After carefully unfolding the fragile paper that had yellowed, I took it up and put it away. My hands were shaking as I read the sentences, and my heart was beating faster with each phrase that I read.
Smiling, Barbara sat back in her chair. The statement was made with a sense of triumph: “That is evidence that you are not your mother’s biological daughter.” You were taken in by us. “This indicates that you have absolutely no claim to her estate,” she said as she leaned forward.
This caused the attorney to furrow his brow and remove the paper from my hands so that he could inspect it. While this was going on, the edges of my world became hazy. Have you adopted? I had never been aware of it. I was never informed by my mother. Could that be the reason why I always felt different?
Barbara laughed out loud when she saw my surprise. “Oh, Charlotte, you don’t have to appear so happy. Considering that you never had anything in the first place, it’s not like you’ve lost anything.
I ought to have been in utter disbelief. When I watched Barbara take pride in herself, however, something inside of me snapped. I forced myself to suppress my feelings by taking a big breath. While maintaining my composure, I responded, “Alright, if that is what Mom wanted, then so be it.”
After a brief glance in my direction, the attorney cleared his throat. Over the course of flipping through Mom’s “real” will, he trailed off with, “Actually…” His eyes grew more wide. “This… completely alters everything.”
Barbara’s arrogance suffered a setback. “What exactly do you mean?”
In our direction, he turned the document over. Charlotte was not your mother’s biological child, as your mother was aware. Despite this, her will, which is considered to be her “real” and “legal” will, specifies that she was leaving everything to her “eldest” daughter.
The jaw of Barbara was dropped. “What the heck?! You can’t possibly do that!
The attorney paid no attention to her and instead focused on me. “Charlotte, your mother made certain that you were the only one from whom she would inherit her estate. In contrast, Barbara is the one who…” With a smile that was both polite and firm, he turned his eye to my sister. “She left you exactly **one** thing.”
Barbara’s face twisted. “And what’s that?!” she spat.
I turned the page and read the words aloud.
*”To my youngest daughter, Barbara, I leave my love and best wishes for success in her acting career. I hope she finds what she’s been searching for.”*
There is nothing else. There is no money. There is no house. There is no jewelry.
The hue left Barbara’s face completely flat. “This… this seems to be an error! This is not something that she would do to me!
But the truth was there, in black and white. Our mother had seen through her selfishness all along.
And in the end, Barbara got precisely what she deserved.
