Chapter 10 - The Part About Death
Bledsoe eventually asked to withdraw from representing my father, subject to the court's approval and a schedule that wouldn't prejudice the emergency proceedings. Judge Simmons allowed separate counsel to be retained. He kept the preservation directive in place, heard the remaining evidence, and set a brief continuation for the next morning so Mom could secure independent advice.
Then Dana Hale presented the sealed statement Grandpa had entrusted to her father. She identified the seal and the instructions that had kept it unopened until a dispute over my military service was used as a reason to challenge the deed.
The judge didn't treat it as a substitute for testimony or a court order. He allowed the parties to review it, heard objections about its purpose, and admitted it for the limited question of Joseph's intentions at the time of the transfer.
Grandpa's handwriting crowded the page. Dana offered to read it, but I asked to hear the judge. I wanted the words spoken somewhere my father couldn't interrupt them.
Joseph wrote that I had not abandoned the family. He had watched my father turn every promotion into evidence of disobedience. He had watched a daughter learn to make decisions without asking permission, and a father mistake independence for rejection.
Then came the sentence that cut through me.
Robert had repeatedly asked what financial benefits might follow Evelyn's death while she was deployed.
My mother made a noise as if something had struck her chest.
"You asked about her death benefits?" she said to Dad.
"Estate planning," he replied. "I needed to understand the possibilities."
"She was in a war zone."
"Exactly. Somebody had to think practically."
I remembered a phone call after my first dangerous deployment. I'd told him I'd been hurt but was okay. He'd asked about my life insurance paperwork before asking where the injury was.
At the time, I told myself he was scared and bad at showing it.
Now the memory had a different shape.
I looked at my father. "You weren't planning an estate," I said. "You were doing math."
No one answered. Judge Simmons waited for the courtroom to settle, then explained that Grandpa's statement did not establish what my father had intended or done with any military benefits. Those were matters outside the narrow property hearing.
It did, however, destroy the picture my parents had painted of a confused old man who accidentally gave away land.
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Across the aisle, Mom took off her pearls and put them in her purse.
Then Mr. Hanley opened his folder.
