He shakes his head. “Wanna sit on the steps for a minute.”
“Sure,” I say, because even though it is chilly, this was his home for decades, and I am not rushing him out just to go sit in an empty house and order takeout.
He walks over to the stairs, barely using his cane now, and nods. “Have a seat.”
So, I sit.
“Back before people had fireproof safes,” he begins, “folks used to hide mortgages, deeds, important papers inside the newel posts on the stairs. You ever hear of that.”
“I have not.”
He pulls the cap off the end of the post. Inside is a tubular fireproof container. He sets it between us and opens it.
“Patsy and I had this made when her bastard nephew tried putting us in a home. Since he was her sister’s only child, he would have been our legal next of kin and inherited this house. He would have sold it and pissed it away like he did his parents’ home.”
He pulls out the original mortgage, stamped PAID IN FULL in big red letters. Then the first set of plans. Then my sketched version. Then the deed. He sits down beside me.
“Larry put Patsy’s sister in a home and visited her once a month to get her to sign her check. When we tried to move herin with us, he took us off the approved visitor list and threatened to have us arrested. Even after we told him to keep her damn money. When she passed, we were waiting on a court date.”
A tear slips down my cheek before I can stop it. “That is so unfair. I am sorry.”
He shrugs and taps his knee against mine. “Still boils my blood when I let it. Patsy forgave so she could move on. But I am not leaving a damn thing to him.”
“I do not blame you.”
He reaches down and pulls a leather briefcase from beside the steps and sets it on his lap. “Someone asked me once if she would be pissed I wrote Larry off. You know what I said.” I shake my head. “I saidClaudiawould understand.”
For a moment, I forget how to breathe.
He opens the briefcase and pulls out a thick packet. “You girls showed up here on her birthday. The date a few of my brothers and I crashed that party, and I first laid eyes on my wife. The truth is,” He hands me the packet. “I am not leaving a damn thing to him. I am leaving it to you and Savannah.”
My head shakes before I even know I am doing it. “I could never.”
He chuckles. “You already signed the papers.”
“I signed a lease.”
“Yeah. About that.”
“Paul.” I scold him, which only makes him laugh harder. “Nalani —”
“Nalani has a whole resort. Noelle was left money and has a bookstore. Sofie is running a company worth millions. I am leaving this to the person who needs it most.”
“I don’t understand why,” I say as tears fall freely. “You have brothers. You said that.”
“Had lots of them over the years,” he says gently. “But with every move, they got further behind.”
“You were in foster care.”
He nods. “You are catching on, kid.”
I put a hand to my chest. “I do not know what to say.”
“Then wait till I tell you, Patsy, and I were going to name our first daughter after her sister.”
“Paul, what if something happens and I cannot pay the taxes, or I have to move, or…”
“The house has been paid off for forty years. Money is sitting in an account for its upkeep for your lifetime and Savannah’s. When I go to meet my wife, none of that can come with me.” He nudges me. “The house comes with an old man who may be a little delusional, but he knows that you walking in here that day was a gift. Just hire a nurse when I get too much and do not send me to the old folks factory.”
