Chapter 10 - The Signature)
Elaine denied it.
At first.
Shannon drove directly to her parents' house.
Robert followed in his car.
Elaine opened the door and immediately knew.
Her eyes dropped to the paper in Shannon's hand.
"Where did you get that?"
Shannon stepped inside.
"Did you write my name?"
Elaine looked at Robert.
"You gave her those?"
Robert closed the door behind them.
"Answer her."
Elaine's face hardened.
"It was an example."
Shannon felt strangely calm.
"You wrote my signature."
"I wrote your name."
"In my handwriting."
"I was showing Fiona how different signatures can look."
Shannon stared at her.
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Nothing was filed."
"Stop saying that like it makes this normal."
Elaine crossed her arms.
"You are blowing this out of proportion."
Robert whispered:
"Elaine."
"No. I'm tired of being treated like a criminal."
Shannon laughed once.
"You copied my signature onto a property document."
"It was scrap paper."
"It has my address on it."
"Because we were discussing the house."
"Without me."
"We wanted to approach you with an actual plan."
"You wanted to pressure me."
Elaine's eyes narrowed.
"Why are you so determined to believe the worst?"
"Because every fact is bad."
"We were thinking about the children."
"They have parents."
"Kyle is unreliable."
"Then Fiona needs to deal with Kyle."
"Life isn't that simple."
"My house is."
Elaine scoffed.
"That house wouldn't exist without family money."
There it was.
Shannon went still.
Robert closed his eyes.
Elaine realized what she'd said but refused to retreat.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars came from Caroline."
"It was left for me."
"For family."
"For me."
"Because you were the responsible one."
Shannon stared at her.
Elaine continued.
"Fiona had children. She needed her money earlier."
"She spent hers on a wedding."
"She was twenty-four."
"So was I when I was saving."
"You've always been better with money."
Shannon's voice became quiet.
"And that means what I save becomes available to everyone who didn't?"
"No one said that."
"You keep saying it without using the words."
Elaine's face softened slightly.
"Shannon, I know you're upset."
"No. You don't get to make this about emotion."
"What do you want from me?"
"The truth."
"You have it."
"All of it?"
Elaine hesitated.
Shannon saw it.
"There's more."
"No."
"Mom."
"There is no more."
Robert spoke from behind them.
"Tell her about the loan application."
Shannon turned.
Elaine's face drained of color.
"What loan application?"
Nobody answered.
Shannon looked at her father.
"Dad."
Robert exhaled.
"Fiona was looking into whether she could qualify for a loan against a future property interest."
Shannon couldn't understand the sentence at first.
"She doesn't have a future property interest."
"I know."
"Then how could she apply?"
"She didn't finish it."
"What did she submit?"
Elaine interrupted.
"Nothing important."
Shannon turned sharply.
"What did she submit?"
Robert answered.
"Property information."
"My property information."
"Yes."
"Income?"
"She may have included your income."
Shannon stared.
"Why would my income be on Fiona's application?"
No one spoke.
The room seemed to narrow around her.
Shannon looked at the copied signature.
Then at Elaine.
"Did she pretend I was involved?"
Elaine sat down.
"She said it was a preliminary eligibility form."
Shannon felt cold.
"Did she use my name?"
Elaine's silence answered.
Shannon took out her phone.
"What are you doing?" Elaine asked.
"Calling my attorney."
"Shannon, don't."
She stopped.
Slowly.
"Don't?"
"Fiona just found work. She's trying."
"That has nothing to do with this."
"Think about the children."
"I am done hearing that sentence used as permission to do anything you want to me."
Elaine began crying.
Real tears this time.
Shannon felt nothing.
That frightened her.
Robert sat beside his wife.
"Elaine, we have to let Shannon handle this."
"You'll destroy Fiona."
"No," Shannon said. "Fiona made choices."
Elaine looked up.
"So you'll report your own sister?"
"I said I'm calling an attorney."
"Which leads where?"
"I don't know."
Shannon genuinely didn't.
She wasn't seeking prison.
She wasn't seeking revenge.
She wanted to know exactly what had been submitted in her name.
She wanted to know whether her credit was affected.
She wanted to know whether someone had tried to create debt involving her home.
She wanted the truth.
At that moment, truth mattered more than harmony.
That afternoon, Shannon froze her credit.
She changed every password.
She locked all financial records in a bank safe-deposit box.
She enrolled in property-record alerts.
She removed Fiona from the grocery account.
She changed the payment information on every household service.
She documented everything.
For the first time in eighteen months, preparation replaced guilt.
Fiona returned home at six.
Shannon was waiting.
The children were with Robert.
That was deliberate.
Fiona entered, saw Shannon, and stopped.
"You talked to Mom."
"Yes."
Fiona set down her bag.
"She overreacted."
"Tell me about the loan application."
Fiona looked away.
"It wasn't a loan application."
"What was it?"
"Prequalification."
"Using my information."
"Only because the house value mattered."
"To what?"
"A potential family arrangement."
"There is no family arrangement."
"I know that now."
"Did you use my Social Security number?"
Fiona's head snapped up.
"No."
"Did you use my income?"
"A range."
"My employer?"
"No."
"My signature?"
"No."
"Mom practiced it."
"I didn't ask her to."
"She says you did."
Fiona's eyes hardened.
"Of course she does."
Shannon stepped closer.
"Did you submit anything pretending I agreed?"
"No."
"Can you prove that?"
Fiona didn't answer.
"Show me."
"I deleted it."
"Then get a copy."
"Why?"
"Because you have four days left in this house."
Fiona's face changed.
"Four?"
"The fourteen days started last Saturday."
"You can't expect me to move in four days."
"You've known."
"My job hasn't even started."
"Then call Mom."
"She won't take us."
Shannon blinked.
"What?"
Fiona gave a bitter laugh.
"Didn't she tell you? Dad finally grew a spine. He told her I'm not moving into their house."
Shannon hadn't known.
Fiona continued.
"So congratulations. You got what you wanted. Everybody's abandoning me."
"No."
"Don't."
"You're not being abandoned. You're being required to solve your own problem."
"I have three children."
"I know."
"You have empty rooms."
"They aren't yours."
For a moment Fiona looked like she might throw something.
Instead, she whispered:
"You think the house is yours because your name is on paper."
Shannon's skin prickled.
"What does that mean?"
Fiona looked toward the stairs.
Then back at her.
"Nothing."
"Fiona."
Her sister smiled.
A strange, exhausted smile.
"Ask Dad where the rest of Aunt Caroline's money went."
Then she walked upstairs.
Shannon stood alone.
Another door closed.
May you like
Another secret opened.
And for the first time, Shannon began to suspect the fight over her house had started years before Fiona ever moved into it.
