“Not now.”
“You said—”
“I said not now.”
The church elders in the third row exchanged glances.
Sophie’s cousin covered her mouth.
Someone behind me whispered Marcus’s name in disbelief.
I kept looking at my daughter.
Suddenly I understood why she had insisted on keeping certain papers at my home during the final months of her life.
She had not been disorganized.
She had been separating herself from him piece by piece.
Marcus rose again.
“Whatever Sophie signed while she was upset can be challenged.”
Mr.
Halloway’s expression did not change.
“You are entitled to obtain your own counsel.”
“She was pregnant.
She was emotional.”
That was the moment I finally looked at him.
My daughter was lying six feet away, and he was already trying to make her sound incompetent.
“Careful,” I said.
It was the first word I had spoken to him since he entered.
Marcus stared at me.
Mr.
Halloway picked up the second document.
“Sophie anticipated that objection.”
The room went silent again.
He explained that when Sophie executed the new will and trust instructions, an independent physician had confirmed that she was mentally competent to make legal decisions.
Two witnesses, neither related to Sophie nor benefiting from the estate, had observed the signing.
Mr.
Halloway had also made a written record of his private meeting with her.
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Private meeting?”
“At Sophie’s request.”
“She never told me about any meeting.”
“That was also at Sophie’s request.”
Josephine was no longer sitting close to him.
There was now several inches between them.
Marcus noticed.
“Stop acting like this changes anything,” he muttered.
Josephine’s eyebrows rose.
“You told me you were inheriting everything.”
“I said stop.”
Mr.
Halloway unfolded the second document.
“This is not part of the will.
It is a written statement Sophie directed me to preserve with her estate records.
She authorized its disclosure to the named parties if the validity of her decisions was questioned.”
Marcus shot to his feet.
“You cannot read private marital accusations at a funeral.”
Mr.
Halloway looked at him for a long moment.
“You questioned her competence less than two minutes ago.”
Marcus said nothing.
“That activates her instruction.”
For the first time, I almost smiled.
Not because any of this felt victorious.
