Chapter 3 - The Signature on Page Six
My brother Michael entered after hearing raised voices.
He took one look at my face and shut the door behind him.
“What happened?”
I handed him the folder.
He read the first page.
Then the second.
By page six, he stopped.
“Daniel.”
“I know.”
The signature looked good.
Very good.
But it was not mine.
Michael had worked with me for fourteen years.
He had seen my signature on contracts, checks, and legal documents.
“That’s forged.”
He said.
Rebecca snapped.
“You’re not a handwriting expert.”
“No.”
Michael replied.
“But I watched him sign our father’s probate documents yesterday.”
That word changed the room.
Probate.
My father had died six months earlier.
He left me several properties and a family trust.
Rebecca knew that.
Everyone did.
But I had never connected my inheritance to the wedding.
Not until Michael mentioned it.
Rebecca closed the folder.
“This has nothing to do with Daniel’s father.”
“Then why did you wait until after the wedding?”
I asked.
She looked at me.
“What?”
“The note.”
I held it up.
“After the wedding, you will live somewhere better suited for children like you.”
“Why after the wedding?”
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“Because changing family structure is easier after marriage.”
Michael laughed once.
“That sounds like something a lawyer told you.”
Linda looked away.
I noticed.
“Who have you been talking to?”
Rebecca said nothing.
I turned toward Linda.
“Who?”
Still nothing.
I picked up my phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Rebecca moved immediately.
“Daniel.”
I looked at her.
“You forged my signature on documents authorizing my child to be taken out of state.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?”
“I was protecting our marriage.”
“Our marriage does not exist.”
She stared at me.
“You’re canceling the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t.”
The words came out too quickly.
Too desperately.
I almost missed their meaning.
“What do you mean I can’t?”
Linda stepped between us.
“Rebecca is upset.”
“No.”
I said.
“She just said I can’t cancel my own wedding.”
Rebecca’s face was white now.
“Daniel, please.”
“Why can’t I?”
She pressed her lips together.
Then Michael noticed something inside the folder.
A yellow sticky note.
He peeled it from the back page.
Written in Rebecca’s handwriting were four words.
CEREMONY FIRST.
SIGNATURE RIGHTS AFTER.
Michael handed it to me.
May you like
My heart began pounding.
This had never been only about sending Emily away.
