Chapter 6 - The Revelation
"You didn't have to do that, Mom," Robert said, his voice cracking. He looked around the ruined room, finally noticing the damp towels on my handmade quilt, finally noticing Henry's photo face down on the shelf. Guilt flashed in his eyes, but it was too little, too late.
"I did have to, Robert," I said, walking over to the mantel and carefully righting the picture of Henry. I wiped a smudge of dust off the glass. "Because if I didn't, you would have let her keep doing it."
Megan scoffed, crossing her arms. "You act like this place is a museum. It’s falling apart! We were going to fix it. We were going to make it beautiful for you!"
"You were going to tear down the sunroom," I said simply.
Megan froze. The color drained from her face.
"I heard you on the phone, Megan. I heard you talking about what you were going to do when it belonged to you. You couldn't even wait for me to be in the ground before you started picking out the demolition crew."
Robert whipped his head toward his wife. "What? Megan, what is she talking about? We agreed we wouldn't touch the house until..." He couldn't finish the sentence.
"Oh, grow up, Rob!" she snapped, dropping the victim act entirely. Her true colors bled through, harsh and unforgiving. "This house is a goldmine sitting on a prime piece of beachfront real estate! It's wasted on one old woman who just sits on the porch drinking tea! We have a future to build!"
She turned back to me, her eyes flashing with venom. "But you know what? Fine. Keep your rotting little house. We’ll just wait. You can't take it with you when you die. It goes to Robert eventually, and the day after the funeral, I am bringing in the bulldozers."
I looked at her, then down at my hands—the hands that had bled to buy this floor beneath her feet.
"You really should have checked the public records, Megan," I said softly.
Both of them stared at me.
May you like
"What do you mean?" Robert asked, a sickening dread creeping into his voice.
"I changed my will three months ago," I confessed, feeling a massive weight lift off my shoulders with every word. "I transferred the deed into an irrevocable trust. When I pass, the house goes entirely to the Coastal Conservancy to be used as a protected historical property. It cannot be sold. It cannot be demolished. And it will never, under any circumstances, belong to you."
