I’m leaving you the deed to that store, on the condition that you learn the trade and work there.
I have been telling Simon about you for almost a year. He agreed to take you on. The arrangement is his promise to me, and mine to you. You owe neither of us anything but the work.
“I asked you a question!” Arthur snapped.
“She left me the deed to her store in the city,” I said.
“What?” Arthur stared at the paper. Then at me. Then at the cabinet, like he was running the numbers on what else might be hidden in this house that he had missed. “That’s not legal. She wasn’t in her right mind.”
I held up a second piece of paper. “Her lawyer notarized it eight months ago. Her doctor signed the competency letter. It’s all in here.”
“You manipulated her.” He took a step closer. “Give me that envelope.”
“No.”
“Give it to me before I take it.”
I stood up. I was not a tall woman. I had never won a fight in my life. But I held that envelope against my chest like it was the only piece of family I had ever been handed, because it was.
“Touch me,” I said, “and you’ll find out exactly what Marianne taught me about standing up for myself.”
Arthur’s shoulders sagged for one short moment before the anger returned. He pointed a shaking finger at the door.