Chapter 6: What Thomas Knew
I called the number immediately.
He picked up on the first ring, like he'd been holding the phone.
"Thomas," I said.
"Gran." His voice was younger than I expected — or maybe I had just forgotten how young sixteen sounds.
"I wasn't sure you'd call back."
"I called the second I read your message.
Are you all right?"
"I'm fine.
I'm at home.
Mum doesn't know I'm contacting you." A pause.
"She went to yours this morning, didn't she."
"She did."
"With Dad."
"Yes."
He exhaled.
"I tried to tell her not to.
She said it wasn't my business." Another pause.
"But I heard them talking, Gran.
A lot of it.
Over the last few weeks.
When they thought I wasn't listening."
"Tell me what you heard."
He was quiet for a moment, gathering himself.
Then: "Dad is in a lot of financial trouble.
More than he's told anyone.
He borrowed money from someone — I don't know who — and he can't pay it back.
Diane's been pushing him to sort it out." His voice dropped slightly.
"She's the one who found out about your house.
She looked you up.
She told Dad what it was worth."
"How much does she think it's worth?"
"She said somewhere around eight hundred thousand.
Maybe more." He paused.
"Dad told Mum that if he could get himself established in your house — even just on paper, as a co-owner or a caretaker or something — he could use that to secure a loan.
To pay back what he owes."
I sat down slowly in the armchair near the window.
"He wants to use my house as collateral," I said.
"For his debt."
"Yes." Thomas's voice was very quiet now.
"Gran, the person he borrowed from — I heard a name once.
Mum seemed frightened by it.
That's what worried me most.
It's not just about the house.
Someone is putting pressure on Dad, and Dad is putting that pressure onto you."
"How long has this been planned?"
"Diane started it about two months ago.
She's the one who suggested he reach out to you.
Dad wasn't going to.
He hadn't thought about you in—" Thomas stopped himself.
"Sorry.
That came out wrong."
"No," I said.
"It came out honest.
That's all right."
"I'm sorry, Gran.
For all of it.
For not being in touch.
That's Mum's doing partly, but I'm sixteen now.
I should have found a way."
I pressed my hand flat against my knee and held it there.
"You found a way today," I said.
"That matters."
"I want to see you," he said.
"Not because of the house.
Not because of any of this.
I just — I've been looking at photos of you and Grandad lately.
I don't know why.
And I realized I've lost so much time."
My throat tightened.
"Come whenever you want," I said.
"You don't need permission from anyone.
You're sixteen.
Text me before you get on the bus and I'll have food ready when you arrive."
He made a sound that was somewhere between a breath and a laugh.
"Okay."
"Thomas." I paused.
"Is there anything else I should know?
Anything specific they said about what they'd do if I refused to cooperate?"
A long silence.
"Dad said something to Diane one night," he said slowly.
"He didn't know I was on the landing.
He said—" He stopped.
"He said that if you wouldn't do it willingly, they'd find a way to make it a welfare concern.
Get someone official involved.
Say you weren't coping alone."
The room was very still.
"He said that."
"Yes."
I thanked Thomas.
I told him I loved him — words I hadn't said to anyone in that family in years, words that came out more easily than I expected.
I told him to keep his phone charged and to contact me if anything changed.
Then I sat in the chair and waited for Ruth.
She arrived seventeen minutes later.
She came through the door, looked at my face, and sat down across from me without taking her coat off.
"Tell me everything," she said.
So I did.
When I finished, Ruth was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "The welfare concern angle.
That's the part that worries me most."
"Me too," I said.
"That's not just pressure.
That's a plan." She looked at me steadily.
"We need to move first, Eleanor.
And we need someone in our corner who knows exactly what to do."
She reached into her bag and took out a business card.
She placed it on the table between us.
"My solicitor's colleague," she said.
"She specializes in exactly this kind of thing.
Elder financial protection.
I rang her this morning."
I picked up the card.
May you like
"She can see you Monday," Ruth said.
"First thing."
