Chapter 8: What the Shares Were Always Worth
Three weeks after Eleanor was born, a letter arrived from the board of Baldwin-Gallagher Logistics.
I had known the company existed.
Lucas had mentioned it occasionally — a regional freight and logistics firm he had co-founded with a college friend named Paul Gallagher, no relation, before Paul had bought out Lucas's original stake and rebranded.
What I had not known, until Samantha explained the trust documents in detail, was that Lucas had quietly re-acquired a controlling block of shares eighteen months before his death, through a holding company registered in his name alone.
The shares had never been mentioned to Charles.
The letter from the board was formal and brief.
It acknowledged my position as controlling shareholder following the execution of the trust.
It requested a meeting at my earliest convenience to discuss the company's current direction and a pending acquisition offer from a national freight group.
I read it twice at the kitchen table while Eleanor slept in the next room.
Then I called Samantha.
"How much?" I said.
"The acquisition offer?" A pause.
"Forty-one million."
I set the letter down flat on the table.
"Lucas never told me," I said.
"He may not have wanted to complicate things," Samantha said.
"Or he may have been waiting until after Eleanor was born.
I don't know.
What I do know is that the offer is real, the board is eager, and the decision is entirely yours."
I thought about the folder Charles had dropped in front of me.
*Lucas left behind debts.* I thought about Courtney laughing.
I thought about the porch.
"What happens to Charles's stake?" I said.
"He held a small minority position through a separate agreement with Paul Gallagher.
That agreement had a conduct clause.
When the fraud charges were filed, Paul exercised the clause and bought Charles out at the original valuation." Another pause.
"Charles received forty-two thousand dollars for shares that will be worth considerably more after the acquisition closes."
I was quiet for a moment.
"Lucas wrote that clause too, didn't he?" I said.
"He suggested it to Paul, yes.
About two years ago."
I looked at the window.
The yard outside was bare and gray, the same yard where Eleanor would eventually learn to walk, where Lucas had planned to build a garden bed along the south fence line, where he had stood one evening last spring and pointed out a hawk sitting motionless in the oak tree at the back of the property.
*Look at that,* he had said.
*Just sitting there like it owns the whole sky.*
"Tell the board I'll meet with them," I said.
"I'll set it up," Samantha said.
"Victoria — are you all right?"
I picked up the letter again.
May you like
"I think so," I said.
"I think I'm going to be."
