The Phoenix's Rebirth for Revenge novel · Chapter 13 of 32
Chapter 13: The Assessment
"Her granddaughter, Coralie Haverhill, has isolated her from her only son and controls her medication."
I read it twice, sitting on Ambrose's bed in his T-shirt.
Then I took it downstairs.
Gran was at the kitchen island with her coffee and the crossword.
She read the petition without her glasses, holding it at arm's length.
When she got to the doctor's letter, she laughed.
"Advanced cognitive decline," she said. "I've never met this man."
"It says he examined you."
"Then he examined somebody else." She put the pages down. "Where?"
"Your residence."
Her phone buzzed on the counter before I could answer.
It was my father.
Gran put him on speaker without asking me.
"Mother, we'd like a family meeting," he said, in his boardroom voice. "Tomorrow at two, at the house. The doctor will be there to complete his assessment."
"Complete it," said Gran.
"It's a formality. If you're as well as you say, you've got nothing to worry about."
Gran looked at me over the phone.
"I'll come," she said. "It's my house. I'll bring my granddaughter, since she controls me."
She hung up.
On Thursday at two the front sitting room at Beacon Hill had been arranged like a courtroom.
Six chairs in a half circle facing Gran's wingback.
My father in the middle one, in his navy blazer, with a legal pad on his knee.
My mother beside him, in pearls.
Sabine on the sofa arm, hands folded, the picture of a worried granddaughter.
The doctor stood by the fireplace with a tablet.
He was thin and grey and wore loafers without socks.
The housekeeper waited by the door with her hands knotted in her apron.
Ambrose took the chair nobody had offered him and put it beside Gran's.
"This is a family matter," my mother said.
"I'm marrying into it," he said. "Carry on."
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Phoenix's Rebirth for Revenge from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend