The mediation-room door opened just as Patricia asked Derek to read the deed aloud.
I turned first.
Daniel stood in the doorway with a small travel bag still hanging from one shoulder.
My son had flown in from overseas without telling Derek or Claire.
He had told me he was trying to rearrange his schedule, but I had not allowed myself to expect him.
For three months I had been teaching myself not to expect anything from anyone until I could see it with my own eyes.
Daniel looked at me, then at the typed gift letter on the table.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said.
Derek’s jaw tightened.
Claire covered her mouth.
Patricia did not dramatize the moment.
That was one of the things I had come to appreciate about her.
She treated emotion as something important but separate from evidence.
She pointed to the empty chair beside me.
“Mr.
Hale, you can sit with your mother.
You won’t participate unless we need you.”
Daniel sat down.
His hand briefly touched mine beneath the table.
That was all.
No speech.
No rescue.
No performance.
Just proof that I was no longer sitting alone.
Patricia turned back to Derek.
“The deed, Mr.
Mercer.”
He stared at her.
“What about it?”
“You were asked to read the names.”
Derek’s attorney shifted in his chair.
“Patricia, I think we understand whose names are on the deed.”
“I want the record here to be very clear.”
The mediator nodded.
Derek looked down.
“Derek Alan Mercer.
Claire Anne Mercer.”
“And Margaret Hale?” Patricia asked.
“Is not listed.”
“Despite your email telling her that putting her on the deed was ‘all taken care of’?”
Derek’s attorney interrupted.
“We dispute the characterization of that email.”
Patricia did not raise her voice.
“Then we can characterize the gift letter.”
She turned it toward me.
“Margaret, is that your signature?”
“No.”
Derek looked directly at me.
“You signed a stack of documents at closing.”
“I did not attend the closing.”
The room went quiet.
Claire slowly turned toward him.
Derek blinked.
“You signed documents before closing.”
“Some,” I said.
“Documents you brought to the house.”
