Chapter 66

"Mr. Bell, I want to go over the terms of my trust," I said, emerging from the bedroom, showered, shaved, and dressed. "If I died, who is in charge of the trust, and how does it continue?"

Mr. Bell thought for a moment and said, "We've set it up just as you asked, Brian. My firm becomes trustee, and manages all funds, appoints successors, and protects all successors from overspending or improperly depleting the trust. Do you want to do something different? Let me get a legal pad and take some notes."

We reviewed options for some time while Rebecca, Colleen, and Mrs. Bell went off on a shopping expedition. It gave me privacy to explain my intentions to Mr. Bell. "You and Colleen already have full access to the trust, as my attorneys. I want you, to fix it so Rebecca and Mrs. Bell also have full access and use of the trust from now on. If you need money to expand the marina, buy boats, take a vacation, buy a small country, or anything else, I want you four to be able to use my trust as if it was yours." He was going to fight on this one. I already knew it.

"Brian, before setting this in place, you need to think about what you're proposing..."

I cut him off, "Mr. Bell, we both know I won't live a long time. We keep dancing around the truth, but it doesn't make it less true. You four are the only family I've got and will ever have, so please fix it so you all can have equal access to the trust. If that means fancy legal language, please make it so."

We'd been working through my financial portfolio for a couple of hours. My thirty-three million shares of the startup rental truck company seemed to be panning out, and I asked Mr. Bell to put a sell order in starting at thirty-eight dollars a share and sell off in blocks until they were all gone. There were five other startups I was invested in, one had gone through the roof, and before the brokers could get it all sold, I made over twenty-four million after-tax dollars.

The trust was as healthy as it could be, and I knew something they didn't. It was time to start to get everybody ready.

When Rebecca led Colleen and Mrs. Bell into the suite, lugging armfuls of shopping, bags, we both jumped to help them with their loads. They were pink from the cold, excited from the excursion, and happy for having spent the afternoon destroying their credit cards.

When Colleen saw what we were doing, she immediately changed. "Daddy, what's going on? Is there a problem with Brian's trust accounts? Did the bank screw up, because if they did, I'll have that fat idiot's head before the end of the day." She was ready to go to war until Mr. Bell told them all to find a seat, because he had some important information to share.

"Brian and I spent the afternoon reworking his trust arrangements. He has decided to make all five of us access to the trust, with full rights. There is some legal wrangling I will need to do, to make it all kosher, but that's what lawyers are for. I will still retain management rights and will have to approve large withdrawals, but Brian has chosen to make everything available.

"Colleen, before you say it - I tried to talk him out of it, but he isn't budging. He says he has something important to share with us and needs us all present to do so..." He turned to me expectantly.

"First off, I love you all. You're the family I dreamed about when things were rough at home. I could never thank you enough for what you've done and what you continue to do for me.

"Rebecca, Colleen, this is going to be hard for you to hear, but I can feel things happening inside, and they aren't good things. I'm dying. It might not be right now, but I am weaker each day, and no amount of rest or exercise is helping.

"The doctors that did the last surgery gave me a list of warning signs that I was deteriorating, and I recognize them all. The last one showed up this morning. My balance is off, and my attention span has deteriorated.