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Chapter Nineteen
Walkinginto her lawyer’s office, Agatha realized she had only been here about three times. Most of their communications were over the phone or by letter. Though to be fair, she hadn’t needed to renegotiate her contract with the publisher and had only needed her lawyer to draw up the paperwork for the purchase of the house.
Stopping at the reception desk, she said, “Christie Lovely to see Aspen Andrews.”
“Take a seat,” the woman replied, and Agatha took her chair. In this office, she was Christie again. It wasn’t a persona she felt comfortable with anymore.
Becoming Chris’s lover hadn’t changed that; she was still a different person than she had been in high school. No matter who Chris was today, he was still the boy who showed her how cruel people can be. She could never become that naïve again.
“Nice to see you again, Christie,” Aspen said, walking into the waiting room. “The seller is already here and waiting. I really didn’t think they would want to meet you. It’s very unusual.”
“That’s what I thought too,” Agatha said. The knowledge that her dad was here and that she would see him for the first time in years was overwhelming.
“Okay, right in here.” Aspen opened the door and Agatha’s eyes went to the seller. But it wasn’t her father sitting there, it was her mother. Not her real one, but Sera.
“Hello, Agatha Christie. I didn’t really think I would see you this morning,” Sera said, a red folder in front of her. The woman always color coded her files. Was red for anger or love? Agatha couldn’t decide.
“I got the impression you two didn’t know each other,” Aspen said and took a chair with a manila folder on the table. “Mrs. Dean is the seller.”
“Sit down, Agatha. Let’s talk.” Sera tapped the chair closest to her.
“Okay.” Agatha couldn’t think of anything more to say. This was not how today was supposed to go. Her dad was supposed to be a no-show, and then she would sign the papers. Now she had to talk to Sera.
“So, you want to buy my house. Why?” Sera said once Agatha’s butt hit the chair.
“I didn’t want to lose it when Dad died. I wanted to make sure that we never lost the house,” she explained. Though she’d had the same thoughts since she was a teenager, she could now finally do it. In fact, it was the first thing she thought about buying when she started to make money. Everything else had taken a back seat.
“That’s why I had your dad sign it over to me before Harper graduated.” Sera pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.
“Don’t cry,” Agatha said. “You can keep the house. I just didn’t want Dad to have it anymore.” She hugged her mom, who was a decade ahead of her in planning.
“Hormones.” Sera returned the hug even more tightly than Agatha. “But I want you to have it. It’s your and your sisters’ house, not mine.”
“Maybe we should talk to the girls about it,” Agatha admitted. Now that it wasn’t going to be sold to someone else, they had time for that.
Sera pushed her away. “No, they all have husbands who can buy them anything they want. I want you to have it.”
“So, are we going forward with the sale?” Aspen opened her folder. “The purchase price was agreed on as $300,000. Is that correct?”
“Yes, I know it’s lower than what it’s worth, but I was hoping Dad wouldn’t care.” Agatha shrugged.
“He didn’t. Do you have that kind of money, Agatha?” Sera looked at her.
“Yes.”
“How? None of your jobs have paid more than starvation wages. And I don’t think you’ve been working in months.”
“I sold some of my art this year,” Agatha finally admitted.
“Enough to hire a lawyer who isn’t Harrison? And to buy a house? How much did you sell? All of it?” Sera demanded.
Agatha shrugged. “A few of the books I wrote for Violet. I found a publisher, and they liked them.”
Yes, she should have told Sera when it happened, and right now, she wished she had, but it was never the right time. There had been a lot going on when she actually got the call; the family had other things happening. Or maybe she just let everyone else have happiness before herself. Because everyone would be happy for her and proud of her, but she hadn’t allowed them to. Instead, she hadn’t let them support her like she always did them.
“You’ve been hiding it from me for a year?” Sera was on the verge of tears, not that she wasn’t always lately. But when her chin quivered, Agatha still felt awful about not telling her right away.
“It wasn’t the entire year, just months, really. Besides, you were busy falling in love, getting married, then getting everyone else married or pregnant. That’s a lot happening in a few short months. You haven’t noticed much about me lately,” Agatha said.
