Chapter 2 - THE SIGNATURE
The lawn broke into whispers.
I took the paper from Dad.
Mom's signature looked perfect.
Too perfect.
Vanessa grabbed my arm. "Ethan, your father is trying to humiliate me."
"Did Mom sign this?"
"No," Dad said.
Mom sat nearby with ice on her wrist.
"I have never seen that paper."
Vanessa snapped, "It's estate planning."
Dad turned the page.
A notary stamp.
A date from three weeks earlier.
Margaret Ellis, my parents' attorney, stood from the second row.
"I checked that stamp this morning. That notary retired two years ago."
Vanessa went pale.
The document gave her power over Mom's property.
The house.
The lake cabin.
A commercial building.
Mom stared at Vanessa. "You told me those papers were wedding insurance."
Vanessa said, "You signed a blank acknowledgment page. I never used it."
Margaret looked at her.
"You just admitted you had Ruth sign a blank page."
Silence.
I turned to Dad.
"How long have you known?"
"Long enough to come prepared."
He pulled another page from the folder.
Then he looked at me.
May you like
I looked around at the people who had come to celebrate us. My aunt had stopped crying. My best man would not meet my eyes. The whole wedding had suddenly become a courtroom, and I was the only person who had not known there was a case.
"And the forged power of attorney isn't the worst thing here."
