Chapter 8
I wanted to call Celeste the moment Mara told me about the challenge.
Mara asked me to come to her office instead.
She showed me the filing. Celeste claimed Dad had become confused after his diagnosis. She argued that I had isolated him and pushed him to sign papers he did not understand.
I read each paragraph slowly.
Dad had made those decisions with an attorney. He had explained them to me the night he came home. Still, seeing my name beside words like pressure and manipulation made my hands shake.
“She’s trying to make the dinner sound like a fight over money,” I said.
“Yes,” Mara replied. “We’ll answer with records and witnesses.”
Dad arrived halfway through the meeting. He read the papers without speaking. Then he looked at Mara.
“I want an independent doctor to document my condition and my ability to make decisions. Tell me what else you need.”
Mara explained the steps. His medical records, earlier estate drafts, meetings with advisers, and his own testimony would establish the timeline.
I offered to leave the room while they discussed it. Dad shook his head.
“You were not involved when I began the plan. That matters. I’ll say it clearly.”
Brianna gave Mara a statement about the dinner. She described the broken plate, Celeste pulling my arm, and Dad arriving with the folder. It was the first time I had heard her tell the whole story without holding anything back.
“I laughed,” she said. “I’m ashamed of it. Emma hadn’t done anything to deserve how Mom treated her.”
Afterward, she came to find me in the hallway.
“I wish I could change that night.”
“You told the truth about it.”
“I should have done it while you were still at the table.”
I took her hand.
“I needed you then. I’m glad you’re here now.”
We stood together until Dad came out of the meeting.
The company investigation continued while Celeste’s challenge moved through its own process. Meridian House released more records. Some payments had gone toward the lake house deposit; others had gone to personal expenses. The total was large enough to affect employees if the company could not recover it.
I hated thinking of our staff reading about it. Mara helped us prepare a clear message: the company had found unauthorized payments, had reported them, and would keep wages and projects on schedule.
I delivered it with Dad beside me.
After the meeting, one of our longest-serving employees stopped me.
“Your mother used to say you’d run this place one day,” she said.
I felt a sudden ache.
“She did?”
“She told anyone who would listen.”
That night, I sat beside Mom’s picture in the sitting room and let myself miss her. I had spent so much energy defending my right to be in that house that I had forgotten how easily she had made it feel like home.
Dad’s procedure took place the following month.
I stayed at the hospital with Brianna and Maya, my closest friend from college. Celeste did not come. She sent a message asking Dad for an update; he chose to have Mara reply that the procedure had gone well.
When the doctor came out, she told us Dad was recovering as expected. I hugged Brianna in the waiting room. She hugged me back without hesitation.
During Dad’s first week home, I worked from his study. He complained that I was using his chair.
“You gave me the shares,” I said. “I thought the chair came with them.”
“Absolutely not.”
He made me laugh, then fell asleep before finishing his tea.
I kept the company moving with Colin and the finance director. On the fourth day, Mara called. The judge had declined Celeste’s request to suspend the transfers while the challenge was considered. The records supporting Dad’s decisions were strong, though the case was not finished.
I told Dad when he woke.
“Good,” he said. “Now tell me about the client meeting.”
“You’re meant to rest.”
“I can listen for five minutes.”
I gave him a five-minute version. He asked one useful question and then let me take his tea cup away.
A week later, Celeste asked to speak with me through Mara. I agreed to a meeting at Mara’s office, with our attorneys present. I wanted to hear why she had challenged Dad’s health after seeing him face treatment.
She arrived looking worn down.
“I didn’t think Richard would go through with giving you the company,” she said.
“Why did that matter to you?”
“Because once you controlled the records, you’d see what Daniel and I had done.”
I stared at her.
“So you tried to make me leave the house before he came home.”
“I wanted you angry enough to stop visiting for a while.”
“You grabbed my arm.”
“I know.”
She looked down at her hands.
“I was afraid.”
“I was afraid too,” I said. “You made me feel that way in a house where I should have been safe.”
Celeste did not answer.
Before the meeting ended, her attorney told Mara she would withdraw the challenge to Dad’s transfers. I wanted to feel triumphant. Mostly, I felt tired.
When I got back to the house, Dad was sitting beneath Mom’s photograph.
“How was it?” he asked.
“She admitted why she wanted me gone.”
He waited.
May you like
“She knew I’d help find the payments.”
Dad held out his hand. I sat beside him and took it.
