Chapter 20 - SELLING ANNA’S SHARES
Part of the Meridian settlement came as rollover equity in Cedar Grove’s healthcare portfolio.
Value:
Approximately $620,000.
Could Harbor Fiduciary sell immediately?
Not without discount and tax consequences.
Could keeping it expose Mila to concentrated risk?
Yes.
The trustee recommended staged sale over eighteen months.
I wanted:
Sell now.
Why?
Emotion.
I admitted it.
“Every time I see Meridian on a statement, I see the suitcase.”
The trustee, Evelyn Markham, said:
“That is not an investment criterion.”
I almost laughed.
“Correct.”
We followed professional plan.
Staged diversification.
No dramatic cleansing.
Money does not carry moral infection.
Then Anna’s shareholder loan proceeds were placed in fixed-income assets temporarily.
Again boring.
Good.
Then Corinne’s personal finances after divorce.
Her design studio entered restructuring.
Not bankruptcy immediately.
Marcus’s loan claim settled.
She sold her half of a vacation condo she owned before marriage.
Paid debts.
No poverty spectacle.
No punishment through homelessness.
She remained financially comfortable enough after release.
That mattered because I did not want Mila ever believing justice meant someone must become destitute.
Then Marcus’s professional life.
He could work again after sentence but Bell & Cross settlement restricted use of certain client data.
He joined no major firm immediately.
Later consulted privately? Maybe not yet.
No need.
Then one uncomfortable event.
A documentary producer contacted me.
Offer:
Large fee for exclusive interview.
Suitcase.
Dead mother handwriting.
Millions.
Perfect television.
I said no.
Then they offered more.
Still no.
Why?
Mila.
Not moral superiority.
Maybe one day she would tell her own story.
Not now.
Then a gossip channel published a photograph of the handwritten back of Anna’s frame from an old court exhibit leak.
I panicked.
Old self would have called everyone.
New self called Naomi.
She handled takedown requests where possible.
Could not erase internet.
We tightened privacy.
No dramatic lawsuit.
Then Mila saw the image on a tablet at a relative’s house.
“Mommy writing famous?”
My heart hurt.
“A little bit.”
“Why?”
“Because grown-ups were curious.”
She looked at photograph beside her.
“Mine.”
“Yes.”
That was enough.
Then Corinne completed initial custodial term and moved to supervised release.
No direct contact with Mila.
She lived in a small furnished apartment arranged through her own funds.
Therapy.
Probation.
Employment search later.
She requested permission to send one therapist-reviewed letter.
Family court scheduled review.
Dr. Cole asked Mila whether she wanted anything from Corinne.
Mila said:
“Maybe sorry.”
She had not received the earlier letters.
We showed her the best one, edited? We should not edit, but therapist could select. She read aloud to Mila:
I should never have put you in the suitcase. You did nothing wrong. You were right to cry and call for your dad.
Mila listened.
Then:
“Again.”
Second time.
Then:
“Can I keep?”
Yes.
No financial language.
No Anna.
No excuses.
Mila placed it in a drawer.
Not under pillow.
Good.
Then she asked:
“Do I write?”
“No need.”
“Can?”
“If you want.”
She drew a cat.
Nothing else.
Did not send.
Her choice.
Then Harbor Fiduciary sold first portion of Cedar Grove shares.
Normal gain.
No headline.
The inheritance was becoming a portfolio instead of a story.
That was exactly what Anna would have wanted, I think.
Though I stopped putting words in dead people’s mouths.
Then a new dispute surfaced from the divorce.
Corinne claimed one painting in my house had been gifted to her by me and should have been delivered.
It was Anna’s painting.
My immediate reaction:
Absolutely not.
Then I checked records.
I had given it to Corinne on our first anniversary.
A landscape Anna bought? Was it my right to gift? It had been personal property passed to me under will. Yes.
I had chosen to give it.
It belonged to Corinne.
That hurt.
Rules.
I delivered it.
Lena was furious.
“Anna bought that.”
“And left it to me.”
“So?”
“I gave it away.”
“You’re really letting Corinne keep it?”
“It’s hers.”
Mila heard.
“Corinne gets Mommy painting?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I gave it to her when we were married.”
Mila thought.
“Can I be mad?”
“Yes.”
“Can you?”
“Yes.”
“Still give?”
“Yes.”
That was another lesson.
Rights are hardest when they benefit people we resent.
The last legal relationship left was Corinne and Mila.
No property.
May you like
No money.
Only whether any contact could ever be safe.
