The Goldbloom Inheritance

By Alida van den Bos

Its the story about Joshua Goldbloom, a billionaire living in a penthouse, who has an incurable cancer. The family is waiting for him to die, except his youngest son and daughter,

Gabrielle. After his doctor tells him theres absolutely no hope of a cure, Joshua calls his solicitor and makes sure his greedy family wont get all his money, then throws himself of his balcony and dies instantly. When the family finds out Joshua had an affair with Helena and they have a daughter Miranda who will inherit his money. When the grandsons and a daughter in law find out, they make a pact, Helena and her daughter have to go so they can have the inheritance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479704507

Alida van den Bos

Born in the Netherlands, Alida lives on the Central Coast, near Newcastle, Australia. Her love of writing has been a lifelong pursuit leading her to become a novelist ten years ago. Alida emigrated to Australia in 1959 with her husband and two children where adventure beckoned and the family tried opal digging in Coober Pedy and Lightning Ridge. A move to midwestern New South Wales town of Orange where her third child was born and with her husband started a horse stud, aptly named Running Hoofs, leading to success in local and metropolitan racecourses.

Book preview

Chapter One – Retaliation

Joshua Goldbloom sat in his wheelchair thinking over what the doctor had told him. In his eightieth year he still looked good, had all his hair, albeit gray, and only needed glasses to read, but in the last six months he’d begun to feel ill.

After examining him, Doctor David Morgenstar, a tall man in his fifties and impeccably dressed, looked grave as he informed him, ‘I’m sorry Joshua, the news is bad. Let’s not beat about the bush, all tests have come back positive, and as you’ve probably guessed, there’s nothing we can do for you anymore, apart from painkillers.’

Joshua sighed. ‘I’d expected that, no chance of a liver transplant?’ He still had some hope of being saved, but in his heart he knew the inevitable.

As the doctor shook his head, the little pince-nez he’d always had on the end of his rather large nose, nearly fell off. ‘It’s all through your main organs Joshua, it’s too late for that now.’

‘How long have I got David?’

The doctor shrugged his shoulders. ‘Hard to say, maybe three months? Let’s say you’ll make your eightieth birthday, that’s in two days isn’t it? Remember, most people don’t make it that far.’ Taking some pills out of his bag, he placed them on the small table next to Joshua’s wheelchair, saying, ‘I’ll leave these with you for the pain, and I’ll be back tomorrow.’

‘Please don’t tell anybody what you’ve just told me, not even my nurse, okay?’

‘If you wish.’

After the doctor left, Joshua, a man of medium height and dark appearance mainly attributed to Jewish people, wheeled himself onto the balcony of his multimillion dollar penthouse in Manly, New South Wales, Australia, overlooking the main beach and the Pacific Ocean. Here I am, he thought, all my life I worked hard, taking gambles to accumulate what I have now, and finally, when I want to start enjoying my millions, I’ve become a recluse.

But come to think of it, haven’t I always enjoyed myself? Chasing the money, taking gambles, wasn’t that what kept me going all these years? I bought Poseidon shares when they were still cheap, then sold when they were close to two hundred dollars. I bought gold before the price went up, and I owned several of the buildings around here, buying when I thought the time was right, and selling as soon as I began to feel ill.

Looking down, he saw people and cars as small as ants moving around as if nothing important had occurred, and that made him think, life goes on no matter what. Sadly the world isn’t going to stop for me.

It would be so easy to end the misery, all he had to do was go to the edge, fall over the railing, and in seconds his life would be over. No pain, no grieving family at his bedside who, when it was over, would have a party and celebrate anyway. They’d been waiting for him to die for the last six months, as soon as they noticed he’d bought a wheelchair. But he thought, I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them fritter away my wealth.

Slowly an idea formed in his head, and with a triumphant smile on his face, he went back inside and telephoned his lawyer, Ralph Harris, rubbing his hands together thinking about what he was going to do. It would serve his family right, they’d never inquired about his health, forgotten most of his birthdays, made only a short visit on Christmas Day, and even then had the lame excuse of being in a hurry. When their children were young they didn’t even bring them to see their grandfather, using another lame excuse that they could fall off the balcony.

When Ralph answered the phone, Joshua explained what he had in mind. ‘Could you see me sometime tomorrow?’ he asked.

‘Sure,’ Ralph replied. ‘Is ten o’clock all right?’

‘Yes Ralph, that’ll be great, I’ll see you then.’ Slowly Joshua put down the phone, still wondering about what he was going to do, when he heard a knock on the door, and without waiting, his friend Guido Waterman walked in.

Joshua was accustomed to Guido barging in, as he came to see him practically every day. A sixty-five-year old retired army Colonel, Guido still walked as if he was marching, never married, and Joshua thought he had that type of friendly face of someone who’d seen it all, as he’d been in Vietnam and Korea. Nearly bald, he couldn’t read without his glasses.

Sometimes he’d do odd carpentry jobs, as that had been his hobby when in the army, but he spent most of his time with Joshua, and lately, to do something different, he’d been learning to fly a plane.

‘How do you like this, I landed a plane all by myself this morning,’ he announced.

‘Sounds great Guido, when can you take me on a flight? It would be so interesting. I’ve never been in a small plane.’

‘Be patient, I need a few more lessons Joshua.’ Taking a chair facing him, Guido began to explain what he’d learned that day, but Joshua wasn’t really interested, as he had his own death sentence on his mind. He wondered, should he tell Guido? Would he or one of his friends tell someone in the family? No, he couldn’t take the risk, at least not before he’d seen his lawyer.

‘Grab yourself a drink Guido,’ he said. ‘You know where the beer is, or maybe you’d rather join me in a whiskey?’

‘Yes, wait there, I’ll get it.’ After taking a bottle of whiskey and two glasses out of a cabinet, Guido placed them on a small table next to Joshua’s chair. ‘Water?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I prefer water to ice, but if you want ice, you know where it is.’

‘No, water’s fine with me,’ Guido said as he took a jug with cooled water from the fridge. ‘And how have you been keeping? Bored stiff I suppose.’

Joshua tried to sound optimistic. ‘I’ll be getting out of this chair soon, then I’ll get you to take me up in your small plane. I can’t wait for that.’

Looking doubtful, Guido didn’t say anything. He thought that every day he visited, his friend looked worse, and he had a feeling Joshua wasn’t telling the truth. ‘How were the tests they took the other day, any results yet?’

‘Not yet, you know how slow they work,’ Joshua replied wryly, then grinned. ‘Let’s say no news is good news.’

‘I hope you’re right. By the way, I saw Daniel, your grandson, the other day. He said hello, and couldn’t wait to show me his new Ferrari sports car. I asked him if his parents knew he’d bought the car, and he said of course, don’t you see, we’ll be rich as soon as my grandfather dies, he’s nearly eighty. So I warned him you could live to be a hundred. Not my grandpa, he said, he’s in a wheelchair already.’

After letting that sink in, Joshua remarked, ‘You know, I’m not surprised at that, my family members are vultures.’ Taking a sip of his whiskey, he shrugged his shoulders, then added, ‘The sad part is, they’re all the same, except Benjamin and his daughter, Gabrielle. I plan to teach the others a lesson one day.’

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation, and a young lady entered. ‘Hello Grandpa, how are you feeling today?’ she asked brightly.

The daughter of his youngest son Benjamin, nineteen-year-old Gabrielle had just started university after backpacking around Europe for a year. She was the only daughter in the family who, with her dark hair and brown eyes, resembled her once younger grandfather, and she was also the only one who visited him regularly.

‘I’m fine darling, and how do you like studying at the university?’

‘Great, I love it. I just came to see if you had any news.’

‘Not yet Gabrielle, we have to be patient.’

‘Of course,’ she replied as she hugged her grandfather, then noticed his friend. ‘How are you Guido, how’s life treating you? I’m so glad you’re here to keep my grandpa company, he doesn’t get many visitors.’

‘Help yourself to a drink Gabrielle,’ Joshua offered.

‘Thank you, but I’m not staying. I have an essay to write that has to be in by tomorrow, and there could be mail from Michiel.’ Squeezing her grandpa’s arm, she went on enthusiastically, ‘Remember, he’s the Dutch guy I told you about, and he’s coming to Australia soon. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon when you’ve finished your nap, and I’ll stay longer then. All right Grandpa?’ After hugging him again, with a wave to Guido she left.

Joshua smiled, clearly proud of his granddaughter. ‘That Michiel must be something special, she’s always talking about him.

‘She still lives at home, doesn’t she?’

‘Yes, it’s handy. She might as well, although she doesn’t get on with her mother. Apparently she’s always away, and Gabrielle feels sorry for her father who, as she says, needs her to look after him.’

‘Yes Joshua, I think you told me before. Do you know what is exactly wrong with him? It must be bad if he needs help.’

‘Yes. He suffers from Meniere’s disease, and Gabrielle told me it gives him dizzy spells, sometimes falling down. Apparently he can go on for long periods when he feels there’s nothing wrong with him, then out of the blue his world is spinning again, and that makes him vomit. It’s a balance problem, and so far there’s no cure. I think that’s why his wife goes away all the time, thinking he’s putting it on, or alternatively she has someone else.’

That made Guido curious. ‘Why doesn’t she just leave him? Gabrielle doesn’t need her mother anymore.’

Joshua laughed at that, then replied, ‘You don’t get it. If she leaves now she thinks she won’t be in my last will and testament, so she’ll probably leave as soon as I’m dead.’

Guido nodded, he’d