{"id":263,"date":"2026-10-17T12:17:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T12:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/?p=263"},"modified":"2026-10-17T12:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T12:18:32","slug":"part-2-my-sister-said-dad-died-overnight-i-looked-up-and-found-him-eating-breakfast-beside-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/?p=263","title":{"rendered":"PART 2 \u2013 My sister said Dad died overnight. I looked up\u2014and found him eating breakfast beside me."},"content":{"rendered":"
PART 2 \u2013 The House He Gave Away Before He Died<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Dad leaned closer to the phone.
\n\u201cI put it somewhere neither of you can touch.\u201d
\nFor several seconds, the only sound from Vanessa\u2019s side was the faint rumble of the car.
\nThen she laughed.
\nIt was a nervous laugh this time.
\n\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d
\nDad looked at me before answering.
\n\u201cYesterday morning, I placed the house in an irrevocable family trust.\u201d
\nSilence.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNatalie is the successor trustee.\u201d
\nI stared at him.
\nThat part was news to me.
\nDad had told me we were meeting his attorney yesterday to \u201cfix a few things.\u201d
\nHe had not told me exactly what those things were.
\nVanessa found her voice first.
\n\u201cYou gave Natalie the house?\u201d
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t say that.\u201d
\n\u201cYou just said\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI said I protected my home. There\u2019s a difference.\u201d
\nGrant suddenly shouted from the background.
\n\u201cHe can\u2019t do that!\u201d
\nDad smiled without humor.
\n\u201cInteresting, Grant. You declared me dead five minutes ago, but now you\u2019re giving legal opinions about what I can do.\u201d
\nI covered my mouth to stop myself from laughing.
\nGrant didn\u2019t find it funny.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re confused, Walter.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s smile disappeared.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

There it was.
\nThe sentence we had both been expecting.
\nDad was seventy-four years old.
\nTherefore, whenever he made a decision Vanessa and Grant disliked, he was suddenly \u201cconfused.\u201d
\nDad straightened.
\n\u201cAm I?\u201d
\nVanessa jumped in.
\n\u201cDad, listen to me. Natalie has obviously manipulated you.\u201d
\nI almost spoke.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dad touched my shoulder.
\n\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to listen to me.\u201d
\nVanessa went quiet.
\nDad walked back to his chair and sat down.
\n\u201cYou want to know why I\u2019m at Natalie\u2019s house?\u201d
\nNeither of them answered.
\n\u201cTwo nights ago, at 1:17 in the morning, I woke up because someone was inside my office.\u201d
\nMy stomach tightened even though I already knew this part.
\nDad continued.
\n\u201cI walked downstairs and found Grant standing behind my desk.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a lie,\u201d Grant snapped.
\nDad didn\u2019t raise his voice.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s mistake number one.\u201d
\nGrant went silent.
\n\u201cYou had the drawer open where I keep my bank statements, insurance documents, property records, and spare truck key.\u201d
\n\u201cI was looking for\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cI know what you were looking for.\u201d
\nVanessa interrupted.
\n\u201cDad, Grant was helping you organize things.\u201d
\n\u201cAt one seventeen in the morning?\u201d
\nNo answer.
\nDad continued.
\n\u201cWhen I asked him what he was doing, he told me you had sent him.\u201d
\n\u201cI never\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cVanessa.\u201d
\nOne word.
\nThat was all it took.
\nMy sister stopped talking.
\nDad\u2019s hands folded calmly on the table.
\n\u201cThe next morning, you came over with coffee and a folder.\u201d
\nI knew about that too.
\nThe folder had contained a power-of-attorney form.
\nNot a limited one.
\nNot something designed for emergencies.
\nA broad financial power of attorney giving Vanessa extraordinary authority over Dad\u2019s accounts and property.
\n\u201cYou told me everyone my age should have one,\u201d Dad said.
\n\u201cYou should.\u201d
\n\u201cI do.\u201d
\nVanessa hesitated.
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d
\n\u201cI already had one.\u201d
\nDad looked at me.
\n\u201cSigned six years ago.\u201d
\nVanessa\u2019s breathing changed.
\n\u201cAnd Natalie wasn\u2019t the person I appointed.\u201d
\nThat surprised Vanessa even more.
\n\u201cThen who?\u201d
\n\u201cHarold.\u201d
\nThe silence on the phone was almost satisfying.
\nHarold Pike.
\nDad\u2019s supposedly grieving best friend.
\nThe man Vanessa claimed had discovered Dad\u2019s body.
\nDad reached for another piece of bacon.
\n\u201cYou remember Harold, don\u2019t you?\u201d
\n\u201cOf course I remember Harold.\u201d
\n\u201cGood. Because he\u2019s sitting with my attorney right now.\u201d
\nGrant muttered something I couldn\u2019t understand.
\nDad continued.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re reviewing security footage from my house.\u201d
\nGrant stopped muttering.
\nI watched Dad.
\nThere was something he had not told me.
\n\u201cWhat security footage?\u201d Vanessa asked.
\nDad smiled.
\n\u201cThe cameras I installed six months ago.\u201d
\nGrant exploded.
\n\u201cYou recorded me?\u201d
\n\u201cMy cameras recorded my house.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cI certainly can.\u201d
\nDad took a bite of bacon.
\n\u201cAnd apparently, they recorded you opening my office drawer at 1:17 a.m.\u201d
\nI heard Vanessa whisper something to Grant.
\nDad waited.
\nThen he added:
\n\u201cThey also recorded you photographing my bank statements.\u201d
\nGrant began shouting.
\nVanessa shouted over him.
\nFor ten seconds, the phone became chaos.
\nDad calmly finished chewing.
\nThen he said:
\n\u201cWould you both like to hear the interesting part?\u201d
\nThey stopped.
\n\u201cThe documents you found in my office weren\u2019t my current estate papers.\u201d
\nVanessa\u2019s voice turned small.
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d
\n\u201cThey were fourteen years old.\u201d
\nI remembered the papers Vanessa had bragged about finding.
\nDad leaving her the house.
\nGrant receiving the truck.
\nMe supposedly being excluded.
\nDad shook his head.
\n\u201cThat will was written when Natalie was twenty-nine.\u201d
\nI was forty-three now.
\nDad continued.
\n\u201cIt was replaced years ago.\u201d
\nVanessa\u2019s voice hardened.
\n\u201cYou kept an old will in your desk?\u201d
\n\u201cI keep many old documents.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause unlike you, I don\u2019t throw away everything the second I think it has stopped being useful.\u201d
\nThat one landed.
\nVanessa became quiet again.
\nThen Grant said the words that destroyed whatever sympathy Dad still had for him.
\n\u201cSo what do we get?\u201d
\nNot Are you okay?
\nNot Why did you leave?
\nNot Why were you afraid enough to go to Natalie\u2019s?
\nNot I\u2019m sorry.
\nWhat do we get?
\nDad closed his eyes.
\nFor a second, he looked older.
\nWhen he opened them again, something had changed.
\n\u201cYou know,\u201d he said quietly, \u201cI spent most of last night wondering whether I was being too harsh.\u201d
\nNeither Vanessa nor Grant spoke.
\n\u201cI told Natalie that maybe you were scared. Maybe you saw those papers and panicked. Maybe you convinced yourselves you were protecting something that would eventually belong to you.\u201d
\nDad looked down at his hands.
\n\u201cBut then you called my daughter this morning and told her I was dead.\u201d
\nHis voice cracked slightly on the final word.
\nMy anger disappeared for one second.
\nBecause beneath Dad\u2019s fury was something worse.
\nPain.
\nVanessa finally whispered, \u201cDad\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cYou used my death as a weapon.\u201d
\nShe started crying.
\nAt least I thought she was crying.
\nIt might have been anger.
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t understand.\u201d
\n\u201cThen explain it.\u201d
\n\u201cWe thought Natalie would challenge everything.\u201d
\n\u201cWhile I was alive?\u201d
\nVanessa didn\u2019t answer.
\nDad leaned toward the phone again.
\n\u201cYou weren\u2019t dividing my estate after I died. You were dividing my estate before checking whether I was actually dead.\u201d
\nGrant said, \u201cWe knew you weren\u2019t dead.\u201d
\nDad froze.
\nSo did I.
\nVanessa hissed his name.
\n\u201cGrant.\u201d
\nBut the damage was done.
\nDad slowly looked at me.
\nThen back toward the phone.
\n\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d
\nGrant stumbled.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s not what I meant.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s voice became frighteningly quiet.
\n\u201cYou knew.\u201d
\nVanessa began talking fast.
\n\u201cIt was only supposed to scare Natalie away. We thought if she believed everything had already been handled\u2014\u201d
\nDad stood.
\nMy chair scraped backward as I stood too.
\n\u201cYou knew I was alive.\u201d
\n\u201cDad, please.\u201d
\n\u201cYou knew I was alive, and you told my daughter I was dead.\u201d
\n\u201cWe were trying to prevent a fight.\u201d
\n\u201cYou created one.\u201d
\nVanessa started sobbing now.
\n\u201cI stayed here!\u201d
\nHer voice suddenly filled the kitchen.
\n\u201cI stayed in this town for twenty years while Natalie went off and built her perfect life!\u201d
\nI stared at the phone.
\nThere it was.
\nThe real wound.
\nNot inheritance.
\nNot houses.
\nNot wills.
\nResentment.
\n\u201cI was ten minutes away from you,\u201d Vanessa cried. \u201cI was the one who stayed.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s face softened, but only slightly.
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cI gave up opportunities.\u201d
\n\u201cI never asked you to.\u201d
\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t have to!\u201d
\nVanessa was shouting now.
\n\u201cNatalie got to leave. Natalie got the career. Natalie got the nice house. Natalie got to become the successful daughter while I was stuck here!\u201d
\nI finally spoke.
\n\u201cVanessa, you weren\u2019t stuck.\u201d
\n\u201cYes, I was!\u201d
\n\u201cYou chose to stay.\u201d
\n\u201cFor Dad!\u201d
\nDad interrupted.
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nOne word silenced everyone.
\n\u201cYou stayed because your husband\u2019s construction business was here. Because your friends were here. Because you liked this town.\u201d
\nVanessa said nothing.
\nDad continued.
\n\u201cAnd there is nothing wrong with any of that. But don\u2019t rewrite your life and send Natalie the bill.\u201d
\nMy throat tightened.
\nDad looked at me.
\n\u201cYou know who called me every Sunday for eleven years?\u201d
\nVanessa knew the answer.
\n\u201cYou know who flew home when I had my knee replaced?\u201d
\nSilence.
\n\u201cYou know who paid the deductible when my roof was damaged because I was too proud to tell anyone I was short that month?\u201d
\nI looked away.
\nI had asked Dad never to mention that.
\nHe ignored me.
\n\u201cYou know who spent forty-eight hours driving here, packing my medications, arranging appointments, speaking to my attorney, and convincing me to get out of that house until I felt safe?\u201d
\nVanessa whispered, \u201cNatalie.\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s voice softened.
\n\u201cAnd do you know how many times Natalie asked me about my will?\u201d
\nVanessa said nothing.
\n\u201cZero.\u201d
\nI swallowed hard.
\nDad looked toward the window.
\n\u201cLove isn\u2019t geography, Vanessa.\u201d
\nShe started crying again.
\n\u201cBeing nearby doesn\u2019t mean you were present.\u201d
\nNobody spoke for several seconds.
\nThen Grant ruined everything.
\n\u201cThis is ridiculous. We\u2019ll contest it.\u201d
\nDad almost looked relieved.
\nAs if Grant had finally confirmed the decision for him.
\n\u201cYou can.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll say Natalie manipulated you.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can say whatever you want.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll get doctors.\u201d
\n\u201cI had an independent cognitive evaluation yesterday.\u201d
\nGrant went quiet.
\n\u201cMy attorney requested it before I signed anything.\u201d
\nVanessa whispered, \u201cYou planned all this?\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nDad looked toward me.
\n\u201cI reacted to what you showed me.\u201d
\nThen he delivered the part none of us knew was coming.
\n\u201cAnd the house isn\u2019t the only thing that changed.\u201d
\nGrant swore.
\nDad continued.
\n\u201cThe truck goes to Harold.\u201d
\nGrant immediately protested.
\n\u201cThat truck was supposed to be mine!\u201d
\nDad ignored him.
\n\u201cMy investments remain in trust. After my death, Natalie will manage the distributions.\u201d
\nVanessa asked, \u201cDistributions to who?\u201d
\nDad paused.
\n\u201cFour people.\u201d
\nMy sister stopped breathing.
\n\u201cWho?\u201d
\n\u201cMy grandchildren.\u201d
\nVanessa had two children.
\nI had two.
\nDad smiled faintly.
\n\u201cEqual shares.\u201d
\nMy eyes filled with tears.
\nVanessa didn\u2019t speak.
\nDad had not punished her children because he was angry with their mother.
\nHe had protected all four grandchildren equally.
\n\u201cWhat about Natalie?\u201d Vanessa finally asked.
\nDad looked at me.
\n\u201cShe gets something else.\u201d
\nI shook my head immediately.
\n\u201cDad.\u201d
\nHe ignored me.
\n\u201cShe gets the house when I\u2019m gone.\u201d
\nVanessa made a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
\n\u201cOf course.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s jaw tightened.
\n\u201cDo you know why?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause she\u2019s your favorite.\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nDad looked straight at me.
\n\u201cBecause two years ago, when I nearly lost that house over a tax mistake and some terrible financial decisions I was too embarrassed to admit, Natalie quietly fixed it.\u201d
\nMy face burned.
\n\u201cDad.\u201d
\n\u201cShe paid what I owed.\u201d
\nVanessa went silent.
\n\u201cShe never told you because I begged her not to.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s voice became unsteady.
\n\u201cAnd she never once asked me to pay her back.\u201d
\nVanessa whispered, \u201cHow much?\u201d
\nI hated that this was the question she asked.
\nDad answered anyway.
\n\u201cEnough.\u201d
\nGrant spoke again.
\n\u201cSo she bought the house.\u201d
\nI finally lost my patience.
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nMy voice was sharper than I intended.
\n\u201cI helped our father.\u201d
\nGrant laughed bitterly.
\n\u201cSame thing.\u201d
\n\u201cNo, Grant. The fact that you think those are the same thing is exactly why this is happening.\u201d
\nNobody spoke.
\nThen a second phone began ringing in the background.
\nVanessa cursed.
\nDad\u2019s eyes narrowed.
\n\u201cWho is it?\u201d
\nShe didn\u2019t answer.
\nThe ringing stopped.
\nA moment later, Grant said something far away from the phone.
\nThen Vanessa whispered:
\n\u201cIt\u2019s Harold.\u201d
\nDad smiled.
\n\u201cAnswer it.\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n\u201cVanessa.\u201d
\n\u201cI said no.\u201d
\nDad sighed.
\n\u201cYou should.\u201d
\nShe disconnected.
\nThe call ended.
\nFor the first time that morning, my kitchen became completely silent.
\nDad stared at my phone.
\nThen he sat down.
\nThe anger drained out of him so quickly that I suddenly saw what this had cost.
\nI walked around the table and put my arms around him.
\nFor several seconds, my father said nothing.
\nThen he whispered:
\n\u201cI kept making excuses for her.\u201d
\nI hugged him tighter.
\n\u201cShe\u2019s my daughter.\u201d
\n\u201cI know.\u201d
\n\u201cI kept telling myself she\u2019d grow out of it.\u201d
\n\u201cShe still might.\u201d
\nDad shook his head.
\n\u201cNot if I keep rewarding it.\u201d
\nThat sentence stayed with me.
\nAt 8:12 that morning, Harold called.
\nVanessa and Grant had arrived at Dad\u2019s house.
\nGrant had tried to load several boxes from Dad\u2019s office into his truck.
\nHarold had stopped him.
\nDad\u2019s attorney had already contacted the bank.
\nThe spare key Grant had taken from the office was recovered.
\nThe truck was moved to Harold\u2019s garage that afternoon.
\nBy lunchtime, Vanessa had sent me twenty-three messages.
\nThe first six blamed me.
\nThe next nine accused me of brainwashing Dad.
\nThe final eight begged me to convince him not to contact an attorney.
\nI answered only once.
\nI wrote:
\n\u201cThis is between you and Dad.\u201d
\nThen I turned off my phone.
\nGrant did challenge the trust.
\nFor approximately three weeks.
\nThen Dad\u2019s attorney sent his attorney the security recordings, the cognitive evaluation, the notarized documents, and copies of several suspicious transfers Dad had discovered after reviewing his accounts.
\nGrant dropped the challenge.
\nDad never told me exactly what arrangement was reached.
\nI know some money was returned.
\nI know Grant never entered Dad\u2019s house again.
\nAnd I know Vanessa stopped speaking to us for nearly eight months.
\nDad stayed with me for six weeks.
\nThey were six of the best weeks I ever had with him.
\nWe argued about the thermostat.
\nHe complained that my coffee was too weak.
\nHe rearranged my garage without permission.
\nHe told every neighbor who would listen that I had purchased the wrong kind of lawn mower.
\nEvery Sunday morning, I made bacon.
\nAnd every Sunday morning, he stole half of mine.
\nEventually, he went home.
\nNot because I wanted him to.
\nBecause he did.
\n\u201cThis is my house,\u201d he told me.
\n\u201cI know.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m not letting two idiots chase me out of it.\u201d
\nSo Dad returned.
\nHe changed the locks himself.
\nHe did not renovate the kitchen.
\nThat became a running joke between us.
\nWhenever something broke, he would call me and say:
\n\u201cTell Grant renovation has begun.\u201d
\nThen he would laugh until he coughed.
\nVanessa eventually came back too.
\nNot dramatically.
\nNot with some magical apology that repaired twenty years in one afternoon.
\nShe simply showed up one Tuesday with a casserole.
\nDad opened the door.
\nShe stood on the porch.
\nHe didn\u2019t hug her.
\nBut he didn\u2019t close the door either.
\nThat was the beginning.
\nTheir relationship never returned to what it had been.
\nMaybe it shouldn\u2019t have.
\nForgiveness, Dad taught me, does not mean restoring someone to the exact position from which they hurt you.
\nVanessa had to earn every inch.
\nSometimes she did.
\nSometimes she didn\u2019t.
\nGrant never did.
\nTwo years later, Vanessa divorced him.
\nShe never told me everything that happened inside their marriage.
\nI never asked.
\nBut one evening she called me.
\nIt was 6:31.
\nAlmost exactly the same time she had called that terrible morning.
\nFor one second, seeing her name made my stomach tighten.
\n\u201cNatalie?\u201d
\n\u201cYes?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d
\nI waited.
\n\u201cFor what?\u201d
\nThere was a long silence.
\n\u201cFor telling you Dad was dead.\u201d
\nI closed my eyes.
\nShe continued.
\n\u201cI wanted you to feel shut out.\u201d
\nHer voice broke.
\n\u201cI wanted you to hurt.\u201d
\nI didn\u2019t rescue her from the confession.
\nShe needed to say it.
\n\u201cAnd I hated you because you left,\u201d she whispered. \u201cBut I think the truth is\u2026I hated that you left and still managed to be closer to him than I was.\u201d
\nI looked through my kitchen window.
\n\u201cI never competed with you, Vanessa.\u201d
\n\u201cI know.\u201d
\n\u201cI just loved Dad.\u201d
\n\u201cI know that now.\u201d
\nWe didn\u2019t become best friends after that.
\nLife isn\u2019t that simple.
\nBut we became sisters again.
\nSlowly.
\nCarefully.
\nHonestly.
\nDad lived another seven years.
\nSeven.
\nThe man Vanessa declared dead at seventy-four stubbornly made it to eighty-one.
\nHe attended all four grandchildren\u2019s graduations.
\nHe bought a ridiculous red convertible at seventy-eight.
\nHe got a speeding ticket at seventy-nine.
\nAnd at eighty, he finally renovated the kitchen.
\nWhen he showed me the new cabinets, he grinned.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t tell Grant.\u201d
\nI laughed so hard I cried.
\nThe morning Dad actually died, nobody called me at 6:30.
\nI was sitting beside him.
\nVanessa was on the other side of the bed.
\nHis breathing had become shallow sometime before sunrise.
\nHe opened his eyes once.
\nHe looked at Vanessa.
\nThen at me.
\nHis fingers moved weakly against mine.
\n\u201cGirls.\u201d
\nThat was the final word my father ever said.
\nNot money.
\nNot house.
\nNot will.
\nGirls.
\nWe buried him beside Mom.
\nHarold stood beside us.
\nSo did all four grandchildren.
\nAfter the funeral, Dad\u2019s attorney asked Vanessa and me to remain behind.
\nThere were two envelopes.
\nOne had my name.
\nOne had hers.
\nVanessa stared at hers for almost a minute before opening it.
\nThen she started crying.
\nI didn\u2019t ask what Dad had written.
\nShe handed me the letter herself.
\nThere were only five sentences.
\nVanessa,
\nThe first time you told Natalie I was dead, I was angry.
\nThe day I truly die, I hope you remember that love is something we give people while they are still here.
\nYou cannot inherit the time you refused to spend.
\nYou cannot steal the love you failed to give.
\nBut as long as you are alive, you can become better.
\nVanessa pressed the letter against her chest.
\nThen she looked at me.
\n\u201cI wish I had understood this sooner.\u201d
\nI took her hand.
\n\u201cSo do I.\u201d
\nDad\u2019s house became mine several months later.
\nI thought about selling it.
\nInstead, I moved back.
\nNot because of the money.
\nNot because I had \u201cwon.\u201d
\nThere had never been anything to win.
\nI moved back because every room held a piece of him.
\nThe scratch in the hallway where he had dropped a fishing rod.
\nThe crooked shelf he refused to repair properly.
\nThe kitchen where he made pancakes every Christmas morning.
\nAnd the table where, years earlier, my sister had called to tell me my father was dead while he sat three feet away stealing my bacon.
\nI kept that table.
\nI kept his coffee mug too.
\nSometimes Vanessa visits on Sunday mornings.
\nWe sit in that same kitchen.
\nWe drink coffee.
\nWe talk about Dad.
\nAnd occasionally, when neither of us is expecting it, one of us laughs remembering the morning Grant shouted that he was finally going to renovate the kitchen.
\nThe inheritance never mattered in the end.
\nThe house was wood.
\nThe truck was metal.
\nThe bank accounts were numbers on paper.
\nDad left me something much more valuable.
\nHe taught me that the people who truly love you don\u2019t wait beside your grave to count what you left behind.
\nThey show up while you are alive.
\nThey make the phone calls.
\nThey buy the plane tickets.
\nThey sit beside hospital beds.
\nThey forgive when forgiveness is earned.
\nThey protect you when you are vulnerable.
\nThey stay when staying is difficult.
\nAnd they never need a will to prove they were family.
\nVanessa once called me to announce that our father was dead because she wanted everything he owned.
\nSeven years later, when Dad truly died, she finally understood the one thing she could never inherit.
\nHis possessions could be divided.
\nHis house could be transferred.
\nHis money could be spent.
\nBut his love had already gone exactly where it belonged.
\nAnd that was the only inheritance worth fighting for.
\nTHE END!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART 2 \u2013 The House He Gave Away Before He Died Dad leaned closer to the phone. \u201cI put it somewhere neither of you can touch.\u201d For several seconds, the only sound from Vanessa\u2019s side was the faint rumble of the car. Then she laughed. It was a nervous laugh this time. \u201cWhat are you … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyandnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}