Chapter 8 - The Family Meeting That Went Wrong)
Elaine insisted on a family meeting.
Saturday at two.
Shannon almost refused.
Then she decided she was done avoiding rooms where people might be angry with her.
Her parents arrived first.
Robert looked exhausted.
Elaine looked prepared for war.
Fiona came downstairs ten minutes late.
The children were at a friend's house.
That was one thing Shannon appreciated.
Whatever else Fiona did, she understood the next conversation should not happen in front of them.
The four adults sat around the dining table.
Elaine began.
"We need to solve this before it destroys the family."
Shannon folded her hands.
"Okay."
Fiona leaned back.
Robert looked at the table.
Elaine continued.
"Fiona has agreed that she needs to contribute more."
Fiona looked irritated by the wording.
Shannon waited.
"And," Elaine said, "you need to acknowledge that giving her thirty days is unreasonable."
"No."
Elaine blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"No."
"We haven't even discussed alternatives."
"The alternative is the agreement."
Fiona laughed.
"Three hundred dollars a week."
"It covers less than half of what four people add to the household."
"I'm not paying you twelve hundred dollars a month."
"Then rent somewhere else."
"For eighteen hundred?"
"That's your decision."
Elaine raised her voice.
"Shannon."
Shannon looked at her mother.
"What?"
"Compromise."
"I already did. For eighteen months."
"That's not compromise. That's keeping score."
Robert finally spoke.
"Elaine."
She turned.
"No, Robert. She's being cold."
Robert inhaled.
"Fiona received child support while telling both of us she didn't."
The room went silent.
Elaine looked at him.
"What?"
Fiona's eyes widened.
"Dad."
Robert didn't look at her.
"Shannon found statements."
Elaine turned toward Fiona.
"Is that true?"
Fiona answered quickly.
"It's not what it sounds like."
"Did Kyle send money?"
"Sometimes."
"You told me nothing had come in since Christmas."
"He skipped payments."
"Did he send money?"
Fiona's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
Elaine looked wounded.
Shannon almost felt sorry for her.
Then Robert continued.
"And I gave Fiona money from our emergency account."
Elaine slowly turned.
"What emergency account?"
Robert looked miserable.
"Our savings."
"How much?"
"Six thousand."
Elaine stood.
"You did what?"
"I thought she needed it."
"You gave her six thousand dollars without telling me?"
Fiona jumped in.
"Mom, I was desperate."
Elaine pointed at her.
"Don't."
Everyone froze.
It might have been the first time Shannon had ever heard Elaine tell Fiona not to speak.
Robert looked down.
"I should have told you."
Elaine's face flushed.
"You should have."
For a moment, the family conflict finally pointed somewhere other than Shannon.
It didn't last.
Fiona began crying.
"I can't believe you're all doing this."
Elaine's expression immediately softened.
Shannon watched the transformation.
There was the pattern.
Fiona cried.
Elaine protected.
Robert retreated.
Shannon repaired.
Except this time Shannon did nothing.
Fiona looked at her.
"Are you happy?"
"No."
"Looks like it."
"I'm not responsible for what Dad did."
"You started this."
"No. I counted it."
Fiona wiped her eyes.
"Same thing."
Robert suddenly stood.
"Enough."
Everyone looked at him.
His voice wasn't loud.
That made it stronger.
"We've all helped create this."
Elaine looked offended.
"Speak for yourself."
"I am. And I'm speaking about the rest of us."
He turned toward Fiona.
"You lied to me."
"Dad."
"You lied."
"I was scared."
"You told me your children might not have school clothes."
"They needed clothes."
"You received support that week."
Fiona looked away.
Robert's shoulders dropped.
"I would have helped you anyway."
That sentence seemed to hurt him most.
"You didn't have to lie."
Fiona cried harder.
Elaine moved toward her.
Shannon stood.
"Before this becomes another conversation where we forget why we're here, there's something else."
She placed the Desert Title receipt on the table.
Fiona stopped crying.
Elaine stopped moving.
Robert closed his eyes.
Shannon saw all three reactions.
For the first time, certainty replaced suspicion.
"You all know what this is."
"No," Elaine said.
"Stop lying."
Elaine gasped.
Shannon rarely spoke to her mother that way.
Robert said:
"Shannon."
"No. Dad, you recognized it. Mom just reacted. Fiona paid them using my card."
Elaine sat down again.
Fiona folded her arms.
Robert looked at Fiona.
"You told me you canceled that."
Shannon felt the air leave her lungs.
"Canceled what?"
Fiona stared at their father.
"Nice."
Robert looked sick.
Shannon stepped closer.
"What did she cancel?"
Elaine whispered:
"Robert, don't."
Shannon turned toward her mother.
"Don't?"
Elaine looked away.
Shannon felt anger rise for the first time.
Not irritation.
Not frustration.
Anger.
"You all sat in my house while I paid for everything, and you're hiding something about my property?"
"It's not like that," Robert said.
"Then what is it like?"
Fiona suddenly spoke.
"I wanted security."
Shannon turned.
"For what?"
"For my children."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"What did you try to do?"
Fiona's eyes flashed.
"Mom and Dad said you were going to leave the house to us someday anyway."
Shannon stared.
"What?"
Elaine rushed to speak.
"We were discussing possibilities."
"Whose possibilities?"
"Family planning."
"My house is not family planning."
Fiona laughed bitterly.
"See? There it is."
Shannon ignored her.
"What did Desert Title prepare?"
No one answered.
Shannon slammed her palm on the table.
The sound shocked everyone.
"Tell me."
Robert finally spoke.
"A draft beneficiary deed."
Shannon stared at him.
"What is that?"
"It would transfer the house after your death."
Silence.
Shannon looked slowly at Fiona.
"To whom?"
Fiona's chin lifted.
"The children."
Shannon almost couldn't process the words.
"You paid someone to prepare a document that would give my house to your children when I die?"
"It was a draft."
"Without asking me?"
"We were going to ask."
"When?"
"After it was prepared."
Shannon looked at her parents.
"You knew?"
Elaine's voice became defensive.
"We thought it would make sense."
"Why?"
"You don't have children."
There it was again.
The sentence.
Different weapon.
Same wound.
Shannon stepped back from the table.
Robert shook his head.
"I told Fiona it wasn't appropriate."
"After helping?"
"I gave her the insurance page because she said she needed information."
"You gave her my private documents."
"I made a mistake."
"A mistake?"
Elaine stood.
"No one was stealing anything."
"Then why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because we knew you'd react exactly like this."
Shannon laughed.
The sound frightened even her.
"Exactly like what? Like the owner?"
Fiona stood too.
"Nothing was filed."
"How do I know that?"
"It wasn't."
"How do I know?"
"Check."
"I will."
Fiona rolled her eyes.
"You're acting insane."
Shannon reached for the living agreement.
She tore the page containing the thirty-day term in half.
For one hopeful second Fiona smiled.
Then Shannon said:
"Fourteen days."
Fiona's smile disappeared.
"You can't."
"I just did."
Elaine stepped forward.
"Shannon."
"Fourteen days."
"You would punish children because you're angry?"
"No. I'm removing an adult who secretly prepared documents involving my home."
"It wasn't secret."
Shannon stared at her mother.
"Then why am I hearing about it now?"
Elaine had no answer.
Fiona pushed away from the table.
"Fine."
She marched toward the stairs.
"Fiona," Robert called.
She turned.
Her eyes were red.
Her voice was cold.
"You want me gone? I'll go."
Shannon nodded.
"Okay."
Fiona smiled through tears.
"But when you find out why Mom and Dad were willing to sign off on it, don't call me."
Shannon looked at Robert.
Then Elaine.
Neither met her eyes.
"What does that mean?"
Fiona walked upstairs.
A door slammed.
Shannon faced her parents.
"What does she mean?"
Elaine grabbed her purse.
"We should leave."
Shannon stood between her and the door.
"Not until somebody explains."
Robert looked at his wife.
Elaine shook her head.
"Not today."
Shannon stared at them.
And suddenly she understood something far worse than Fiona's secret deed.
Fiona had not invented the idea alone.
May you like
Her parents had a reason for believing Shannon's house should eventually belong to Fiona's children.
And whatever that reason was, they were more afraid of explaining it than they were of losing Shannon's trust.
