My stepmother called and told me, “You’re banned from the family beach house. I changed every lock.” She sounded almost delighted. I simply replied, “Thanks for the update.” What she didn’t know was that my mom had placed the house in a private trust under my name before she passed away.

under my hand. My mother’s signature was there like a pulse from the past, elegant and steady and utterly unlike the weakness Diana had always assumed she could exploit.

“The beach house belongs to me,” I said. “Mom put it in a trust before she died.”

There was a pause so long I could hear him breathing. “Diana told me you didn’t want it. She said you continue reading …