Chapter 6 - THE DAUGHTER WHO HAD HELPED WITHOUT KNOWING
Rebecca drove from Des Moines the next morning.
She arrived before ten carrying a laptop and enough guilt to fill the house.
“I sent him your texts.”
Margaret stared at her.
“What texts?”
“Last winter.”
Rebecca opened the laptop.
Daniel had asked whether their mother seemed “different” after Robert died.
Rebecca forwarded several messages.
Margaret forgetting the date of a dentist appointment.
Margaret saying she was tired of dealing with insurance paperwork.
Margaret joking:
Maybe I’ll sell this monster house and move into a condo where somebody else shovels.
Daniel had responded:
See? That’s what I’m worried about.
At the time Rebecca assumed he meant grief and stress.
“He said he wanted all of us watching out for you.”
Margaret’s anger came quickly.
Then stopped.
Rebecca looked miserable.
“You believed your brother.”
“Yes.”
“So did I.”
Rebecca covered her face.
“But I gave him things.”
“You gave your brother ordinary family messages because you believed he cared.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“It shouldn’t.”
Rebecca looked up.
Margaret continued.
“But I’m not going to let Daniel turn another person’s trust into his defense.”
That afternoon Rebecca attended the meeting with Evelyn.
For the first time Margaret had an ally inside her immediate family.
The loyalty shift changed everything.
Daniel called Rebecca repeatedly.
She ignored him until evening.
Then answered on speaker while Margaret sat across the kitchen.
“Why are you helping Mom do this?”
Rebecca stared at Margaret.
“Because you forged her name.”
“Vanessa and I were drowning.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I was trying to keep everybody stable.”
“By telling doctors Mom was incompetent?”
“I never said incompetent.”
“You said poor financial judgment while stealing her financial information.”
Daniel raised his voice.
“I did not steal anything. Mom gave me access.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
There it was.
His defense.
Permission once given meant permission forever.
Rebecca asked:
“How much debt are you in?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“About one-forty.”
Margaret opened her eyes.
One hundred forty thousand dollars.
Far more than anyone admitted.
“What happened?” Rebecca asked.
“Vanessa’s company.”
Vanessa shouted something in the background.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“And some other things.”
“What other things?”
“I’m not discussing finances with you.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“But you discussed Mom’s finances with lenders.”
Daniel hung up.
The call had not solved anything.
But it changed the family.
May you like
Rebecca was no longer asking whether Margaret had overreacted to an Easter insult.
She was asking why her brother needed $186,000 badly enough to build a story around his mother’s declining competence.
