Chapter 6 - BETH’S VERSION
Beth requested mediation.
Naomi recommended listening.
Not agreeing.
Beth entered with her own attorney.
No Margaret.
“I didn’t know Mom slapped Emily.”
I believed that part only partially.
“You knew about chores.”
“Yes.”
“Shelter credits?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
“You knew Emily slept in the laundry room?”
“Once.”
“Why?”
“Mom said she threw a tantrum.”
“You thought that was okay?”
“No.”
“Did you stop it?”
“No.”
There.
Then the house.
Beth said George Carter, her grandfather, wanted Carter House to remain “with the bloodline.”
Loaded phrase.
After his death, Margaret remained.
Adam expected eventual control.
Beth believed Adam’s death changed everything.
“How?”
“I thought Mom inherited.”
“Why?”
“She told me.”
“Then what is Emily’s trust?”
Beth’s face changed.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You put it on a sale spreadsheet.”
“Because Walter said Emily had an interest.”
“What interest?”
“Occupancy or remainder or something.”
Naomi interrupted.
“So you knew title was not Margaret’s exclusively.”
“I knew it was complicated.”
“Yet you drafted Rachel at zero.”
“Rachel isn’t a Carter by blood.”
There it was.
My wedding ring suddenly felt heavy.
“I married your brother.”
“That doesn’t make you a Carter heir.”
“I’m not asking to be.”
Beth leaned forward.
“Then why are you fighting us?”
“My five-year-old got slapped and told she had to work for shelter.”
“That is separate.”
“Is it?”
Silence.
Then Beth said something important.
“Mom thinks if Emily establishes permanent occupancy, the property cannot be sold until she turns twenty-one.”
There.
Not full truth.
But shape.
“And your commission?”
Beth flushed.
“Yes, I’d make money.”
“At least you admit it.”
“I also think the sale is smart.”
Maybe it was.
Old house.
High maintenance.
Seventeen million dollars.
Selling could benefit whoever legally owned proceeds.
The problem was method.
Beth insisted:
“I never told Mom to hit her.”
“I believe you.”
“I never told her to make Emily sleep in laundry.”
“You tolerated it.”
“Yes.”
She cried.
I did not comfort her.
Then:
“Why the guardianship petition?”
Beth looked at her lawyer.
He nodded reluctantly.
“Because if you moved out with Emily before the trust hearing, Mom thought it would show the house wasn’t Emily’s primary residence.”
My whole body went cold.
“Say that again.”
Beth swallowed.
“She thought if Emily wasn’t living there, the occupancy restriction might not apply.”
“Is that legally true?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did your lawyer tell you?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Mom.”
So Margaret had been trying to create a fact:
Emily does not live here.
Throw her outside.
Make Rachel leave.
Then petition for guardianship as stable-housing provider?
Contradictory.
Unless the goal was to control Emily’s legal residence herself after removing me.
Naomi saw it too.
“Why guardianship if Margaret wanted Emily out?”
Beth’s eyes closed.
“Because she wanted Rachel out.”
There.
Emily could stay.
Under Margaret.
Rachel had to go.
If Margaret became guardian, Emily’s residence remained Carter House.
Rachel lost standing in day-to-day decisions.
And the adult most resistant to sale disappeared.
Did Margaret have authority to approve sale as guardian?
Not automatically.
Court approval would be required.
Still, guardian influence mattered.
Beth whispered:
“She said once Rachel was out, everyone would stop fighting.”
I stared.
“They were willing to separate a five-year-old from her mother for a property deal.”
Beth started crying harder.
“I didn’t think the court would actually remove you.”
“Then why file?”
“To scare you into settling.”
Threats disguised as legal process.
Naomi ended mediation.
As we left, Beth called:
“Rachel.”
I stopped.
“Mom has another appraisal.”
“What?”
“Twenty-three million.”
Not because the house suddenly grew.
A hospital network wanted the entire road corridor.
May you like
The money had gotten bigger.
So had Margaret’s urgency.
