Chapter 4
I asked Colin to tell Aisha exactly what he remembered.
He agreed. I thanked him and ended the call, then sat in Mom’s kitchen trying to recall a visit Vanessa had never mentioned.
Maya watched me from across the table.
“Did Mom know Vanessa well?”
“Well enough to offer her tea. Mom was polite to everyone.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No. She didn’t trust Vanessa with personal things.”
I remembered one Sunday dinner. Mom had asked Vanessa about her job in real estate. Vanessa gave a long answer about expensive houses and important clients. After she left, Mom said quietly, “Ask her what she does when nobody is watching.”
I had laughed. I thought Mom was wary because I was moving quickly in a new relationship.
Now I wished I had asked.
Aisha interviewed Colin and the neighbor who had also witnessed the older will. Both confirmed Mom had signed it while she was well. That did not make it final. Helen’s office had records of the later meeting, and the witnesses to the newer will were available.
The court set a date to review it.
Meanwhile, Aisha obtained the appraisal request. Vanessa had submitted it using her real estate account. In the notes, she wrote that the owner’s son was considering a quick sale after a death.
I had never authorized a sale. She had not listed the property, but she had already begun discussing its price.
I sent Vanessa a message asking about the appraisal.
She called immediately.
“I was trying to help you,” she said. “You told me you might not keep the house.”
“I said I couldn’t decide yet.”
“An appraisal gives you information.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me you ordered one?”
“You were barely sleeping. I planned to bring it up when you were ready.”
“That’s the answer you give every time I find something later.”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“The truth, the first time.”
She drew a breath.
“I found the old will in the desk. I knew Maya might come back someday. I did not know your mother signed another will.”
“How did you know Maya might come back?”
“Your mother talked about her.”
“Mom rarely mentioned Maya to you.”
“I listened when she did.”
I could hear traffic in the background. Vanessa was outside somewhere.
“Did you know the older will left Maya only a fixed amount?” I asked.
“Yes. I read it before I brought it to Aisha.”
“Did you think that was what Mom wanted?”
“I thought it was what she signed.”
“And if I sold the house, what were you planning to do with the commission?”
“I hadn’t been hired as your agent.”
“Were you going to ask?”
She did not answer.
I told her we would speak after the court had reviewed the wills. She called me cruel for making her wait and hung up.
Maya had heard enough to understand the conversation had gone badly.
“You can still care about her and question her,” she said.
“I don’t know if I care about her anymore.”
“You don’t need to decide tonight.”
That was what she kept doing for me: leaving me room to think, even when she had more reason to be angry than I did.
We spent the weekend sorting Mom’s photographs. Maya found pictures from years when we had been apart. Mom had kept school photos sent by Maya’s father. On the back of each, she wrote the year and something she hoped to tell Maya.
Maya traced the handwriting.
“I thought she let me go,” she whispered.
“She never stopped looking for a way back to you.”
“Neither did you?”
“I stopped knowing where to look. I’m sorry.”
“I was a kid. So were you.”
We sat on the floor surrounded by photographs until the light faded.
On Monday, Aisha called. Vanessa had contacted Helen Brooks’s old firm the day after Mom died and asked whether they held estate documents. The receptionist had told her an attorney would need to speak with the family.
“She knew there might be another will,” I said.
“She knew the firm had records,” Aisha replied. “We can’t assume what she knew was in them.”
It was a fair distinction. I was tired of fair distinctions, but I needed them.
The court hearing confirmed that Mom’s newer will was valid. Maya and I would share her estate equally. The older will would no longer control it.
Maya squeezed my hand so hard it hurt.
Outside the courthouse, Vanessa waited by the steps.
“I’m glad Maya got what your mother wanted,” she said.
Maya stopped beside me.
“Did you know about the newer will?” she asked.
Vanessa looked directly at her.
“No.”
Maya held her gaze.
May you like
“Then why did you call the firm the day after Mom died?”
Vanessa’s face lost its color.
