Chapter 5 - THE MONEY WITH MY NAME ON IT
My mother immediately tried to take the words back.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
But she already had.
“What settlement money?”
Daniel asked.
Linda looked trapped.
I answered for her.
“The insurance payment after the fire.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not just insurance.”
My mother closed her eyes.
Margaret looked toward me.
“Claire, your file referenced a personal injury settlement.”
“How much?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Approximately 1.8 million dollars.”
For a few seconds, I heard nothing.
Not the guests outside.
Not the church bells.
Nothing.
I stared at my mother.
“One point eight million?”
“Medical costs were enormous.”
“I know.”
My voice shook.
“I was there.”
Linda looked toward the door.
Margaret continued.
“The rehabilitation center received very little from your family after the first year.”
My stomach tightened.
I remembered bills.
Arguments.
My father telling me we had no money left.
I remembered refusing surgeries because he said insurance would not pay.
I remembered learning to transfer myself into my wheelchair alone because home nursing was “too expensive.”
I remembered working from a laptop in college because I believed my family had bankrupted itself keeping me alive.
“Where did it go?”
My mother whispered,
“Your father handled everything.”
I stared at her.
“That is not an answer.”
Daniel stood.
“Where did the money go?”
Linda’s shoulders collapsed.
“Some went to the house.”
I stopped breathing.
Our old house had been destroyed.
My parents built another one two years later.
Bigger.
Better neighborhood.
My father said insurance paid for it.
“What else?”
Linda said nothing.
“What else?”
“Your father’s company was struggling.”
My chest tightened.
Whitmore Coastal Development had become successful when I was in college.
Very successful.
Emily grew up with private schools, riding lessons, summer travel, and a new car at sixteen.
I had never questioned where it came from.
I thought my father had finally succeeded.
Margaret asked,
“How much did Mark invest in his company?”
“I don’t know.”
My mother’s answer came too quickly.
I looked at her.
“You know.”
Her face crumpled.
“Six hundred thousand.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
I stared at my mother.
“That was mine.”
“He planned to repay it.”
“Did he?”
Silence.
Margaret stood.
“We need an attorney.”
Linda panicked.
“No.”
She grabbed my gloved hand.
“Claire, please.”
I pulled away.
“Did any of my settlement pay for Emily?”
My mother’s face answered before her mouth did.
My skin suddenly felt too tight.
“How much?”
“School.”
I stared at her.
“What else?”
“College.”
“What else?”
Linda started sobbing.
I kept asking.
“What else?”
Her answer was almost inaudible.
“The wedding.”
At that exact moment, the office door opened.
Emily stood there in her pearl-white dress.
May you like
And judging by her expression, she had heard every word.
---
