Chapter 4: The House My Mother Left Me
“You used my cottage as collateral?”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“Claire, lower your voice.”
“My mother left that house to me.”
“And it was sitting empty.”
“So you forged my signature again?”
Richard stepped between us when Daniel moved closer.
“Answer your wife.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I borrowed against an asset we both benefited from.”
“The cottage was never yours,” I said.
“We’re married.
Stop talking as though I’m a stranger.”
“A stranger couldn’t have done this much damage.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Fine.
You want the ugly truth?
Your mother never trusted me.
She kept that cottage in your name because she thought our marriage would fail.”
My breath caught.
He saw it and continued.
“She was right about one thing, Claire.
You never learned how to stand on your own.”
The cloth slipped from my fingers.
Cream still clung to my sleeve, and laughter from ten minutes earlier seemed to echo around me.
“Don’t use my mother against me.”
“She warned you about him,” Richard said.
I turned toward him.
“How do you know that?”
Richard placed both hands on the table.
“She called me six months before she passed.
She asked whether Daniel had ever taken money from Lorraine and me.”
Daniel pointed at his father.
“You promised never to mention that.”
“And you promised me there was nothing to mention.”
My knees weakened.
I gripped the back of a chair.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Your mother went behind your back because she thought you were weak.
Now you’re proving her right.”
A chair scraped loudly.
Beth, Daniel’s younger sister, stood from a table near the wall.
She had barely spoken to me in eight years.
“That’s enough, Daniel.”
He turned.
“Stay out of this.”
Beth walked over and placed her phone in my hand.
“You’re not weak, Claire.
We made you feel alone because it was easier than admitting what they were doing.”
Lorraine’s name appeared at the top of a family message thread.
I was the only family member missing from it.
One message had been sent two weeks earlier.
Lorraine: I’ll do the cake thing.
Daniel, keep Claire seated while I get her purse.
Daniel: Make it look spontaneous.
If she gets upset, everyone will think she’s unstable again.
I looked up.
“Again?”
Beth swallowed.
“They have been telling people you’re forgetful and emotional.”
“That’s not what it means,” Daniel said.
Beth scrolled to another message.
Daniel: Once the bank approves the cottage loan, I’ll move the money.
She won’t notice until after the anniversary trip.
I handed the phone back before it fell from my shaking fingers.
“You planned tonight.”
Lorraine reappeared at the restaurant entrance.
Mascara streaked her cheeks, but her voice was steady.
“Beth, give me that phone.”
“No.”
“I am your mother.”
“And Claire is your daughter-in-law, not your target.”
Lorraine walked toward me.
“You caused this by spying on me.”
“You took my money.”
“I borrowed money that my son had every right to use.”
“He had no right to my inheritance.”
Lorraine smiled.
“Then take us to court.
The documents were notarized, the bank approved them, and the cottage sale begins in ten days if the loan isn’t paid.”
Richard held up the key.
“We’ll open the safe first.”
Lorraine’s smile disappeared.
Daniel stepped beside her.
“You can open it, but it won’t help Claire.”
“Why not?” I asked.
May you like
He picked up his coat.
“Because the original documents aren’t there anymore.”
