He pulled out a chair and sat down opposite me. “Your mother was very ill and became determined about certain things,” he said.
“She was accurate about Victoria,” I countered. “Did you know the house was mine, Harrison?” I asked.
His silence lasted just long enough to be an answer. “I knew it was in trust for you,” he finally admitted.
“You let her tell the police I was trespassing,” I said. “I didn’t know she had done that,” he claimed.
“Did you know she changed the locks?” I asked. He looked away and didn’t answer.
“I am not the villain you are trying to make me out to be,” he snapped. “I was just trying to keep the peace in my home,” he added.
“You call it peace because the real word would require a spine,” I told him. He flinched as if I had struck him.
“Your mother and I were married for twenty six years,” he reminded me. “And things were not always the way you remember them,” he added.
“I know they weren’t because I was there to see it,” I said. “None of that changes what you let happen after she died,” I added.
“What do you want from me now?” he asked. “I want the truth about whether you tried to sell this house,” I said.
He did not answer me. “There was some discussion about it,” he finally muttered.
“Cassandra’s graduate program is very expensive,” he added. I laughed in disbelief at his words.
“So you were going to sell my mother’s house to fund Victoria’s daughter’s life,” I said. “It is not as simple as that,” he argued.
“It is exactly that simple, Harrison,” I replied. “You decided that my distance in Philadelphia meant abandonment,” I added.
He leaned forward and looked at me with intensity. “You don’t understand the pressure and the fights these past few years,” he said.
“And what did you say to her?” I asked. “I said we should talk to you first,” he whispered.
“But you didn’t do that,” I noted. I stood up and looked down at him.
“You will leave this house right now,” I told my father. “You will tell Victoria that any further contact goes through Lydia,” I added.
“And if you touch one more object that belonged to my mother, I will drag every secret you have into the daylight,” I warned. He stared at me as if trying to find the girl who used to back down.
“She would not want this, Audrey,” he said quietly. “You do not get to use her voice anymore,” I told him.
When he finally left, the house seemed to inhale a deep breath. Lydia stood up and gathered her things.