Chapter 5 - ROBERT’S SILENCE
Robert asked Paige to speak privately.
Margaret objected.
Paige ignored her.
She wheeled him to the side of the house, away from Eric and the neighbors.
Robert looked thinner than she remembered.
“Did you know?” Paige asked.
“About what?”
“The second mortgage.”
“No.”
“The power of attorney.”
He looked away.
That was an answer.
“How much did you know?”
“Your mother said papers needed signing.”
“Did you see my name?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask whether I agreed?”
Robert’s hand tightened around the wheelchair arm.
“No.”
Paige felt something colder than anger.
Robert had always been the helpless one in the family story.
Quiet.
Frail.
Controlled by Margaret.
But helplessness could become participation when it repeatedly benefited from someone else’s burden.
“You let her use my name.”
“I thought you would help.”
“You thought I would fix it after.”
Robert began crying.
“I didn’t want to lose the house.”
“So you let them risk my home instead.”
Paige owned a small apartment.
The fraudulent debt could reach it.
Her savings.
Her career.
Her future.
Robert had not swung the slap.
May you like
He had allowed the system.
That mattered.
