Chapter 3 - The Family Order
Rebecca claimed the guardianship petition was a misunderstanding.
Her attorney arrived before midnight.
By morning, the story was already polished.
Rebecca had supposedly become concerned about postpartum exhaustion.
Helen shared those concerns.
They consulted an attorney “only as a precaution.”
Nobody intended to remove Lily from me.
Then why burn the paperwork?
Rebecca had no answer.
More importantly, she had no explanation for:
“They weren’t supposed to survive this.”
She insisted she had said:
“They weren’t supposed to see this.”
Daniel’s recording destroyed that lie.
Dad sat beside me in the hospital cafeteria while Nathan stayed upstairs with Lily.
He looked twenty years older.
“Margaret, there’s something I should have told you.”
I almost laughed.
“Apparently today is popular for that.”
“Helen has been giving Rebecca money.”
“That isn’t surprising.”
“No. A lot of money.”
“How much?”
“Almost eighty thousand dollars.”
I stared.
Dad had discovered transfers from their retirement account.
Helen claimed she was helping with Rebecca’s fertility treatments.
He didn’t challenge her.
Of course he didn’t.
“Dad, why does that matter?”
“Because Rebecca stopped fertility treatment eleven months ago.”
My stomach tightened.
I hadn’t known.
Rebecca continued telling everyone she was trying.
Baby showers upset her.
Pregnancy announcements devastated her.
Every family gathering revolved around her “journey.”
But she had stopped treatment before I even announced my pregnancy.
“Where did the money go?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Pierce did.
By afternoon, investigators traced part of it to a private attorney named Wesley Grant.
Family law.
Estate planning.
Adoption.
He had prepared the guardianship petition.
Pierce interviewed him.
His answer changed everything.
“Rebecca didn’t hire me.”
“Who did?”
“Helen Mercer.”
My mother.
Helen had contacted him during my seventh month of pregnancy.
She claimed I was emotionally unstable.
She claimed Nathan traveled constantly.
She claimed I had privately admitted I didn’t want motherhood.
All lies.
Then came the strangest part.
Helen asked what would happen to Lily if both Nathan and I became unable to care for her.
Both.
Not just me.
“Was she planning to hurt us?” Nathan asked.
Pierce wouldn’t speculate.
But I could see the same thought in her eyes.
Then Wesley Grant voluntarily provided emails.
One contained a message from Helen:
Rebecca must be first. Margaret has taken enough from her already.
Enough?
I had spent my childhood surrendering things to Rebecca.
Birthday parties when she was upset.
The larger bedroom.
Our grandmother’s jewelry.
Even my college graduation dinner became about Rebecca’s broken engagement.
“What exactly does Mom think I took?”
Dad stared at the floor.
“I think I know.”
He told me about a night thirty-three years earlier.
Helen had been pregnant.
Not with Rebecca.
With another baby.
A girl.
The baby was stillborn.
Helen never recovered.
A year later, Rebecca was born.
Then me.
Dad whispered:
“Your mother became obsessed with order after that.”
First daughter.
Second daughter.
First wedding.
First house.
First grandchild.
Everything had to happen in sequence.
Except Rebecca’s life stopped cooperating.
My life didn’t.
Nathan and I married first.
Bought a house first.
Then Lily arrived first.
Helen interpreted coincidence as betrayal.
But obsession still didn’t explain the guardianship papers.
Then Pierce called.
Rebecca’s deleted messages had been partially recovered.
One conversation was with Helen.
Helen:
After Saturday, everything goes back where it belongs.
Rebecca:
And Margaret?
Helen:
She’ll have no reason to keep fighting once Lily is yours.
I stopped breathing.
Then Pierce showed me the timestamp.
May you like
The messages were sent before the shower.
Whatever happened beside that fire had not been spontaneous.
