Little Bird

Choices

"What do you mean Mama did not leave the house for me"? Dawn asked the family lawyer. "That house has been passed down by each generation to the oldest daughter. I am an only child. Everything should be coming to me, not Uncle Saul." Chris was getting visibly agitated at her side. Dawn already knew he was going to blame her when they arrived home. He was going to be very angry with her. She was terrified of him, but too afraid to leave. She had her own three girls to take care of and he provided everything for them. Before Chris, she was just someone's baby mama and now she was someone's wife. Chris never wanted children of his own but made sure hers were taken care of. Even if he did call them her mistakes.

"I apologize, Dawn. Elinore left all property and finances to Saul. She was not under distress and was of sound mind when she made the decision. When your girls reach maturity, they will inherit the family home and all the investments. For now, there is a sizable trust for you that will be distributed monthly for the next ten years. This will help you take care of yourself and the children. Part of this agreement is you must move out of the home. If you refuse, then the trust is denied to you and the money is redirected into investments for the girls to claim later on."

"This is utter bullshit"! Chris jumped and yelled in the small room of the lawyers' office. He stomped out the door, slamming it on his way out. Dawn felt the embarrassment warm up her face as he did so. He had always been short tempered and he loved the house and was always trying to convince her to allow him to remodel it. It was something she could not do. The family had built the home and the home was to be maintained, not redesigned. She did not understand why he always wanted to redesign the home in the modern way homes were built now. There was something about the feeling the house gave when she walked under the architecture of generations passed. There was a comforting weight inside her bones when she was in that home. Now she had to move out of the home. She had been concerned about her marriage for a long time and how she was going to continue to live with Chris, but not having the means to take care of her children, she stayed for the security he offered. There had not been love in a long time, if ever on his part. Now, with her mama's monthly stipend and some type of job, she was sure she could find perhaps, now she could find an apartment and take care of her girls. They did not need to continue hearing about their mother being berated by their step-father. Dawn did not want the girls to think that it was acceptable to allow a man to treat them that way.

"Dawn, please understand your mother did this to protect her granddaughters and to give you a chance to get away from Chris." Dawn looked up in shock at the kind green eyes of the family lawyer. She wondered briefly if he had been reading her mind. She knew Chris wouldn't want to leave the house. It was as if the house had a weird stranglehold on him there. He was nearly obsessed with the house and his desire to remodel. The antique home was in the best part of the neighborhood and next to a superb school district. While Dawn did not understand why she had to leave the house and she was broken-hearted, it was part of the agreement. It would seem she had little choice. "Thank you for your time and explaining everything to me. You know I sometimes don't understand the legalese of a situation," Dawn said, smiling and nodding at the old man sitting behind the mahongny desk.

Sighing, she stood and went out the door Chris had slammed earlier and walked into the bright hot sun towards the man pacing by his truck puffing on a cigarette. Chris smoking was never a good sign. He was always trying to quit but never could because something was always working on his nerves. He saw her walking towards him and he stopped pacing and just stared. He kept quiet until she was nearly at his side. "What did you do to upset your mama so"? he demanded. Dawn simply shrugged because she knew any answer she gave was not going to be good enough.

Suprisingly, Chris grabbed her upper arm roughly. She was going to bruise. "What did you do, Dawnie girl? Your mother was never one to buck tradition and now you have done something to cause your dead b***h of a mother to change her mind." Chris was nearly yelling at her through clenched teeth. Dawn was too shocked to shake out of his grasp, knowing the hold he had on her arm was too tight for her to get out of without causing a scene. "Chris," she whispered with a smile in case people were looking her way, "I have no idea why mama cut me out of her will. I never did stop visiting her or tending to her. Even when you told me she was best in a nursing home, I still went and made sure they were taking care of her correctly. So please, let my arm go. You are hurting me." Chris released her immediately, rubbing where his fingers had been with his open palm, "I apologize, Dawnie girl. I just had such plans for you and the children in the home. I just want what is best for you and the girls." His voice sounded sincere, but he looked conniving. A look at where he was trying to refigure a plan.

"Let us just go home and tell the girls we are going to have to move and that we are trying to figure it out the best we can." Dawn said, gesturing to the truck. Chris tossed the cigarette on the ground. Stepping on it as he did so, he opened her door so she could climb in. He looked her directly in the eye while smoothing her hair behind her ear. "I don't know what you are thinking, but we are not moving from that house." He closed her door and walked around to his side. Dawn could not fathom how he thought they would be able to stay in the house. She began to wonder for the first time if Chris was after the house and not trying to be a good step-father like he promised her he would be. She continued to ponder why he wanted the house so much and was concerned about the extent he would go to ensuring the house would not be out of his grasp.