Chapter 3 - Norah Takes Me to Court
The lawsuit arrived six weeks after Norah’s graduation.
Not a conversation.
Not a warning.
A petition in probate court.
Norah claimed Grandpa had been confused near the end and that I had manipulated him into changing his inheritance plan.
I read the papers twice at my kitchen table.
Then I laughed once, because if I did not laugh, I was going to break something.
My sister, whose degree I had funded for seven years, was accusing me of stealing from the family.
When I called my mother, she sighed like I was being difficult.
“Ashley, don’t make this ugly.”
“Norah is dragging me to court.”
“She’s under pressure.”
“I paid her way through medical school.”
“And we appreciate that,” Mom said. “But Grandpa’s estate should help someone with a future.”
Someone with a future.
I looked around my apartment.
At the stack of unpaid bills.
At the laptop I used for work.
At the files from cases that kept everyone else’s secrets while my own family treated my life like a storage closet.
Then Norah called.
Her voice was bright at first.
“Don’t take this personally.”
“You filed against me.”
“Because you won’t be reasonable.”
“Reasonable means giving you the cabin?”
“And part of the investments,” she said. “Ashley, come on. You’re good at surviving. I’m the one with student loans and a career to build.”
I stared at the wall.
“Student loans?”
She went quiet.
Then she said the sentence that ended us.
“Your only job is to sacrifice. That’s your place in this family.”
I hung up.
May you like
Then I opened my case cabinet.
Norah had forgotten what I did for a living.
