Chapter 2: Not Yet, But It Will Be
We pulled into the courthouse parking lot just as my phone lit up again.
This time it was a text from Dad.
*She's confused, Ivan.
She needs professional care.
We did this for her.*
I showed it to Grandma Eleanor.
She read it once, folded her hands in her lap, and said nothing.
Inside, she knew exactly which office to walk to.
She'd clearly been planning this longer than one afternoon.
While she spoke with the clerk, my phone rang again.
Not Dad this time.
It was my cousin, Diane.
"Ivan." Her voice was low.
"Are you with Grandma right now?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"I can't say yet."
A pause.
Then: "They're at the house, Ivan.
Arthur and Wendy.
I drove past twenty minutes ago.
There's a locksmith van in the driveway."
My chest went cold.
I looked across the room at Grandma.
She was still at the counter, calm as stone, sliding a document toward the clerk.
"Diane, don't call them.
Don't say anything."
"What is happening?"
I didn't answer.
I walked over and touched Grandma's shoulder.
She turned.
I held up the phone so she could read Diane's last message.
She looked at it for three full seconds.
Then she turned back to the clerk and said, quietly but clearly: "We need to move a little faster, please."
The clerk glanced between us.
"Is everything alright?"
Grandma placed one hand flat on the counter.
May you like
"Not yet," she said.
"But it will be."
