And she was standing outside her own gate, frightened and humiliated, because the child we'd raised had decided she no longer belonged there.
I gently removed the grocery bag from her hands.
Then I slipped an arm around her shoulders.
“Come on, Linda. We're going inside.”
She looked at me with immediate concern.
“Tom, please don't argue with him. I don't want things to get any worse.”
I kissed her forehead.
“I'm not going to argue, sweetheart.”
I glanced toward the house, where lights were glowing behind the windows.
“But Ethan has made a very serious mistake.”
Linda frowned.
“What do you mean?”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small key attached to a separate ring.
There was something our son didn't know about this property.
Something I had arranged years earlier and never felt the need to explain to him.
The electronic gate wasn't the only way inside.
And changing a security code certainly didn't change the name on a property deed.
