“Then maybe you can explain why your brother is listed as a primary resident and why we found your signature on the authorization papers in the study.”
The air in the room felt like lead as she pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from her own bag and slid it across the table toward me. I recognized the document immediately, but it was incomplete because the crucial second page was missing.
“Jeffrey, did you go through my private files?” I asked, turning to my brother who was now staring at his shoes.
“I just wanted to help out since you’re always so busy with work,” he stammered, unable to meet my gaze.
“Help out? You took my parents’ bedroom and shoved them into a corner!” I shouted, finally losing my composure.
My mother approached us with tears streaming down her face, her voice trembling with a hurt that went deeper than words.
“I told her I wanted to keep the upstairs room for your father’s reading, but she told me a baby’s needs come before an old man’s hobbies.”
Kimberly didn’t even look ashamed as she crossed her arms and glared at my mother.
“Nora, be realistic; you were rattling around in here like ghosts while we are cramped in a tiny studio across town.”
My father finally spoke up, his voice low and dangerous as he dropped his paper plate onto the floor.
“Get out of my house, Kimberly. Right now.”
She looked at him with genuine shock, as if she couldn’t believe the “old man” was finally fighting back.
“You can’t be serious, Jeffrey, tell them we aren’t leaving in the middle of the night!”
“You’re leaving,” I interrupted, “because this document you’re holding is a ninety-day temporary stay permit, and this second page—the one you conveniently hid—explicitly forbids you from making any changes to the home or hosting guests.”
Jeffrey looked at the second page in my hand and then at his wife, his face turning a sickly shade of gray.
“You tore the page out, Kimberly? You told me Bridget had given us full control.”
“I did what was necessary for our future!” she screamed back, the mask of the perfect wife finally shattering. “Your sister plays the hero with her money while we struggle, and I wasn’t going to let this house go to waste on two people who are practically halfway to the grave.”
The guests scrambled to leave, clutching their coats and avoiding eye contact as they fled the brewing storm.