Lucy dropped her suitcase on the floor and came towards me. She hugged me tight. And in that hug, I allowed myself for a second to be fragile—to be the mother who needed her daughter’s comfort.
“No more, Mom,” she whispered in my ear. “This ends today.”
She pulled away, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and on her face I saw the same determination I had when I was young and decided to build this house against all odds.
“Where’s Robert?” she asked.
“He went out,” I said. “Said he’d be back tonight.”
“Perfect,” Lucy said. “Then let’s get to work. You and I—like it always should have been.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
Lucy took my hands, her lawyer’s hands soft but firm. “I’m going to do what I should have done a long time ago. Protect you, defend what’s yours, and teach that woman that she can’t steal your life.”
“Lucy… she has papers. Plans—”
“And I have the law on my side,” Lucy said, “and I have something she’ll never have.”
“What’s that, Lu?”
“The truth,” she said, squeezing my hands. “Now give me your phone. I need to see those pictures you told me about. And then we’re going to review every document for this house. Every paper, every receipt. We’re going to build a case so solid that when we’re done, Valerie will wish she’d never set foot in this house.”
From the living room, Valerie’s voice shouted, “Mother-in-law, more wine!”
Lucy looked at me. I looked back at her, and for the first time in days, I smiled.
Not a happy smile.
A war smile.
“You go,” I told Lucy. “Introduce yourself. I want to see her face when she realizes I’m not alone anymore.”
My daughter walked out of the kitchen with firm steps. I followed a few feet behind.
Valerie was pouring more wine when she saw Lucy. Her smile froze.
“Lucy, what a surprise.”
“Hello, Valerie,” my daughter said, her voice as cold as ice. “I came to spend a few days with my mom. Hope you don’t mind me using my old room.” She tilted her head. “Oh, wait. That’s right. It’s yours now, isn’t it?”
The silence in the living room was absolute. Valerie’s friends looked between us, not understanding what was happening.
Valerie tried to regain control. “Of course, no problem. You can stay in the other guest room. Don’t worry.”
“I’m already settled in the room with Mom,” Lucy said, smiling—but it wasn’t a kind smile. “We have a lot to talk about. Legal matters about property inheritance, that kind of thing. Right, Mom?”
All eyes turned to me.
“That’s right, honey,” I said, and my voice came out firmer than it had in days. “A lot of things to review.”
I saw the color drain from Valerie’s face.
And I knew she knew.
She knew her game was over—that the dumb, manipulable mother-in-law she could strip of everything had just called in reinforcements.
And these reinforcements weren’t going to play nice.
Valerie’s friends left half an hour later. The atmosphere had become awkward, tense, like when everyone knows a storm is about to break but no one wants to be the first to mention it.
Valerie saw them off at the door with fake kisses and promises to see them soon, but I could see her hands trembling as she closed the door.
Lucy and I were sitting at the dining room table. My daughter had taken out her laptop—a slim silver one that shone under the light—and had spread papers all over the table. I had given her my phone with the pictures I took from Valerie’s desk.
“This is serious, Mom,” Lucy said as she reviewed the images, enlarging them with her fingers on the screen. “This is very serious.”
Valerie walked into the room. She had taken off her heels and was walking barefoot, trying to look casual, but I noticed her eyes kept darting to the papers on the table.
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