Mr.
Alden ignored her.
‘Stefan, grief may tempt you to let another person make your choices for you.
Do not confuse avoiding conflict with kindness.
Silence can become cruelty when it protects the person doing harm.’
My brother’s face crumpled, but no tears came.
‘To my daughter: you will be told that fairness means giving away whatever makes others uncomfortable.
It does not.
Keep your dignity.
Keep the house if you wish.
Sell it if you wish.
But decide freely.’
Mr.
Alden lowered the letter.
For several seconds, the only sound was the faint hum of the heating system.
Then Stefan looked at Yvonne.
‘Where did the deed you showed me come from?’
‘I already told you.
Your mother signed it.’
‘Mr.
Alden says she didn’t.’
‘He wasn’t there every minute.’
‘Neither was I,’ Stefan said.
‘That was the point, wasn’t it?’
Yvonne’s eyes sharpened.
‘Be careful.’
He stared at her.
‘Is that what you told my mother?’
She reached for his hand, but he pulled it away.
‘Stefan, I did this for us.’
‘What did you do?’
The question came out quietly.
Yvonne froze.
He leaned closer.
‘You said you did this for us.
What exactly did you do?’
‘I meant I handled things.
Your mother was dying.
Your sister was emotional.
Someone had to think about the future.’
‘So you lied to both of us?’
‘I protected you from a fight.’
I almost laughed at the ugliness of it.
She had thrown me into the rain to protect him from a fight.
She had placed a deceptive document in front of my dying mother to protect him from uncertainty.
She had told Stefan the house was already his because truth might have required him to face what he had failed to do.
Mr.
Alden touched the recorder again.
‘There is more.’
Yvonne shot to her feet.
‘You cannot play a private conversation without my consent.’
‘Helena recorded a conversation in her own bedroom after becoming concerned that she was being pressured to sign away her residence.
The legality of its use beyond this room can be addressed separately.
Today, I am following her written instruction to share it with her heirs.’
He pressed play.
Yvonne’s recorded voice returned.
