“Are you Margaret Hale?”
“Yes.”
“Owner of record for the property on Crestview Lane?”
Margaret nodded.
The clerk handed her a certified copy of the deed, along with the mortgage satisfaction statement.
The house had been paid off decades ago.
It belonged to Margaret.
Every room.
Every wall.
Every memory.
CHAPTER 2 – The Other Envelope
When she returned home, Daniel was pacing in the kitchen, phone pressed tightly to his ear.
Vanessa stood near the refrigerator, staring at the rules she had written.
Margaret placed the envelope between them.
Daniel’s face changed before he even opened it.
“What did you do?” he whispered.
Margaret pushed the envelope closer.
Then Vanessa suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t,” she said.
Margaret looked at her daughter-in-law.
Why was Vanessa terrified of a deed that should have belonged only to Margaret?
Daniel pulled his wrist free.
The envelope scraped across the table. He slid out the papers, read the first page, and looked toward the narrow drawer beneath the telephone.
Margaret saw the glance.
“What’s in there?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Vanessa said.
Margaret kept her hand open on the table.
“Bring it here, Daniel.”
He did not move immediately. That small delay hurt more than Margaret expected. Even now, with her name printed plainly before him, he was deciding whose displeasure he could bear.
Then he opened the drawer.
