Chapter 9: The Papers I Never Signed
Darius read the message a third time.
“The buyer needs them before closing,” he murmured.
Monica reached for the phone.
He moved it out of her reach.
“Who is buying something?””
“It's not what you think.””
“Then tell me what it is.””
She shook her head.
“Darius, please. Not in front of your mother.””
I stood beside the kitchen island, clutching Samuel's wedding photograph.
“You've already made me part of this, Monica. Tell us the truth.””
She looked at me with wet eyes.
“I never wanted to hurt you.””
“Then why did someone ask for papers bearing my signature?””
“I was trying to solve a problem.””
“What problem?””
She looked toward Darius.
He waited.
Finally, she whispered, “The house.””
Darius frowned.
“What about the house?””
Monica's fingers twisted around the strap of her purse.
“The property paperwork.””
He stared at her.
“What property paperwork?””
She looked down.
“The documents for your mother's house.””
My knees felt weak.
For several seconds, the room seemed to tilt around me.
My house was small compared with Darius's elegant home. It had three bedrooms, a narrow front porch, and a maple tree that Samuel had planted when Darius was ten.
It was the place where I had raised my son, where Samuel had laughed at the kitchen table, and where I had learned to sleep alone after losing my husband.
It wasn't an investment to me.
It was my life.
“Monica,” I whispered, “what did you do with my house?””
She immediately shook her head.
“Nothing has happened to it.””
“Then why are there papers?””
“I was looking into options.””
Darius stepped closer.
“What options?””
Monica pressed her hands against her face.
“I thought we could use the equity to help with our financial situation.””
Darius stared at her.
“You wanted to borrow against Mom's house?””
“I thought it might be possible.””
“Without telling her?””
“I hadn't finalized anything!””
I gripped the counter.
“Did you apply for a loan in my name?””
Monica's silence lasted only a moment.
But it was long enough.
Darius looked as though he had stopped breathing.
“Monica,” he said, “answer her.””
“I only submitted preliminary paperwork.””
“In whose name?””
She began crying harder.
“Loretta's.””
I stepped backward.
Malik, who had been sitting quietly beside the kitchen island, climbed down from his chair and wrapped both arms around my waist.
“Grandma?””
I held him close.
“I'm all right, sweetheart.””
But I wasn't.
The woman standing across from me had not only taken my belongings. She had considered using the home where I had spent most of my life to solve a financial problem I hadn't even known existed.
Darius placed his phone on the counter.
“Did Mom authorize this?””
Monica shook her head.
“No.””
“Did she sign anything?””
She didn't answer.
Darius's voice rose.
“Did she sign anything?””
“No!””
The word echoed through the kitchen.
I closed my eyes.
For a moment, all I could hear was the refrigerator humming and Malik's breathing against my cardigan.
Then Darius asked the question I had been too frightened to ask.
“Did you forge her signature?””
Monica stumbled backward.
“I didn't think it would go through!””
Darius stared at her.
“That wasn't my question.””
She covered her mouth.
“I was going to tell you.””
“When?””
“When everything was settled.””
“Settled how?””
She looked at him desperately.
“I thought I could use the money to pay off the expenses. I thought I could put everything back before anyone noticed.””
“What expenses?””
Monica lowered her eyes.
“The credit cards. The purchases. Some other bills.””
Darius ran a hand through his hair.
“You were going to put your debt against my mother's house?””
“I wasn't trying to steal her house!””
“You submitted paperwork using her name!””
“I thought I could fix it!””
Her voice broke.
“I thought if I got the money, I could clear the debts, pay everyone back, and then nobody would have to know.””
I looked at her.
“And what would have happened to me?””
She began shaking her head.
“I would have made the payments.””
“What if you couldn't?””
“I would have!””
“What if the lender had approved the loan and the payments became too much? What if I had lost my house?””
Monica looked away.
“I didn't think that far ahead.””
I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
“That's my home.””
“I know.””
“Your son played in that backyard. My husband planted that tree. Every room holds something I worked for.””
“I know!””
“Then how could you do this?””
Monica sank into a dining chair.
For the first time, she looked small.
“I was drowning,” she whispered.
Darius stood across from her.
“Then you should have asked for help.””
“I was ashamed.””
“So you decided to use my mother's name?””
She sobbed into her hands.
“I didn't know what else to do.””
I thought about the gold bracelet, the storage unit, the inventory, and the pawn-shop receipt.
Each time, Monica had faced a choice.
Tell the truth or hide it.
Ask for help or take what wasn't hers.
Accept responsibility or make me feel guilty for resisting.
And each time, she had chosen to make someone else pay for her fear.
Darius took a slow breath.
“Who has these documents?””
“Vanessa sent them to a broker,” Monica whispered.
“I don't know whether they were submitted to a lender yet.””
“What's the broker's name?””
She told him.
He immediately began searching his phone.
“I'm contacting the lender's fraud department,” he said.
“I'm also getting a lawyer to make sure nothing can happen to Mom's property.””
Monica sprang to her feet.
“You can't do that!””
He looked at her.
“Watch me.””
“If you report this, you could ruin my life!””
Darius's expression hardened.
“You were willing to risk my mother's home.””
“I was going to fix it!””
“You keep saying that as if your intentions erase what you did.””
She stared at him, breathing rapidly.
Then she looked at me.
“Loretta, please. Tell him not to do this.””
I couldn't speak.
She stepped closer.
“Please. I made a mistake.””
I looked at the photograph in my hands.
Samuel was smiling at me from another lifetime, when we believed that loving someone meant you could trust them with everything you had.
“I can forgive a mistake,” I said quietly.
“But I cannot pretend this was one small mistake.””
Monica's face crumpled.
Darius moved toward the hallway, phone pressed to his ear.
“Yes,” he said to someone on the line.
“I need to report suspected unauthorized use of a homeowner's identity. The property owner is my mother, Loretta.””
He listened, then answered several questions.
I couldn't hear the other person's words, but I saw Darius's expression grow more serious.
“Do not process anything further,” he said.
“Please flag the application for review. We can provide documentation confirming she did not authorize it.””
He paused.
Then he looked at me.
“Mom, do you have your property deed and identification at home?””
I nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
“Good. We'll get everything verified.””
Monica sat motionless at the table.
The dining room lights shone across her cream dress. The bracelet on her wrist glittered every time she moved her fingers.
Finally, she looked up.
“Darius, what happens to us now?””
He lowered the phone.
“I don't know.””
She stared at him.
“You can't mean that.””
“I mean exactly what I said.””
He turned toward me.
“Mom, I'm sorry.””
I nodded, but I didn't answer.
There were too many apologies waiting to be made, and I no longer had the strength to accept them all simply because they were offered.
Malik took my hand.
“Grandma,” he whispered, “you can live with us if you want.””
I knelt and hugged him.
“Thank you, sweetheart.””
He pulled back just enough to look at me.
“Dad won't let anyone hurt you again, right?””
Darius heard him.
He crossed the kitchen slowly and crouched beside us.
“I should have protected Grandma a long time ago,” he said.
“I can't change what happened today, but I can make sure the truth is dealt with.””
Malik studied him.
“Even if Mom gets mad?””
Darius swallowed.
“Even if Mom gets mad.””
For the first time that afternoon, I believed he understood what courage might cost him.
Then his phone rang again.
He answered, listened, and went completely still.
“What do you mean the application has already been received?”” he asked.
Monica lifted her head.
Darius's face turned pale.
He listened for another moment, then said, “Please put an immediate hold on it. We will provide the necessary documents.””
He ended the call and looked at me.
“The lender has the application,” he said.
“They haven't approved it, but they need proof that you didn't authorize it.””
I felt Malik squeeze my hand.
Darius looked toward the front door.
“We need to get your documents tonight.””
Monica stood abruptly.
“Darius, wait.””
He turned.
She was crying again, but this time she wasn't asking him to forgive her.
She was staring at the pawn-shop receipt on the counter.
“There is something else you need to know,” she whispered.
Darius's shoulders stiffened.
“What now?””
Monica looked directly at me.
“The person who helped me prepare the property application wasn't Vanessa.””
She reached into her purse and removed a folded business card.
Then she placed it on the counter.
Darius picked it up.
The name printed across the card belonged to someone he knew.
Someone who had attended our Thanksgiving dinner.
Someone who had been sitting at his table while I was forced to eat on the kitchen floor.
Darius looked toward the empty dining room.
May you like
And his voice dropped to a whisper.
“Richard?””
