Susan laughed once, without humor.
“And where exactly are you going to get the money to fight all this?”
The question hung in the driveway.
Thomas glanced at me.
He knew.
Daniel knew.
Michael and Susan did not.
I could have answered immediately.
Instead, I asked Thomas, “Is the rest of Grandma’s estate settled?”
“Yes.”
“And the inheritance you discussed with me this morning is available under the terms you explained?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s brow furrowed.
“What inheritance?”
Susan went quiet.
I looked at them both.
“Grandma left me her Aspen estate.”
Michael blinked.
He knew the property.
Everyone in the family did.
Susan recovered first.
“Well, that’s something.
You can stay there while this gets sorted out.”
Thomas’s expression barely changed.
I continued.
“She also left me seven million dollars.”
Silence.
It was different from the earlier silence.
Earlier, they had been frightened by a legal obstacle.
Now they were recalculating everything they thought they knew about my position.
Michael sat down on the porch step.
Susan stared at me as if I had changed shape.
“You knew this when you arrived?”
“I had found out less than an hour earlier.”
“And you just stood there?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
I almost smiled.
“Because you weren’t asking who I was.
You were telling me what I had left.”
Michael put his face in his hands.
For a moment I saw the man I had shared nearly three decades with rather than the stranger who had told me it was over.
“Claire,” he said quietly, “I didn’t know about the inheritance.”
“I know.”
That was the point.
His head came up.
“I mean, this wasn’t because of money.”
“I know that too.”
And strangely, that made the betrayal both cleaner and worse.
They had not thrown me out because they knew I was wealthy.
They had done it because they believed I was vulnerable.
Susan stepped toward Michael.
“We don’t need to discuss personal finances with these people.”
Thomas finally showed a trace of irritation.
“Mrs.
Bennett, you invited us here under the impression that a transfer could be completed.
