They were my parents.
I looked at Mom.
“You told me she changed her mind.”
Mom’s expression hardened.
“Because the situation was more complicated than you’re making it sound.”
Grandmother finally looked at her.
“No.
It isn’t.”
She clicked again.
Another document appeared.
This one was newer.
I saw my name again near the bottom.
Or what was supposed to be my name.
A signature.
It looked almost right.
Almost.
Except I make the M in Maya with a long first stroke.
Always have.
The signature on the document had a round, careful M, like somebody copying from a Christmas card.
My mouth went dry.
“That’s not my signature.”
Dad stepped toward us.
“Maya, don’t start making accusations you don’t understand.”
Grandmother shut the laptop halfway.
“Stay where you are.”
He stopped.
The silence around us changed.
Until then, the family had been watching an argument.
Now they were watching evidence.
Grandmother opened the laptop again.
“After I saw Maya outside St.
Brigid,” she said, “I contacted the title office and had the ownership history pulled.
The house was placed in Maya’s name exactly as I intended.
Later, a deed appeared transferring control of the property to a company connected to her parents.”
My mother’s voice rose.
“Connected doesn’t mean owned.”
Grandmother clicked another file.
“It is registered to both of you.”
Mom stopped talking.
I could hear Laya breathing beside me.
I crouched down.
“Sweetheart, why don’t you sit on the couch for a minute?”
She looked at the adults, then back at me.
“Are we in trouble?”
The question almost broke me.
“No,” I said, and this time I meant it.
“We’re not.”
Grandmother waited until Laya was a few steps away before continuing.
The house had not disappeared.
It had never been lost in a failed purchase, as my parents had told me.
It had been there the entire time.
After the transfer, my parents had rented it out.
For years.
Grandmother opened copies of leasing records.
Then statements showing rental payments moving into an account controlled by my parents.
Not one payment had ever reached me.
