The phone call came on a Tuesday.
It was my grandmother again. My father didn't answer. He just let it ring and ring and ring until it stopped. But then she called back. And again. And again. Seven times in a row.
I picked up on the eighth.
"What?"
"Eleanor." She sounded worse than she had before. More desperate. More broken. "I need to talk to you."
"Talk."
"Not over the phone. In person."
"I'm not meeting you anywhere."
"It's about the will. Your grandfather's will."
"What about it?"
"He left everything to your father. The house. The money. Everything. And there's a condition."
"A condition."
"Read the will next week. At the lawyer's office. I'll be there. You should be too."
She hung up before I could say anything.
I told my father. He sat at the kitchen table for a long t
