She turned on her husband.
Jason looked like he wanted to dissolve into the floorboards. He looked at me, his eyes pleading.
“Georgia,” he mumbled, “let’s just talk about this later. Not in front of the guests.”
“No,” I said. “We’re talking about it now, because later implies there’s a negotiation, and I need to make it very clear that there isn’t one.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Vanessa scoffed, shaking her head at her friends, looking for validation. A few of the women murmured in agreement, shooting me dirty looks. To them, I was the jealous sister-in-law ruining a pregnant woman’s special day.
“She’s always been like this,” Vanessa told the crowd, creating her own narrative in real time. “Controlling. Jealous that she doesn’t have a family of her own. She thinks because she helped with the design, she owns the place.”
She turned back to me, her eyes narrowing.
“Let’s get the facts straight, Georgia. Jason and I are taking over the payments. We discussed it with David last week. We’re going to pay the mortgage, so technically this is going to be our house. We’re doing them a favor by taking the financial burden off them so they can relax.”
I froze. I looked at my dad.
He was staring at the floor, his face bright red.
“Dad,” I asked, “did they tell you they were taking over the mortgage?”
Dad nodded slowly.
“Jason said… he said the taxes and the insurance and the mortgage were going to be too much for us on a fixed income. He said if they moved in they’d pay the monthly note. It seemed… it seemed fair.”
My blood boiled.
This was the manipulation. This was the con.
“Vanessa,” I said, my voice dangerously low, “there is no mortgage.”
Vanessa blinked.
“What?”
“There is no mortgage,” I repeated, louder. “This time I didn’t help with the design. I bought this house cash. $450,000. I paid the property taxes for the next five years in advance. I paid the insurance in full.”
I took a step forward, closing the gap between us.
“There is no financial burden, Vanessa. The only burden in this house is you.”
The gasps from the guests were audible this time. Vanessa’s face went pale, then blotchy red. She looked at Jason.
“You said—You said we were taking over the mortgage to get on the deed.”
Jason flinched.
“I… I assumed there was a mortgage. Most houses have mortgages.”