I have seen your posts on social media and realize you have become very bitter after your father’s death. I never met you but I love you. I have only one regret in my life, that I never met you and my brother Frank. Maybe I could have helped your father with his drinking problem. Please do as I request. Also please use the money wisely and help others. Your uncle

 Cody.” 

                  Candy sat stunned. This stranger she didn’t know wanted her to go to church. He must have been crazy. There was no way she was going to church every Sunday, She wouldn’t go even if someone paid her a million dollars, but someone was paying her ten million dollars to go. Could she make herself go? It was a lot of money but she really wasn’t comfortable going to church. She couldn’t believe he had been following her on social media. What was she to do? She was determined not to look at her mother. This had to be her own decision. She could always pretend to be sick a lot,  after all she couldn’t go if she was sick. She would just have to make herself go, even if she was uncomfortable. She couldn’t just give up ten thousand dollars.

                   “Ok I’ll adhere  to the terms of the will. I don’t like it but I guess if I want the money I have to.” She had done it made her own decision, but could she really go to church every Sunday?

                 “Your uncle would be very pleased. I would like to make one thing clear you need to attend every Sunday. If you miss because you are sick or for a family emergency that is understandable, but unless you have something really wrong you can’t use sickness as an excuse every Sunday. Since I attend this congregation I will be aware if you stop attending” Mr Preston said with a slight grin.     

                  Candy felt as though he had read her mind. 

                   “I understand,” she said “I guess you are going to be watching me every Sunday for a year?” 

           “Yes, I will be. I hope it doesn't make you too uncomfortable?”

            “No, it will be fine.” She lied. “When will I receive the money?”

               “You will receive a check every month for 6,000 dollars until the year is up then you will receive the rest of your inheritance. Well if you don’t have any questions, that should conclude our business.”

                 “I don’t have any I can think of. Do you mother?” 

                 “No, I am satisfied. I will show these documents to my lawyer though,”her mother said.

                 “ I understand,” Mr. Preston replied.

                  He stood and walked them to the door. “I will look forward to seeing you Sunday, Candy.”

             “Yes I will see you then.” She smiled hoping he couldn’t tell how much she didn’t want to attend. 

                                                                 Sunday morning came way too soon for Candy, but here she was pulling into the parking lot.

Could she do this, make herself walk into that building. She hadn’t been to worship service in years. Before her father lost his business, they had attended services every Sunday. He couldn’t seem to accept the loss and blamed God for it. When he started drinking and then died in a terrible wreck, Candy began to blame God too. She had no desire to worship a God who had taken her father from her. Her father would have never died if God had only answered his prayers to save his business. Slowly she opened the car door and exited. When  she entered the building, several people greeted her and introduced themselves. Everyone was very friendly to her. She went into the auditorium and took a seat near the back. She felt a little less nervous since the people were friendly, but she still wanted this over. She couldn’t believe she would have to go through this every sunday for a year.                                                  

           A gentleman stepped to the podium and made some announcements about those who were  sick and news concerning the  congregation. When he was finished, another gentleman stepped forward and began to lead the congregation in singing. The singing was beautiful, slowly Candy began to sing with them. She was surprised how good it felt, deep down she missed worshiping God. She wished she could believe he really cared the way the songs said he did. If he cared he could have saved her father’s business and he could be with her today. After the singing and the Lord’s supper, the preacher went up front and began to preach. As he began to talk about the love of God and how he sent his son to die for our sins, the more Candy wanted to leave. She didn’t want to hear about the love of God. she was thinking of leaving, when she turned to look toward the exit her eyes met Mark Preston’s. She knew she couldn’t leave, so instead she began to list all the things she would buy with the money, new house, new car, all new clothes. By the time she finished her list, the service was over. She hurried toward the exit but before she made it she felt a hand on her shoulder.

                “Glad to see you here today,” Mr. Preston said.

                 “ Well I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have too.” she replied.

                   “ I am sorry you feel that way. I was hoping you enjoyed the service.” 

                    “Well I didn’t,” but Candy realized that was not true. She had enjoyed it until she shut out what she didn’t want to hear.

                   “Well maybe you will enjoy it more next week,” he said with a smile.

                      Candy just walked away without another word, she knew she had not been nice, but she didn’t feel like being nice. 

                       Several weeks went by, Candy had attended services several times now. Each time she enjoyed it more and began to realize that just maybe she shouldn’t blame God for her fathers death. 

After all it was her father who made the bad business decisions. He had really been the one to ruin his business not God. Her father made the choice to drink and drive and that is why he died in that terrible wreck. Candy was beginning to see that the choices we make are the cause of most of our troubles and we just like to blame God. Maybe she had needed someone to blame other than her father, it is hard to admit your father isn’t perfect. Even though he wasn’t perfect, he had loved her. 

            That next Sunday Candy went forward and was baptized. She finally had the confidence she needed, because she had God as her savior and she could always rely on him. As she was walking to the exit that morning she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

                     Mark, as she now called him, was looking at her with tears in his eyes, “your uncle would be so proud. This was what he hoped would happen when he made his request. By the time he decided he wanted to meet his family, he was too sick. He only had a few days to live, but he hoped he could still be a good influence in your life.” 

                     “He was. I am so thankful he made that request of me. I now have a better inheritance than I ever imagined, eternal life. I plan to use the money wisely as he suggested, my list has changed a lot in the last weeks since the first one I made.” 

                  “That’s great. I am proud of you too. May I take you to lunch to celebrate your new life in 

Christ?”

                    “I would like that very much.” she said with a smile. She had a feeling this was the first of many lunches together.