Chapter 5 - The Attic Ledger
That evening, after feeding the children and putting them to bed, I called Aunt Claire.
Aunt Claire was Grandma Eleanor’s younger sister, an eighty-one-year-old retired probate paralegal who lived alone in a cozy Victorian house in Duluth. Claire had always been the black sheep of the family—the only one who dared tell Curt Sorenson that he was an arrogant bully who ruined his late wife’s self-esteem. Because of her honesty, Dad had effectively iced Claire out of family holidays for the past decade, telling everyone she was ""confused and combative.""
""Maya?"" Claire’s voice crackled through the phone, sharp and energetic despite her age. ""To what do I owe the pleasure? Last I heard, you were playing dutiful daughter at the lake.""
""Aunt Claire, I need the truth,"" I said, sitting on my living room sofa with a cup of chamomile tea that was growing cold. ""About Grandma’s estate. And about why Dad has spent thirty years trying to buy Brooke’s love while treating me like an unpaid servant.""
The other end of the line went quiet for several long seconds. I could hear the faint ticking of a grandfather clock in Claire’s parlor.
""I wondered when you were going to wake up, child,"" Claire murmured, a deep, sorrowful sigh escaping her. ""Your mother made me swear on her deathbed that I wouldn't interfere unless Curt went too far. But hitting you in front of the little ones? Word travels fast among the cousins. Curt has crossed a line he can't walk back from.""
""Claire, what is the secret?"" I pressed, my heart hammering against my ribs. ""Why did Grandma leave the cabin under that bizarre arrangement? And why did Dad secretly deed the entire property to Brooke last year?""
""Because Curt didn't just deed it to her out of favoritism, Maya,"" Claire said, her voice dropping to a gravelly, solemn whisper. ""He deeded it to her out of blackmail.""
The air in my living room seemed to chill by ten degrees. ""Blackmail?""
""Do you remember the summer before you turned twelve? The summer your mother was hospitalized for what your father called 'exhaustion'?""
""I remember,"" I answered, my fingers tightening around the phone. ""Brooke was nine. Dad sent us to sleepaway camp for six weeks, and when we came back, Mom was different. She was quiet. She stopped painting. She never smiled the same way again.""
""Your mother didn't have nervous exhaustion, Maya. She found out that Curt had embezzled nearly one hundred and eighty thousand dollars from the high school athletic boosters and regional tournament funds to cover massive sports gambling debts.""
My mouth fell open. Curt Sorenson, the legendary coach, the moral pillar of the community who gave speeches on discipline and integrity?
""Your mother was going to divorce him,"" Claire continued. ""Grandma Eleanor intervened. Grandma loved your mother like her own daughter, and she wanted to protect you girls from the absolute scandal and ruin. Grandma Eleanor took out a massive second mortgage on the cabin to quietly pay off Curt’s debts before the school board audited the books. Curt kept his job. The family kept its reputation.""
""And Brooke?"" I asked, my voice barely audible.
""Brooke found the original handwritten promissory notes and the bank audit papers in Grandma’s cedar desk three years ago when Eleanor’s health began failing. Your sister realized that if those papers ever saw the light of day, Curt’s pension could be revoked by the district, his hall-of-fame legacy would be permanently erased, and the Sorenson name would be mud.""
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A cold shudder ran through my entire body. ""She blackmailed our own father.""
""She told him that unless he deeded the cabin exclusively to her and funded her lifestyle and business loans, she would hand the files over to the school board and Tyler Vance’s father—who happens to sit on the state athletic commission. Curt has been trapped in a prison of his own making, Maya. And to survive, he turned around and bled you dry to pay for the bars.""
