you work.”
“I know.”
“I don’t need to know what you do to know that.”
He touched the folder.
“If proof is needed, get the proper certification through the proper channels. Your attorney can handle it.”
I remember laughing softly.
“You sound like you’ve been talking to lawyers.”
“I have.”
He smiled.
“Very expensive ones.”
It was the last conversation we ever had about his estate.
At the time, I thought the employment provision was simply his attempt to protect Liora from herself.
I did not understand how accurately he had anticipated what would happen.
After his funeral, the trustee contacted both daughters and requested evidence of qualifying employment.
I submitted my initial service information and began the process of obtaining an official certification that could be used in court without revealing protected assignments.
Liora submitted records for her consulting business.
My mother immediately announced that Liora had satisfied the requirement.
The trustee did not agree that the documentation was complete.
Then my mother learned that my military verification had not yet arrived.
Three days later, she hired Arvett.
A week after that, she filed a petition asking the court to direct the trustee to distribute the entire estate to Liora.
Her argument was simple.
I was unemployed.
I had lied about my military service.
I had abandoned Dad.
And Liora had supposedly been working continuously for more than a decade.
The trustee suspended the proposed distribution while the dispute proceeded.
My mother interpreted that delay as an attack.
The campaign against me began almost immediately.
At the grocery store, Mrs. Pike approached me near the frozen vegetables.
“I heard some troubling things about you,” she said.
