“Who are you?” Thomas asked as he entered the lawyer’s office. He and his brother Walter were there for their share of their mother Teresa Finkle’s estate. Despite growing up in privilege, the brothers had abandoned Teresa, leaving her lonely in her final years. She had taken in Grace and her daughter Katherine as tenants, who cared for her until her death.
When Mr. Goldberg began reading the will, the brothers were shocked to learn they were left only a dollar each, while everything else went to Grace and Katherine. Teresa had secretly saved all the rent money for Katherine’s college fund.
“Respect the will,” Mr. Goldberg warned them. “Your mother valued them, not you.”
Furious, the brothers left, but returned later to grab their things. They tried to find evidence that Grace had manipulated Teresa into changing the will, but instead found a letter from their mother, explaining how they’d neglected her for years and how Grace and Katherine had become her true family.
The brothers, humbled, never returned. Grace saw them only on the anniversary of Teresa’s death, when they visited her grave, silently acknowledging the lessons they had learned.
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