Chapter 24 - MARGARET DIES
Margaret died at eighty-three after a stroke.
She had lived several quiet years after supervised release.
No company role.
No reconciliation campaign.
She followed Lily’s no-contact request.
That mattered.
At the funeral, Lily attended.
So did I.
Daniel.
Mark.
Jessica.
The cousins.
Nobody knew what emotion to perform.
So we stopped performing.
Daniel cried.
Mark did too.
I felt sad.
Not because I wanted Margaret back in our lives.
Because she had once been a woman who made Christmas cookies with Lily before the paternity lie consumed everything.
People are not easier because they become abusive.
Memory remains inconvenient.
Margaret’s estate paid final restitution first.
No giant secret fortune.
Jewelry.
Condo.
Investments.
She left Lily a pearl necklace.
Lily declined it.
Jessica kept it with trustee approval.
Margaret also left a small wooden turtle from her desk.
Nobody understood why.
Lily stared at it.
Then laughed once.
“She remembered.”
“Do you want it?”
“No.”
The executor sold or donated personal effects according to ordinary process.
May you like
No symbolic smashing.
Objects did not need punishment.
