Then I stayed quiet.
The police arrived twelve minutes later. Mom immediately put on a performance.
“My daughter invited us to live here, then changed her mind because she’s emotional after childbirth.”
She held up the forged agreement.
One officer looked at me. “Ma’am, is this your signature?”
“No.”
Mom’s face twitched.
I opened my phone and showed him her texts from two weeks earlier.
MOM: We’ll stay with you after the baby comes.
ME: No. Nobody is moving into our house.
MOM: You’ll change your mind.
ME: This is written notice. You do not have permission to live here, receive mail here, move belongings here, or enter the property.
The officer read it twice.
Then he looked at Mom.
“Do you have keys?”
Silence.
Dale stared at the pavement.
Finally Brittany muttered, “Mom made copies.”
My pulse slowed.
“Copies of what?”
Mom’s eyes hardened. “Claire, stop.”
