Belva and Liza were still trying to get their attorney to come up with lsomething that would null and void their Daddy's Will. Finally Mr. Todd told them,"Ladies, I know you do not want to hear this from me, but I think the law is not on your side. Your father consulted professionals before he made the changes. They were aware of what he was doing and why he was doing it. He did not keep his affection for Miss Vontese a secret. It doesn't matter what you think of her, it was your father's wish that she have Ivy Lane and a trust to go along with it."
" It's not like you were left penniless. Between the life insurance, cash, and stock accounts, I think you are sitting on about 5 million dollars."
"But it is not the same as our home place," whined Belva.
"It's not. But it was your fathers wish."
Liza had been sitting there quietly, "I bet Mama is rolling in her grave at the thought of that harlot sleeping in her bed."
"OK, that's enough,"said the attorney,"I think we are through here." With that he dismissed them.
As they walked out Belva said to Liza, "I've still got my house key, how about you?"
"Me, too."
"What if we 'visit' the house while Miss Vontese is at work. I bet we can get some of our family things. You know she'll never miss them. Hell, she doesn't have a clue what they are in the first place."
Back at the office Della had redone Bunny's profile, changed her category to "Its Just a Date", taken a new picture of her, and posted it on the site. It was if a whole new person had been signed up. Of course by then Bunny had had so many hits from other "Swingers" that her inbox was full and it took her a while to go through and reply "Not Interested" to each one.
The good news was that Bunny had gotten so many "Hits" on her first day that she been awarded points. Usually it took folks months to gain that many points. These would allow her to "Up Grade" her profile for no extra charge.
It wasn't long before she had her first heart on the Silverspoons inbox. This looked promising. The gentleman was a bit older than Bunny, was sharply dressed in his photo with a bow tie, and sounded like someone she would like to meet. "Della, I got one."
"A fish or a date?"
"Funny! His name is Pervis P. Mahan VI. He is a bit older but is a good dresser. I'm going to respond to him tonight when I get home."
Bunny was so excited. Her life was turning around. She left to show a young lady one of the properties. Luckily it was nice weather and the unit was just a block or so away, so they could walk. She knew she was not ready to drive the car, much less with a potential renter in the front seat.
Della left at 5 but Bunny stayed around. She was going to give the town some time to get home before she tackled the Mercedes and the clutch.
Meanwhile Belva and Liza decided to "visit" Ivy Lane. Belva had backed her Mercedes wagon up to the Big Hall Door. No one could see the car from the road or the drive. They walked down the hall figuring what they wanted. Liza saw it first. "We have to get that Maverick," referring to a nearly priceless original oil painting of a scene in England a hundred years ago or so of horses with their jockeys ."No telling what that is worth."
Bootsy was raising Hell around their ankles. Liza asked,"What the Hell do we do with her?
"Just ignore her and for God's sake don't let her out of the house."
Belva looked over the Maverivk "That's going to leave a pretty big empty place on the wall. Even Ellie Mae Klampet would notice that."
"Let's move that sea scene from Dad's office to replace it. It's about the same size and she'll never miss it from the office."
They packed the Maverick in Belva's car, moved the sea scene to the hall, and went on to look for more.
Belva stopped in the dining room, "Mama's sterling candelabras! I have to have those."
"And just how are we going to replace them?"
Belva walked through the dining room and living room. In the living room on a book shelf she found a pair of very large brass candelabra. "This will do. She'll never know the difference." Belva put the sterling pieces in her car as Liza moved the brass ones into their places and rearranged books on the shelf to fill the void.
They continued picking up pieces that had both fiscal and sentimental valuable to them. They were careful to replace each piece with a piece in kind so nothing looked moved. Usually they were able to find a replacement from some other out of the way place in the house. The pictures were the hardest to work with but they managed to take what they wanted. Unless someone was aware of the pieces and art in the house, one could never tell something had been changed. When they left they both tried figure how they could get the oriental rugs on their next trip.
Bunny's ride home was much smoother than her drive that morning. It was coming back to her. She loved the car. Now that she could drive it, she could enjoy it. She parked in the garage and went into the house. Bootsy was more active than usual.
She fixed some soup and went into the den to watch TV. This was the time she missed Harrison. But she felt like he was around her. She only wished he was here with her. Walking back to the kitchen through the big hall, she noticed the large sea scene on the wall. It struck her as odd. She could not remember seeing it which she thought was odd. She loved sea scenes.
After cleaning up the kitchen she went back to the den and logged into her computer. She had a few more admirers. She contacted Pervis through the site and they "talked" on line. After a while, she told him she would meet him at the Starlight Cafe the following evening. She made it sound as if she chose Gallagher as a mutual place to meet.
The following day was like every other day in Bunny's life, if there was such. At work she talked with potential customers, ran through the Maintenance List with Larry, and told Wade she would be there at 4 to meet with him. She thought about Pervis a lot and how much she would tell him tonight. When Della rewrote her profile she took almost everything out that Bunny had originally put in. When Della ,got through, there wasn't much about Bunny in it. Della assured Bunny that was the best thing to do.
Wade came in at 4 to meet with her. He was considering buying some more properties and needed her thoughts on it. They had a good meeting. "Bunny", Wade said, "I know I don't say it enough, but you do a great job here." Bunny thanked him and they talked for a while before he left.
Bunny wrapped up her work, packed her bag, told Della good night, and went home to change clothes before dinner. It took her a while to decide what to wear but she finally chose a sundress. She was slowly learning what to wear, or not, from past fashion disasters.
Walking through the dining room she noticed the brass candlelabra. Where the heck did they come from? Where were the silver ones? She went into the living room. Nothing was out of place that she could tell but it just did not seem right. She noticed the large crystal vase on the cocktail table was no longer there. In it's place was a smaller one made of depression glass. But is was time for her to meet Pervis. She would deal with this later.
By the time Bunny got to the Starlite, Pervis was waiting for her with a bouquet of flowers. When they sat down, the first thing Pervis said was, "My mama will love you." And he went on for several minutes talking about his mother.
Bunny asked him if he worked. He told her that he was an accountant. His mother had been a math teacher so he had always been good with numbers. "She is very proud of me," he said with a smile.
Throughout dinner, every subject they discussed always ended up relating to Pervis's mother. Bunny was so tired of it she almost started to bring her mother into the conversation to make things more interesting but she wasn't willing to kill the relationship yet.
When dinner was finished, Pervis told Bunny he enjoyed their evening very much and hoped he could see her again. Maybe he could take her to meet his mother. To keep from comitting to another evening dedicated to Mrs. Mahan, Bunny was noncommittal.
As she got in her car, Bunny thought, "Next."
