My Daughter-in-Law Spit in My Face in My Own Home and My Son Said I Deserved It, So the Next Morning I Invited a Lawyer to Breakfast

My phone rang the next afternoon while we were eating lunch. Tuna sandwiches and tomato soup.

It was a number I didn’t recognize. A Portland area code.

“Margaret Williams speaking.”

“Mrs. Williams, my name is Patricia Sullivan. I’m an estate attorney with Henley and Associates in downtown Portland. I have some news about your father’s estate that needs your attention.”

I stepped away from the table. Not far enough that David and Jessica couldn’t hear.

“My father’s estate was settled fifteen years ago.”

“That’s what everybody thought,” Patricia said. “But we’ve found an asset that was never properly transferred during probate. Your father owned a small commercial building on Southeast Division Street. He held it through a little company that wasn’t identified when the estate was settled.”

My father, Harold Gustafson, ran a hardware store in Milwaukie for forty years. I knew he had some investments. I never knew he owned a building.

“The tenants have been paying rent into an escrow account for fifteen years,” Patricia said. “Nobody knew who to send it to. The account currently holds a little over seven hundred thousand dollars.”

I gripped the phone harder.

“Mrs. Williams? Are you there?”

“I’m here. What do I need to do?”

“Come to our office. We’ll need proof of identity and your father’s death certificate. And there’s a court filing to reopen the estate for the limited purpose of transferring the property. It’s routine. It should take about two weeks.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow.”

I hung up and turned around.

David and Jessica were staring at me with their mouths open.

“Seven hundred thousand dollars?” David whispered.

“It appears so.”

Jessica stood up. “Margaret, this changes everything! With that money, you could…”

“I could what?” I asked.

“You could help us get back on our feet! You could loan us the money for David’s business!”

I sat back down and picked up my sandwich.

“Could I?”

“Mom,” David said. “This is like winning the lottery. That’s enough money to solve all our problems.”

“All of whose problems?”

“The family’s problems.”

I chewed slowly.

“David, what exactly are your problems?”

“You know what they are. We’re in debt. We don’t have jobs. We don’t have a place to live.”

“Those sound like your problems. Not family problems.”

Jessica leaned forward across the table.

“Margaret, be reasonable. You don’t need all that money just sitting in an account. It’s found money. It’s extra.”

I set down my sandwich.

“Jessica, if you found seven hundred thousand dollars, would your first thought be to give it to someone else?”

“That’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“Because we’re family. Family helps family.”

“What have you contributed to this family since you moved in, Jessica?”

“I’ve been trying to find work.”

“You’ve been sleeping until noon and complaining about my rules. That’s not the same thing.”

“Mom, that’s not fair,” David said. “We’re both trying.”

“Are you, David? You’ve applied for five jobs in six months. All five were positions you thought were beneath you.”

“I don’t want to waste my degree stocking shelves.”

“But you’re willing to waste my retirement avoiding work entirely?”

The truth was sinking in for both of them.

“What if we made it a business deal?” Jessica tried. “You invest in David’s landscaping company. We pay you back with interest.”

“What’s the business plan?”

“We haven’t written it up yet, but…”

“What experience does David have in landscaping?”

“He’s always been good at yard work.”

“What’s the market research? Who are the customers? What are the startup costs besides equipment? When does it turn a profit?”

Jessica didn’t say anything.

“You want me to invest thirty thousand dollars,” I said, “in a business that exists only in David’s head. Run by somebody with no experience. With no plan, no research and no timeline.”

“When you put it like that…”

“I’m putting it accurately. And that’s exactly the kind of decision that turns found money into lost money.”

David looked desperate.

“Mom, what would it take for you to help us?”

I stood up and started clearing the plates.

“Show me you can help yourselves first,” I said. “Get jobs. Any jobs. Show me you can earn money and manage it. Then come talk to me with a real plan.”

“How long would that take?” Jessica asked.

“However long it takes.”

I carried the dishes to the sink and left them sitting at the table in silence.