Daniel turned toward her.
“Don’t start with that.”
“You told her I didn’t want anything to do with her.”
“This is a family matter.”
“I’m your family.”
“You walked away from this family.”
“Because you told me our mother didn’t want me!”
He looked at her with a mixture of anger and something close to panic.
“You always needed someone to blame. You left because you wanted to leave.”
“Then why did you keep my letters?”
Daniel said nothing.
“Why did you keep every letter I ever sent to this house?”
His silence became an answer in itself.
Eleanor rose slowly from her chair.
“You told me my daughter had forgotten me,” she said. “You told me she had asked you to keep me away from her. You made me feel ashamed whenever I wanted to call her.”
Daniel turned toward his mother.
“I was trying to keep this family together.”
“No. You were keeping us apart.”
He looked around the room, searching for a familiar point of leverage. His eyes settled on Eleanor’s hands.
“Mom, please. You don’t want to do this. We can talk about the paperwork tomorrow. I’ll explain everything.”
“You had three months to explain.”
“And you listened to Claire instead of me?”
“I listened to you for years,” Eleanor replied. “That was the problem.”
Daniel stepped toward the laptop. Claire immediately stood between him and the table.
“Don’t touch it.”
“Move.”
“No.”
He looked at her, then at their mother.
“You have no idea what you’re doing. Those documents are incomplete. The transfer is legal.”
“Then you won’t mind explaining the signature,” Claire said.
