“She signed the deed.”
“I know.”
“You saw it.”
“I did.”
“Then what exactly do you think you have?”
I looked at the envelope from the clock.
“Enough to make you nervous.”
He went quiet.
That was the first time I knew we had reached him.
“What did she give you?”
I did not answer.
“What did Mom give you, Emily?”
His voice no longer sounded angry.
It sounded afraid.
My eyes moved to the brass key on the table.
“You removed Dad’s clock,” I said.
Silence.
“What?”
“The walnut clock.”
Another silence.
Then Derek said, too quickly, “That old thing was taking up space.”
I smiled without humor.
“Was it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You tell me.”
He hung up.
Mom and I looked at each other.
“He knows,” she whispered.
“No.”
I picked up the key.
“He knows there was something to know.”
That evening, Laura called.
“Derek’s attorney contacted me.”
“What does he want?”
“To resolve this privately.”
I looked at Mom.
“That was fast.”
“He also wants to know exactly what evidence we intend to rely on.”
I stared at the housekeeping badge beside the envelope.
“Tell him he’ll find out.”
Laura was silent for a moment.
Then she said, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Derek is hosting the same dinner he postponed after your arrival. Tomorrow night. Several relatives, neighbors, and business associates are expected.”
I remembered the flowers.
The table.
The champagne.
The way he had been preparing to perform ownership in front of other people while Mom scrubbed the floor.
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because he’s presenting himself publicly as the owner while litigation is pending.”
I looked at Mom.
Her face had gone still.
For months, Derek’s power had depended on one thing more than the deed.
He controlled the story.
Mom was confused.
Mom needed help.
Derek had rescued her.
The house was his.
Emily had abandoned everyone.
Every cruelty had been hidden behind those explanations.
I reached across the table.
“Mom, what do you want?”
She looked at me.
Not Laura.
Not the papers.
Me.
“I want my house back.”
“Anything else?”
She looked down at the gray badge.
Then she said, “I want him to look at me when I tell him why.”
