Chapter 8 - AUNT MARGARET
Margaret did not waste time.
“You finally noticed?”
We sat in the common room of her assisted-living facility.
“What?”
“That your father has been spending your money like he’s Santa Claus.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“I have functioning eyes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Christmas two years ago.”
Memory.
She had said:
Robert likes being thanked for checks he didn’t write.
I laughed because I thought she was making a sibling joke.
“You could have been clearer.”
“You could have been less busy.”
Fair.
She leaned back.
“Your mother tells everyone Robert handles family support.”
“He handles the account.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“She says the money is theirs.”
My stomach tightened.
“Whose?”
“Your parents’.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“To you.”
Margaret explained.
When Robert paid cousin David’s medical deductible:
“Your uncle took care of it.”
When Helen covered Emma? No Emma. Let’s use cousin Erin's daughter's tuition.
“Grandma and Grandpa believe in education.”
When Margaret’s assisted-living supplement arrived:
“Robert made sure you’d never be alone.”
“Did you correct them?”
Margaret smiled.
“I know where money comes from. I’m old, not stupid.”
“Why accept it?”
“Because you offered.”
Difference.
Then:
“Your parents turned your generosity into social authority.”
That sentence sat between us.
“You paid.”
“They received gratitude.”
Exactly.
“Why force my kids to serve?”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“Because your father hates that people know you’re more successful than he ever was.”
I did not answer.
“He loves you.”
She continued.
“Don’t make that face. Both things can be true.”
“Then why take money?”
“Because taking it lets him say he manages you.”
Control by translation.
“And the property?”
Margaret snorted.
“So you found that.”
“You knew?”
“He asked me to invest.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he called it the Bennett Family Legacy Estate.”
I rubbed my face.
May you like
“It’s two suburban lots.”
“He has branding instincts.”
