Chapter 7 - Paige’s Panic
By noon, Paige was packing.
Not because she accepted the notice.
Because fear made her move before pride could stop her.
She dragged designer suitcases from the upstairs guest room, muttering under her breath while Ruth argued on the phone with an attorney who clearly was not giving her the answer she wanted.
Harold sat in the kitchen staring at the legal envelope like it might change if he looked pathetic enough.
Maren and Lily stayed outside with Claire.
They did not enter yet.
Claire advised it.
“No confrontation inside without documentation,” she said. “Let them process the notice first.”
Lily sat in Maren’s car with the heater on, watching the house through the windshield.
The Christmas wreath still hung on the door.
A red ribbon fluttered in the wind.
Lily kept thinking about the night before.
How warm the dining room had looked.
How good the food had smelled.
How everyone had stared at her but no one had helped.
“Did Great-Grandma Evelyn really leave it to me?” she asked.
Maren turned toward her.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Maren’s face tightened with guilt.
“I didn’t know for sure until recently.”
“But Grandma did?”
Maren looked at the house.
“I think she knew enough to stay quiet.”
Lily’s fingers twisted in her lap.
“Why would she hate me?”
Maren’s eyes filled.
“She doesn’t hate you because of who you are. She resents what you represent.”
“What do I represent?”
Maren brushed snow from Lily’s sleeve.
“A future she can’t control.”
Inside the house, Paige came flying down the stairs with a jewelry box under one arm and a laptop bag over her shoulder.
She opened the front door and nearly collided with Claire.
“I need to leave,” Paige said.
Claire glanced at the bags.
“You may leave. You may not remove property belonging to the house, the trust, or Lily Reed.”
Paige laughed nervously.
“This is my stuff.”
Claire’s eyes moved to the jewelry box.
“Then you won’t mind documenting it.”
Paige’s grip tightened.
Maren stepped out of the car.
“Paige.”
Paige turned.
Her face had changed from smug to desperate.
“This isn’t my fault.”
“You told her to go home.”
“I didn’t know about the house.”
“You knew she was a child.”
Paige’s lips trembled with anger.
“Mom made it sound like you were trying to take everything.”
Maren walked closer.
“I was trying to protect my daughter.”
Paige looked toward Lily in the car.
For one second, something like shame crossed her face.
Then it disappeared.
“Well, congratulations. She gets a house. We get thrown out.”
Maren stared at her.
“You had a room here for seven years. Lily didn’t even get a chair.”
That landed.
Paige looked away.
Then Claire’s phone buzzed.
She checked it, and her expression shifted.
“Maren.”
Maren turned.
Claire held up the screen.
“My office just received a response from Ruth’s attorney. They are claiming Evelyn was mentally incompetent when she signed the trust.”
Maren felt anger rise again.
Lily opened the car door.
“What does that mean?”
Claire looked at her gently.
“It means they’re trying to say your great-grandmother didn’t know what she was doing when she left the house to you.”
Lily’s face fell.
“But she did.”
Maren asked softly, “How do you know?”
Lily reached into her backpack and pulled out a small old Christmas card.
She had kept it for years.
On the front was a watercolor house covered in snow.
Inside, Evelyn’s handwriting was shaky but clear.
For my Lily, who always makes every house feel like home. One day, this house will remember you.
Maren covered her mouth.
Claire took the card carefully.
Paige stared at it.
Because that tiny card did what all Ruth’s shouting could not undo.
It made Evelyn’s intention personal.
Specific.
May you like
Alive.
👉 Ruth tried to claim Evelyn was confused—but Lily had kept the Christmas card that proved her great-grandmother remembered exactly who the house was for.
