Chapter 16 - Mom's Cabin
The cabin was small.
One bedroom.
Peeling green paint.
A dock that leaned slightly left.
It sat on six acres two hours north.
My mother loved it.
I barely remembered.
Grandma had kept it because selling felt impossible after Erin died.
Now she planned to transfer it to me.
Lauren discovered that through the investigator.
Suddenly her behavior made more sense.
Not morally.
Strategically.
She believed I would graduate with scholarships, a college fund, Grandma's gifts, and eventually property.
Mia had none of those things.
Instead of helping Mia build her own future, Lauren tried to cut mine down until they looked equal.
Grandma said, "Envy is expensive. People always think they're stealing from the other person. Mostly they steal years from themselves."
Mia heard her.
She cried.
Then asked if she could get a summer job at Grandma's garden store.
Ruth looked at me first.
I shrugged.
"Her choice."
Grandma hired her at minimum wage.
No special treatment.
Mia lasted three days before complaining about her feet.
She went back the fourth.
That mattered.
Dad sold several things to restore what had been taken from my accounts.
His motorcycle.
A collection of watches.
The extra car.
He did not narrate his sacrifice.
Also mattered.
Lauren's divorce case became uglier, then quieter when the financial records came out.
She faced separate questions about the checks, the credit card, and the account transfers. The legal process moved slower than our emotions wanted.
Good.
Slow facts were better than fast revenge.
Then Lauren asked to meet me.
Alone.
I said no.
She asked again through her attorney.
I said I would meet in Karen's office with Dad absent and a third party present.
Lauren agreed.
When she walked in, she looked tired.
Not defeated.
Tired.
She sat across from me and said:
"I never hated you, Claire."
I almost laughed.
Then she placed one envelope on the table.
May you like
"Your mother wrote this to Michael before she died."
Dad had never seen it.
