She Walked Out, and Ten Years Later She Showed Up With Expensive Gifts at a Twelfth Birthday Dinner

“She brought a paper with a seal on it yesterday,” Mark said.

“She told Lily the house gets auctioned off on the courthouse steps if you don’t sign her contract.”

“Your mother’s broke, Mark,” I said.

“And she doesn’t own one nail in these floorboards.”

Mark looked at the bare table, then back at my face.

“She showed me a copy of the deed from the county records office,” Mark said.

“Her name was right there next to yours on the title.”

“The county records office keeps the original mortgage filing,” I said.