“Grandpa did what?”
Her surprise was genuine.
That mattered to me.
She had known nothing.
Thomas looked at his daughter as though she had personally stolen something from him.
“You knew about this.”
“No,” Charlotte whispered.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Thomas,” I said.
He ignored me.
“You were always at his house.
You were always sitting in that room with him.
What did you say to him?”
Charlotte’s face crumpled.
“I read to him.”
“About the will.”
“No.
About history.
Because he couldn’t see the pages anymore.”
Jennifer covered her mouth.
Thomas looked around the room and saw no ally.
Victoria finally spoke.
“Walter, surely this can be challenged.
Richard was sick.
He had cancer.
He was on medication.”
Walter’s tone changed instantly.
“Mrs.
Mitchell, I advise you to be very careful about suggesting Richard lacked capacity when these documents were executed.”
Victoria stiffened.
“I’m asking a question.”
“Then I’ll answer it.
Richard revised these provisions while fully competent, after repeated private consultations.
The amendment was properly executed and independently witnessed.
His instructions were precise.”
Thomas pointed at me.
“But she made the decision after he died.”
“Correct,” Walter said.
“Based on what?”
Walter looked at me rather than answering.
That part belonged to me.
I placed Richard’s handkerchief on the table.
“Based on forty-two years of watching you become a man who believed being loved meant never being accountable.”
Thomas flinched, but the anger returned almost instantly.
“So this is punishment for missing one funeral?”
Margaret made a quiet sound of disgust.
Thomas swung toward her.
“Stay out of this, Aunt Margaret.”
She had been silent since the meeting began.
Now she leaned forward.
“Your father asked for you three times in his last week.
Did you know that?”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“I was busy.”
Jennifer closed her eyes.
Margaret continued.
