Nobody said it for me. I want that on the record, because the version everyone tells has me announcing it. What actually happened is that my mother stood up, at eighty-one, with her hands shaking on the tablecloth, and said the estate belonged to her daughter. It was the first time in fifty-one years she had chosen me out loud in a room with Thaddeus in it, and it cost her more than the house ever would have.
Thaddeus left before the plates were cleared. Lorelei stayed, which surprised me, and told me quietly that he had been moving money out of their joint accounts since spring. She filed in February.
The collapse was not dramatic. Eleven million in personal guarantees, three projects unwound by receivers, a condo sold at a loss. I did not lift a finger to accelerate any of it and I did not lift one to stop it either, and I have made a kind of peace with that second part.
