“You ready for this?”
I met his eyes.
“I’ve been ready my whole life.”
The decision came to me as clear as any mission order. I wasn’t going to hide behind lawyers forever. If Megan wanted a fight, she could look me in the eye and take her best shot. And Mom, she needed to see which daughter actuallystood on solid ground.
So I called them both and said, “Dinner at the cabin tomorrow night, seven sharp.”
Mom hesitated.
“Is this wise, Hannah?”
“Megan wants answers. I’ll give her some.”
The line was quiet. Then Megan’s voice cut in from the background, smug as ever.
“Fine, we’ll be there.”
The next day, I cleaned the place like it was inspection day on base. I laid out Dad’s documents in neat piles on the kitchen counter. The deed, the surveys, the mineral reports, all with Robert Chen’s notarizations, proofstacked higher than Megan’s ego.
Then I cooked, not because I cared what Megan thought of my cooking, but because Dad would have wanted his table full, not empty. A pot roast, potatoes, bread from the bakery in town. By 6:30, the cabin smelled like a real home.
