“If she was testing me somehow.”
Morrison looked like he wanted to object to his own witness.
“Mrs. Brooks, do you still believe your mother lacks the capacity to manage her financial affairs?”
Patricia was quiet for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible. “I don’t know anymore.”
The foundation of their case was crumbling in real time.
That evening, Patricia called me at home. Her voice was different, smaller, younger, like the little girl who used to crawl into my bed during thunderstorms.
“Mom, we need to talk.”
“I’m listening.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me you were a lawyer? Why didn’t you tell me about your career?”
I sat in Robert’s study, surrounded by the law books I’d never had the heart to donate. “Because when you were born, you became more important than any career. I wanted to be your mother, not your lawyer.”
“But you gave up everything for me.”
“No, sweetheart. I chose you. There’s a difference.”
Patricia was crying now. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry. I thought Michael said you didn’t understand money, that you’d lose everything Dad worked for.”
“And you believed him because you wanted to believe him. It was easier to think I was incompetent than to consider that your father made a conscious choice.”
“Why didn’t Dad leave me anything? What did I do wrong?”
The pain in her voice broke my heart, but she needed to hear the truth.
“Patricia, your father loved you deeply, but he also saw how you and Michael treated money. You borrowed without paying back, spent without considering consequences. He knew that giving you millions would only enable that behavior.”
“So, he punished me by giving it all to you.”
“He trusted me to make the right decisions about our family’s future, including decisions about you and Michael.”
There was a long pause. “What does that mean?”
“It means the money was never the point, Patricia. The point was teaching you that love isn’t measured in dollars and respect isn’t optional just because someone appears vulnerable.”
“Mom, can we fix this? Can we drop the lawsuit and start over?”
I closed my eyes, feeling tired suddenly. “Patricia, tomorrow, Michael is going to ask you to continue fighting. He’s going to convince you that I manipulated this whole situation, that I made you look foolish on purpose.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’ve been watching him for seven years of marriage to my daughter. Michael sees dollar signs, not family. The question is, what are you going to choose?”
The line went quiet except for Patricia’s soft crying.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart. But love isn’t enough anymore. We need respect, honesty, and trust. Until you’re ready to give me those things, we can’t move forward.”