But Walter’s documents had been drafted by an extremely careful estate lawyer.
Daniel described them as “airtight.”
Grant’s challenges failed.
The following spring, I heard he married Brooke.
They live in a condo in Midtown.
And I genuinely hope they find whatever happiness they are capable of building.
I have never spoken to Patricia again.
I heard she lived with Vivian for a while.
Apparently, that arrangement did not last.
Eventually, Patricia moved into a retirement community outside Marietta.
Her life became much smaller than it once was.
I don’t celebrate that.
But I don’t feel responsible for it either.
She built her identity around believing the house belonged to her and that I was the intruder.
Both assumptions were wrong.
I live in the house now.
Really live in it.
I returned to work as a paralegal.
Ironically, at Daniel’s firm.
Then, with his encouragement, I enrolled in evening classes and began working toward the law degree I had abandoned years earlier after marrying into a family that believed wives shouldn’t work.
