There Was Another Account

Sophie expected the conversation to be entirely bad news.

It wasn’t.

David opened a second folder.

Her grandmother had apparently worried that the first fund might not be enough.

Several years before she died, Eleanor had created a separate education account.

It wasn’t nearly as large.

But unlike the other money, Sophie’s parents had no control over it.

“How much?” Sophie asked.

“Approximately twenty-one thousand dollars.”

Sophie stared at him.

“Mom and Dad don’t know?”

“They were informed of its existence,” David said carefully. “But they were not beneficiaries or managers.”

Sophie leaned back.

For the first time since arriving at college, she felt like she could breathe.

Twenty-one thousand wouldn’t cover everything.

But combined with the eleven thousand left in the original account and her scholarships, it changed the situation dramatically.

Then David added:

“There is still the matter of the missing funds.”