PART 7

I looked toward the front window.

Mark’s car was disappearing down the street.

My son had made a terrible mistake.

But perhaps he wasn’t beyond saving.

Alicia was another story.

Because she had not made one mistake.

She had built an entire plan.

And plans leave evidence.

I picked up the blue binder.

There was still one section Samuel hadn’t shown them.

A section containing transactions I hadn’t mentioned.

Transactions that began two years ago.

Transactions involving a second bank account.

An account Alicia didn’t know I had discovered.

I opened it.

Samuel looked over my shoulder.

“You’re sure you want to do this?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

I looked at the final page.

Then I smiled.

“Find out who else knew.”

Because something had been bothering me.

Alicia knew about the forty-thousand-dollar gift.

She knew about the house.

She knew about Raymond’s assets.

She knew about my accounts.

Too much.

She had never been the person who handled our finances.

Raymond had.

After he died, Samuel had.

So how did Alicia know exactly where everything was?

I turned the page.

There it was.

A transfer.

A large one.

Made eighteen months ago.

Not to Alicia.

Not to Mark.

To someone named Bruce Carter.

The same realtor who had been “admiring my crown molding.”

Samuel stared at the name.

His expression changed.

“Dorothy…”

“What?”

He pointed at the amount.

“That’s not a realtor commission.”

I looked closer.

$25,000.

And beneath it, in the memo line, were three words:

Consulting — Estate Preparation.

I looked toward the door.

Then back at Samuel.

“Sam?”

“Yes?”

“Raymond always told me there was one person you should never trust with a secret.”

“Who?”

I closed the binder.

“A person who already knows exactly how much your house is worth.”

Samuel’s face went serious.

“Then we have another problem.”

And this time, I wasn’t afraid.

Because whatever they had planned for me by Christmas…

I had started planning for them today.

“Then we have another problem.”

I looked at Samuel.

“What problem?”

He turned the statement toward himself and studied it again.

“The payment to Bruce was eighteen months ago.”

“Yes.”

“But the first conversation about Silver Meadows happened less than six months ago.”

I nodded.

“So?”

“So Bruce knew about this before Alicia ever mentioned moving you.”

A chill moved through me.

I looked at the front window.

Mark’s car had already disappeared.

Alicia’s car was gone too.

For four years, I had believed my daughter-in-law was simply careless with money.

Selfish.

Entitled.

Greedy.

But now I wondered whether I’d been looking at the wrong person.

“Sam,” I said quietly, “what exactly did Raymond leave me?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he closed the binder.

“That’s what I came here to tell you.”

My stomach tightened.

“You mean there is something else?”

“There always was.”

He opened his leather folder and pulled out a document I had never seen before.

It was old.

Yellow around the edges.

My husband’s handwriting was on the envelope.

For Dorothy. Only after I’m gone.

My fingers trembled.

“Raymond wrote this?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Three weeks before he died.”

I stared at the envelope.

For four years, I had thought I knew everything my husband wanted me to know.

Apparently, I didn’t.

I opened it.

Inside was a single handwritten letter.

I recognized his handwriting immediately.

My eyes filled with tears before I even read the first sentence.

Dot,

If you’re reading this, then I didn’t get the chance to tell you everything.

Don’t be angry with me.

I wanted to protect you.

But more importantly, I wanted to protect what we built for you.

I stopped.

Samuel quietly looked away.

I continued.

The house is not the most valuable thing you own.

And the money is not the most valuable thing I left you.

There is something else.

Trust the person who has been helping me.

His name is Samuel.

He knows.

I looked up.

“Sam…”

He nodded.

“Keep reading.”

My hands shook.

There are people who will come after what we built.

Some will pretend they love you.

Some will tell you that you’re too old to manage your own affairs.

Some will make you feel guilty for saying no.

Don’t confuse their urgency with your emergency.

You have spent your whole life taking care of everyone else.

For once, Dot, take care of yourself.

I pressed the letter against my chest.

That was Raymond.

Even in death, he knew me.

He knew I would feel guilty.

He knew I would question myself.

He knew I would wonder whether I was being selfish.

Then I reached the final paragraph.

There is one more thing.

If anyone ever tries to sell the house without your knowledge, do not fight them alone.

Ask Samuel about the lake property.

He will know what to do.

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART…