Mr. Reed kept reading.

“You said Claire was only being nice to me to get the house. Let me tell you what Claire did. “She drove me to church every Sunday for eleven years. She fixed my furnace at midnight in January, in her pajamas, when neither of you answered your phones. She sat with me in the hospital after my fall in 2019. She brought me soup when I had the flu and read me the newspaper when my eyes got tired. She never once asked me for anything.

“Not once, in eleven years, did Claire ever mention this house. Not once did she ask what was in my will.

“Lauren, you asked me three times last year whether I'd ‘thought about the future of the property.' Kyle, you asked if I'd considered selling and moving to a nice retirement community. You both measured my windows at Christmas when you thought I was asleep. I wasn't.”

Lauren made a small noise.

“You said Claire wanted the house. She didn't. That's exactly why she's getting it.

“I'm leaving my home to the only one of my children who never asked for it.”

I had both hands over my mouth. I was crying so hard I couldn't see.