Chapter 9: The Signing
Brittany came to Grace's office on a Tuesday.
Marcus came with me.
He wore a plain dark sweater and he held the door for me when we arrived and he did not speak unless spoken to, which was not like him, but I understood it.
The office was on the fourth floor of a building downtown, and the conference room had a long table and four chairs and a window that looked out over the parking structure.
There was nothing warm about it, and I think Grace had chosen it on purpose.
Brittany came in with her lawyer, a man named Filmore who had the look of someone managing a headache.
She was dressed carefully again.
She had learned by now that I noticed that.
Grace put the statement on the table.
It was two pages.
Clear language.
No legal softening.
*I, Brittany L.
Hawkins, did knowingly and without authorization transfer the property located at [address] Almeda Road from the name of Dorothy Mae Hawkins into a limited liability company under my sole control.
I did so without the knowledge or consent of Dorothy Mae Hawkins or Marcus Elton Hawkins.
The signature attributed to Marcus Elton Hawkins on the transfer document dated November of the prior year is not his signature and was not made by him.*
Filmore said, "We'd like to amend the second paragraph to —"
"No," Grace said.
"The language around the signature is —"
"No amendments," Grace said.
"The document reflects what happened.
If your client wants to contest the language, we'll be back to discussing the state filing."
Filmore looked at Brittany.
Brittany looked at the statement.
I looked at my son.
Marcus was looking at the table.
His jaw was set.
His hands were in his lap and very still.
"Brittany," I said.
She looked up at me.
"This is the last time I'm going to speak to you directly about any of this," I said.
"After today I'm going to let the lawyers handle whatever is left.
But I want to say one thing to your face before we finish."
She waited.
"You thought I was someone who could be managed," I said.
"You thought because I was quiet, I was weak.
You thought because I loved my son, you could use that love against me." I paused.
"I have buried a husband.
I raised a child by myself for two years when Marcus's father was working three jobs to keep this family alive.
I have sat with dying friends and sung at their funerals and gone home and made dinner and gotten up the next morning." I kept my voice level.
"I am seventy years old, and I have been underestimated before.
I will probably be underestimated again.
But not by you.
Not after today."
The room was very quiet.
Brittany picked up the pen.
She signed on the first line.
Her hand was steady, I'll give her that.
She signed on the second line.
She put the pen down and pushed the document across the table without looking at anyone, and she and Filmore stood up and left.
Grace notarized the statement and slid a copy across to me.
Marcus let out a breath that sounded like it had been sitting in his chest for eleven days.
"Is it over?" he said.
"The house reversal files Friday," Grace said.
"Sixty days and the deed is back in Dorothy's name.
The state complaint is withdrawn per the agreement." She looked at me.
"It's over."
May you like
Marcus put his hand over mine on the table.
Outside the window a car alarm was going off two floors down in the parking structure, steady and insistent, and then it stopped.
