Mr.

Ashcraft is solely responsible for the mortgage.

All assets in my client’s name remain her separate property.” The hope drained out of Noreen’s face as she understood: the house had never been a gift.

Without my money underneath it, it was a debt with a countdown on it.

I watched that understanding arrive on her face and felt the whole shape of the thing settle into place.

For five years these people had treated the house, the cars, the comfort, the money, as facts of nature — permanent features of a world that owed them a good life.