For a second, I could not move. My mother’s handwriting was right there, curved and careful, the same handwriting that had labeled my lunch bags in third grade and signed every birthday card with, Love you more than the moon. Victor’s hand shook as he held the envelope toward me. Brandon stood near the dining table, his face no longer smug. “Open it,” Victor whispered. I took the envelope, but before I could tear it, Brandon snapped, “That’s probably fake.” Victor turned on him with red eyes. “Be quiet.” That was the first time I had ever heard him speak to his son like that. Inside was a letter, a key, and a notarized document dated three months before my mother died. My knees weakened as I read the first line. My sweet Anna, if you are reading this, then the first will was shown to you exactly the way I expected. My chest tightened so hard I almost dropped the page.
My mother had known. She wrote that she had discovered Victor and Brandon pressuring her while she was sick, making her sign papers when she was weak from treatment, telling her I would only sell the house and abandon them. She said she pretended to agree because she was afraid they would cut me off from seeing her in her final weeks. So she made another plan. The second will left the house to me. The bank account to me. Her jewelry to me. The old recipe box to me. Everything she had built before marrying Victor belonged to her daughter. But the letter was not only about money.
She wrote, I need you to know I never stopped choosing you. I was quiet because I was protecting the last days we had together. I wanted you beside me, not fighting wolves at my door. By the time I finished reading, tears were running down my face. Victor covered his mouth and started sobbing. “I didn’t know she changed it,” he said. “Brandon found the envelope behind the fireplace brick this morning. He tried to burn it.” My eyes moved to Brandon. His face went pale. On the floor near the fireplace were black ashes and half-burned papers. The lawyer arrived thirty minutes later because my mother had included his number in the envelope. He confirmed everything. The second will was legal. Valid. Filed. My mother had already sent him copies. The envelope in the house was only her message to me. Brandon shouted that it was unfair. Victor begged me not to throw him out.