Chapter 16 - THE LETTER THAT ARRIVED AT REED PARK
Two years after the night Sophia whispered from the coffin, Valerie had finally stopped measuring her life in days since the nightmare.
Sophia was eight now.
She ran through Reed Park every afternoon, usually with the same golden retriever that had once been a puppy beside Valerie's bench.
The park had become everything Valerie had hoped for.
Children played beneath the trees.
Parents sat on wooden benches.
Counselors from the Reed Foundation helped families dealing with domestic abuse.
And every spring, white roses bloomed where St. Jude Funeral Home had once stood.
Valerie watched Sophia chase the dog across the grass when Natalia approached her.
There was something different in Natalia's expression.
“What happened?”
Natalia handed her a sealed envelope.
“This arrived at the foundation this morning.”
Valerie looked at the return address.
A law firm in Boston.
She opened it.
Inside was a formal notice challenging the ownership structure of the Reed Foundation.
Valerie's expression hardened.
“Who is challenging it?”
“An attorney named Charles Whitmore.”
“On whose behalf?”
Natalia hesitated.
“Three people claiming to be heirs of General Reed.”
Valerie looked toward Sophia.
The little girl was laughing as the dog chased a ball.
For years, Valerie had believed the hardest battle was behind them.
Apparently, someone disagreed.
She read the final paragraph again.
The petition claimed that Valerie had no legal authority to convert the Reed estate into a public foundation.
If the petition succeeded, the foundation could lose control of the seventy-five-million-dollar endowment.
Thousands of families depended on it.
Valerie folded the letter.
“We'll fight it.”
Natalia nodded.
“I knew you'd say that.”
Valerie looked at the roses.
“No.”
She looked back at the building.
May you like
“We'll prove why it belongs to the people we're helping.”
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