I did.
Then I put the call on speaker and began taking photographs.
CHAPTER 2 – The Other Mother
Rebecca stopped in the doorway when Nora told me to come to her office.
“This is a family arrangement,” she said.
“It requires the owner’s agreement,” Nora replied.
“She would have agreed if she’d listened.”
I photographed that page twice because my hand shook.
Andrew offered to drive me. I took my own keys.
At the front door, I looked back. Neither of them had touched the pieces of the notice.
Nora met me downstairs. She took the contract without commenting on the deep creases my fingers had left in it.
In her office, she read every page.
“This contract does not transfer ownership,” she said. “And a forged signature doesn’t become yours because three weeks have passed.”
I had not realized how much weight I had put on that date until I began to cry.
Nora pushed a box of tissues toward me and kept working.
The contract named a title company and a closing date nine days away. Nora called the company with me beside her, then sent written notice disputing the transaction and demanding that nothing proceed.
They had already requested a direct identity verification meeting with the seller.
Rebecca had postponed it twice.
“They were going to have to bring me in,” I said.
“Or try something else. We’ll find out.”
My phone rang.
Lillian’s name appeared on the screen.
We had shared holiday meals and the awkward kindness of two women whose children had married. I knew she took her tea weak. I knew she had sold her salon the previous year.
I did not know whether she had helped them steal my house.
Nora nodded when I showed her the screen.
“Rebecca says you’re having an episode,” Lillian said.
Her voice was breathless.
“What kind?”
“She wouldn’t explain.”
“I’m at my attorney’s office. I found a contract with your signature on it.”
