Chapter 6 - The Eviction of Susan
With my father behind bars at the county jail, held without bail due to the violent nature of his restraining order violation, my mother was left entirely alone in the massive, drafty mansion in Beacon Hill.
On Tuesday morning, the temporary injunction became permanent. Arthur and I arrived at the property accompanied by the county sheriff and a moving van. Under the terms of the trust agreement, Richard’s criminal behavior and financial mismanagement constituted a fundamental breach of his corporate duties, giving the trust executor the right to terminate his occupancy of any estate properties.
Susan stood on the grand marble staircase, wrapped in her mink coat, her face pale and sunken as two deputies began cataloging the artwork on the walls.
"You can't do this, Arthur," Susan wept, her voice stripped of all its former aristocratic arrogance. "This is my home. I’ve lived here for twenty-five years."
"This is Dorothy's home, Susan," Arthur said coldly, not even looking up from his legal clipboard. "Your husband used the maintenance funds for this property to pay off his mistresses in Florida and his gambling debts in Atlantic City. You have two hours to pack your personal effects. Any corporate asset or family heirloom remains in the house."
Susan looked at me, her eyes filled with a desperate, pleading hatred. "Megan... please. Talk to him. I’m your mother. You can't let them throw me into the street."
"You left a seventy-eight-year-old woman in a minus thirty-eight-degree blizzard, Mom," I said, standing in the grand foyer where I had once been forced to sit at the children's table during Christmas. "You didn't care about the cold then. Why do you care about it now?"
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"We were desperate!" she screamed. "The banks were freezing the accounts!"
"Then you should have worked harder, or spent less," I said, turning away from her. "Sheriff, please ensure that she leaves the keys on the credenza. My grandmother will be returning to her house by the end of the week, and I want the locks changed before she arrives."
