I Gave Him Half My Liver, Then He Sold My Father's House novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Story He Tells in Public

Gregor places the handwritten letter beside my settlement papers and reaches for the pen before anyone can read the first page.

'Cormac can witness your agreement,' he says. 'Then this unpleasantness ends tonight.'

The letter sits on solicitor's headed paper. Daphne Corr's name is printed at the top. Her handwriting fills the page beneath it, neat and slanted, with the confidence of someone who expects paper to obey her.

I keep my hand over the settlement papers.

'You have not shown me the first page,' I say.

Gregor's mouth tightens. 'You have already had the opportunity to review everything relevant.'

'You brought a document and asked me to endorse it before I read it.'

'Because we are running out of time, Nell.'

He says my name for the benefit of the room. He wants the warmth of a husband attached to it. The effect is poor.

The conveyancer sits behind a broad desk crowded with completion papers. Harland, according to the brass card in front of him, has one hand resting beside the file and the other near the letter.

Cormac stands by the window with the estate agent. He has not touched the coffee placed beside him. The buyer is absent. Perhaps that is why Gregor is trying so hard to make the room feel full.

The agent looks from Gregor to me. She has the trained sympathy of someone who has learned to look concerned without becoming involved.

'Perhaps Mrs Vale would prefer a moment to read it,' she says.

'It is a family matter,' Gregor replies. 'She is upset, and she has been encouraged to misunderstand the position.'

I look at the letter again.

The first page has a date from eight months ago. The date is written by hand at the top right corner. Beneath it, Daphne claims my father discussed transferring the house into joint names after my marriage.

The wording is cautious. Too cautious for a final instruction. Too complete for a private note.

'Who prepared this?' I ask.

'Daphne gave it to me,' Gregor says. 'She was your father's solicitor.'

'Yes.'

'You know she handled the estate.'

'I know what she handled.'

His eyes move to Cormac. He is asking the room to accept the rest because I have confirmed one small fact.

Cormac's gaze remains on the page. 'Does the letter refer to a signed transfer?'

Gregor turns towards him. 'It explains the intention behind the arrangement.'

'That was not my question.'

The agent shifts her folder against her coat. Harland picks up the letter and reads the first paragraph without looking pleased by it.

Gregor notices. His voice becomes softer.

'We all understand what this is. Nell believed the house was hers alone because her father always told her she would have a home. He intended to regularise the position after our marriage. It was a family oversight, not a fraud.'

He says fraud as if it belongs to someone else.

I remember the settlement paper beneath my palm. Twenty thousand pounds for a release of every claim, interest, right, and title. A release required from the woman Gregor says has no claim.

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