Betty’s heart hurt at the sight of him. She could see the boy beneath the man, the frightened child who had believed that love had to be purchased with obedience. She could see how Susan had found the wound and pressed her fingers into it until he could no longer tell the difference between devotion and surrender.
“I should have chosen my mother the first time she needed me,” Jake said.
Susan slapped him.
The sound struck the room like a gunshot.
Martha gasped. Harold stepped forward, but Jake lifted one hand.
“Don’t,” he said.
He turned his face back toward Susan. A red mark was already rising along his cheek.
“I’m not going to hit you,” he said. “I’m not going to threaten you. I’m not going to beg you to stay.”
Susan stared at him.
“I’m going to tell the truth.”
She took a step back.
Jake placed the deed on the table. “I signed those pages because Susan told me the mortgage was active and that the house would be lost if I didn’t transfer my interest. I did not read every page. I did not verify anything. I lied to my mother by omission, and I let Susan treat her like a trespasser in her own home.”
Betty’s fingers tightened around Frank’s photograph.
“I am sorry,” Jake said to her.
The apology was too small for the harm, and he knew it.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me tonight. I’m not asking you to let me stay here. I’m not asking you to make me feel better. I should have protected you when she took your picture. I should have stopped her the first time she told you to go upstairs. I should have told her the truth before she ever crossed this doorway.”
Betty looked at his cheek, then at his hands.
“You should have,” she said.
He nodded.
The honesty hurt more than an excuse would have. It gave her nothing to fight against.
Susan began gathering the papers. “This is ridiculous. Nobody is going to prosecute a family disagreement.”
Marian took the pages from her.
“This is not a family disagreement,” she said. “It is an attempted fraudulent transfer involving forged or unauthorized signatures, false representations, and an intended sale of property you do not own.”
Susan’s breathing became shallow.
Marian continued, “I have already sent copies of the recording and the documents to the county investigator. If the signature on the transfer was made without authorization, that will be determined by a forensic examiner. The prospective buyer has also been notified that the transaction is invalid.”
Susan turned toward Jake. “You called them?”
“I did,” he said.
“When?”
“Before Marian arrived.”
“You planned this.”
“No. I finally stopped hiding it.”
A siren sounded far away.
Susan went still.
Harold sat heavily in the nearest chair. “What have you done?”
She looked at him. “I did what I had to do.”
“No,” he said. “You did what you wanted.”
Martha began to cry silently. She wiped her cheeks with both hands, but the tears kept coming.
“I believed you,” she whispered. “You told me Betty was cruel. You told me she wanted us gone. You said Jake was taking care of everything.”
Susan stared at her mother. “You wanted to believe me.”
“Yes,” Martha said. “Because believing you meant I didn’t have to admit my daughter had become someone I was afraid of.”
