I stood in front of Kara’s sprawling home, clutching the small gift bag I’d brought for her birthday party. The knot in my stomach grew tighter. It had been two years since Mark’s death, and his mother, Kara, had barely acknowledged me. Her coldness stung, but I always made an effort to attend family events whenever Mark’s siblings invited me, even though I wasn’t technically part of their family anymore.
I had to come tonight, though. Kara had actually invited me.
“You can do this, Melissa,” I whispered to myself, taking a deep breath. “For Mark. For Eleanor.”
The thought of Eleanor made my heart ache, as it always did. She had been my rock after Mark passed away, treating me like the daughter she never had. She’d only been gone for three months, but I still reached for the phone to call her whenever something good or bad happened.
I rang the doorbell, trying to summon a smile. When the door swung open, Kara stood there, her lips pressed into a thin, tight line.
“Melissa. You made it,” she said, her tone clearly indicating that she wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me.
“Happy birthday, Kara,” I said, handing her the gift bag.
She took it without a thank you and turned away, barely glancing at me. “Everyone’s in the backyard.”
I followed her through the house, observing how nothing had changed since I’d last been there. Pictures of Mark adorned the walls—him as a child, a teenager, a college graduate. But there were none from our wedding, of course. Kara had made it clear where she stood on me.
The backyard was buzzing with family, friends, and other guests. Some people smiled and greeted me, offering warm hugs. Others shot me looks of disapproval, the coldness unmistakable.
Emma, Mark’s niece, bounded over to me. At 20, she had always been more like a sister to Mark than a niece.
“Melissa! I’m so glad you came!” she said, wrapping me in a tight hug that felt like a breath of fresh air compared to Kara’s frosty reception.
“Kara invited me,” I said, still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that Kara had actually reached out.
Emma’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “She did? That’s… unexpected.”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered.
The next hour felt like an exercise in endurance. I tried to make small talk, to blend in, but every time I found a moment of peace, Kara swooped in with a sharp, biting comment.
“That outfit is quite… casual for a family gathering like this, isn’t it, Melissa?” she said loudly as I chatted with Mark’s uncle.
“Oh, I think it’s lovely,” the uncle’s wife added kindly.
Kara ignored her. “I’m surprised you still come to these things. Most people would have moved on by now.”
I forced a smile, clenching my teeth. “Family is important to me, Kara.”
“Are we really your family though?” Kara asked, her smile as cold as ice. “Without Mark?”
Her words hit harder than I wanted to admit. I excused myself to get a drink, feeling the weight of her gaze boring into my back.
By the time the cake was served, I was at my limit. I had endured too many comments—about my job, my appearance, my grief, even my lack of a new romantic relationship.
I was picking at my cake when Kara approached again, this time with a woman I didn’t recognize.
“This is Diane,” Kara said, her voice dripping with implication. “She’s a colleague of my son’s from law school. They’ve been spending a lot of time together.”
The message was clear—Kara was subtly telling me that she had moved on and that I was no longer welcome in her life.
Diane smiled awkwardly, clearly not wanting to be caught in the middle of this tension.
Something inside me snapped.
“Enough of the veiled barbs, Kara. Is this why you invited me here? To pick a fight with me?”
The chatter around us fell silent. Kara’s face flushed deep red.
“How dare you!” she hissed, her eyes flashing with fury. “You have no right to speak to me that way in my own home!”
“I’m just responding to what you’ve been throwing at me all afternoon,” I shot back, standing my ground.
Kara’s eyes narrowed.
“Get out!” she screamed, pointing toward the house. “You’re not welcome here anymore! You never were! Mark is gone, Eleanor is gone, and you have no place in this family!”
The silence was suffocating. Guests turned their faces away, clearly uncomfortable with the spectacle.
I took a deep breath and set my cake down carefully. I wasn’t going to cry in front of her.
“Goodbye, Kara,” I said quietly, my voice trembling with restrained emotion. “Happy birthday.”
I walked through the house, head held high, but as soon as I was in my car, the tears came. The humiliation and pain weighed on me as I drove home, the sting of Kara’s words still sharp.
When I unlocked my front door, my phone rang.
“Emma?” I answered, wiping my eyes. “I really don’t want to talk about what happened.”
“Melissa, listen to me,” Emma said urgently, her voice shaky. “I think you need to come back. With a lawyer.”
I froze. “What? Why?”
“Melissa, they’re hiding something from you,” Emma continued, her words tumbling out. “After you left, I overheard Kara talking to this man in her study. He’s a lawyer, the same one who handled Grandma Eleanor’s estate. Kara found out that Eleanor left her business to you. Not to her. And now they’re trying to steal it from you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What?”
“They’re planning to fabricate documents,” Emma whispered, her voice dropping. “They’re going to try to steal your inheritance, Melissa. I overheard them!”
A wave of shock washed over me, but it quickly turned to determination. “Thank you, Emma. I’ll handle this.”
I hung up and immediately called David, my lawyer since Mark and I had married. He answered on the second ring.
“Melissa? Everything okay?”
I quickly explained everything. David’s response was immediate, full of fury.
“Those crooked… I’ll meet you at Kara’s house in twenty minutes. If they’re trying to falsify inheritance documents, we need to stop them before they can file anything.”
Twenty-five minutes later, David and I stood back in Kara’s backyard. Conversations ceased the moment people noticed us. Kara, who had been laughing with a group of guests, turned and froze.
“Melissa!” she said, plastering on a fake smile. “What are you doing back?”
David stepped forward, his usually warm expression hardening. “Ma’am, I’m Melissa’s attorney, David. We need to speak with you and your lawyer immediately.”
Kara’s smile faltered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We know everything,” David said, his voice calm but filled with authority. “And unless your lawyer confesses, I’ll be calling the authorities.”
A nervous-looking man stepped forward, his face pale. I recognized him vaguely from Eleanor’s funeral. He glanced at Kara, who gave him a hard, silent stare.
“I don’t know what you think you know,” Kara began, but David interrupted her.
“We know that Eleanor left her business to Melissa, not to you,” David said loudly, ensuring everyone could hear. “And we know that you’re planning to falsify documents to steal her inheritance.”
The backyard erupted in whispers.
The lawyer shifted uncomfortably, his face drenched in sweat.
David pulled out his phone, his tone firm. “We can do this the easy way or the legal way. Your choice.”
The lawyer looked between David and Kara, then at the crowd of shocked onlookers. His shoulders slumped in defeat.
“It’s true,” he admitted quietly. “Mrs. Thompson asked me to… adjust some paperwork regarding her mother’s will.”
Gasps and murmurs filled the air. Kara’s face drained of color, going from red to a sickly shade of white.
“You idiot!” she screamed at the lawyer. “That business belongs to me! My mother built it from nothing! Melissa has no right to it! She’s not even blood family!”
David remained calm. “Actually, Eleanor had every legal right to leave her property to whomever she chose. And she chose Melissa.”
“This isn’t over,” Kara hissed, her voice full of venom.
David didn’t flinch. “You might want to stop talking, Kara. We have enough evidence to press charges for attempted fraud.”
Kara slumped into a nearby chair, all the fight draining out of her.
As David spoke quietly with the lawyer about next steps, Emma appeared at my side, squeezing my hand.
“I knew Grandma Eleanor would’ve wanted you to have it,” she whispered, her voice filled with warmth.
I squeezed back, my own tears threatening to spill.
As we left the party, I felt a strange sense of peace. It wasn’t about the money or the business. It was knowing that Eleanor had believed in me, and had wanted me to carry on her legacy.
In that moment, I could’ve sworn I felt her hand on my shoulder, guiding me forward into whatever came next.
