“Will she get a share too?” I said slowly, and my heart sank.
“Yes, Dawn. But there is one condition. Charlotte must share the house with you equally.”
I straightened up. Suddenly, there seemed to be a way out of this mess.
"If your sister refuses, she will get absolutely nothing."
“There’s more,” he continued. “Your father left you this.”
He slid a letter across the table to me.
It was my father's handwriting.
Dawn, my darling,
I know Charlotte, love. I know what she'll do. But you're smarter than her. You always have been. The money's in the safe. Use it wisely, my girl.
I love you more than anything.
-Papa
I stared at the details of the bank account.
"I don't know the code for the locker," I whispered.
The lawyer smiled.
“The clock,” he said simply.
I took Dad's watch off his wrist and turned it over. There were tiny scratches on the back. Four digits, faint but legible.
A code!
Matthew grinned.
"Your father was a genius, Dawn."
I laughed, really laughed, for the first time since his death.
Charlotte owned the house, but she also owned the debts. And she had just thrown out the only person who could have saved her from total loss.
A few days later, I was still staying at the bed and breakfast when Charlotte called me. I let it ring and got a glass of water.
Then I picked it up.
"Hello?", I said politely.
"You knew it, didn't you?" she spat.
"Did you know something?" I asked.
“The house,” she snapped at me. “The lawyer just called. There are debts. A lot. Thousands of dollars. If they aren’t paid, the house will be foreclosed on, Dawn. And you…” She exhaled, trembling. “You have the money, right?”
I turned my father's watch on my wrist.
“I might have the money…” I said. “But we don’t exactly have a good history together, do we? After all, you’re the one who kicked me out.”
She remained silent.
"You have to help me!" she finally said.
I smiled.
“I would have helped you, Charlotte,” I said. “If you had been nicer to me when I was a child, sis. Maybe I would feel bad then.”
Then I hung up.
Matthew helped me find a furnished apartment.
“Something small would be perfect,” he said. “You still have a few months until you go to college, Dawn. You don’t have to commit to a big house. An apartment is ideal. And soon you’ll be eighteen, then you can do whatever you want. Right now you need to focus on school.”
“Thank you so much for your help,” I said. “Without you, I would have been lost.”
"Dawn, your father told me everything about you and how difficult your sister made your life, especially after your mother left the family. I promised your father that I would help you get back on your feet."
A few weeks later, I found myself in my small studio apartment in an artists' quarter of the city. And I loved it.
I don't know what happened to Charlotte, but one evening as I walked past our house, I saw a "Sold" sign. I suppose I should have felt bad, but I didn't. Without my father, it wasn't my home anymore.
And at least he still cared about me, even if only through Matthew.
