Part 1 of 2
The church smelled of old pews and far too much funeral spray. My father’s service had dragged on much longer than anyone expected, and by the time we returned to my mother’s house in Little Rock, we were all exhausted.
Family members I hadn’t seen in years were still hanging around and pretending they cared. They picked at casseroles that had already been reheated three times while they whispered about the estate.
I sat in a corner chair, still wearing my dress uniform. I wasn’t trying to show off, but I had flown straight from Fort Benning and simply hadn’t had a spare second to change.
My younger sister, Skylar, looked like she had just won a beauty pageant. She spent the afternoon circling the room and whispering into people’s ears to make sure they knew she was the one handling the arrangements.
She wore that same smug expression she had used since we were children. It was a look that told everyone she believed the world owed her everything she desired.
I tried my best to ignore her until the family attorney finally arrived. Marcus Finch was an old friend of my father, and he walked in carrying a heavy leather briefcase.
Everyone gathered around the large dining table as the air grew heavier than it had been at the funeral. This was no longer about mourning a man, because it was now about money and property.
Marcus opened his folder while Skylar practically bounced in her seat like a child waiting for a birthday gift. Our mother, Jeanette, sat as stiff as a board with her hands folded so tightly that her knuckles were white.
“To my daughter Skylar, I leave the luxury penthouse in Nashville and a minority share in Summit Infrastructure,” Marcus read. Skylar nodded slowly as if this was merely a confirmation of what she already deserved.
That Nashville property was a high-rise condo with a view of the river that was worth millions of dollars. It was exactly the kind of place Skylar would use for photos until her followers grew tired of the view.
Then Marcus turned the page and cleared his throat. “To my daughter Riley, I leave the family cabin and the surrounding two hundred acres of land in the Ozark Mountains.”
The room went completely silent for a long moment. My father had left Skylar a penthouse lifestyle and handed me an old shack in the middle of the woods.
I kept my face blank because the military had taught me how to hide my reactions. Never let the enemy see what you are thinking was a rule I lived by every single day.
Skylar wasn’t about to let the moment pass without a comment. She leaned back in her chair and smirked at me while she crossed her arms.
“A cabin fits you perfectly, you stinking woman,” she said loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear. Several relatives gasped at her cruelty, but my mother just looked down at the table and refused to make eye contact with me.
Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his seat and kept reading as if pretending the insult didn’t happen would make the tension go away. I clenched my jaw because it wasn’t the words that hurt me.
I had been called much worse things during my time overseas by people who actually wanted me dead. It was the fact that my own sister felt comfortable spitting on me in front of our entire family.
Skylar laughed under her breath and leaned closer to me. “Come on, Riley, you live out of a duffel bag most of the year anyway, so that shack is actually perfect for you.”
“It is rustic and simple with nothing fancy to distract you,” she continued. “No one will even notice if you decide to disappear up there for good.”
I looked at my mother for some kind of support, but she didn’t say a single word. There was no defense and no pushback, only a silence that suggested she was too afraid to upset Skylar.
Marcus closed the folder and adjusted his glasses. “That concludes the reading of the will, and your father’s wishes are now legally binding.”
Skylar shot her hand into the air as if she had just won a game of bingo. “Great, because I’ll start looking at management options for the Nashville property as soon as this week.”
She glanced at me one more time with a cruel glint in her eyes. “I hope you enjoy chopping firewood all by yourself, Riley.”
I wanted to tell her exactly where she could shove her real estate plans, but I grabbed my jacket and stood up instead. My years in the service had taught me when to fight and when it was smarter to simply walk away.
Walking away was definitely the better move in that moment. However, Skylar wasn’t done with her performance quite yet.
She followed me into the hallway where her high heels clicked against the hardwood floor like gunshots. “Don’t be mad, Riley, because it isn’t like you ever actually cared about this family anyway.”
“You were always off playing soldier while I was the one here taking care of things,” she sneered. I spun around to face her because I had reached my limit.
“You mean you were here taking care of yourself?” I asked. “Our father built this family, but you just spent your life taking advantage of his hard work.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits, but her smile never truly faded from her face. “And now I am the one who gets the reward, so enjoy your little shack in the woods.”
“Maybe you can use the side of the barn for target practice,” she added with a mocking laugh. I walked out the front door without saying another word to her.
My bags were already packed upstairs, but I wasn’t going back into that house while she was circling like a vulture. I decided I would come back for them later when the house was quiet.
The cold air of the evening slapped me in the face as I stepped onto the porch. It felt much better than sitting inside that suffocating house where my father’s memory was being carved into assets.
I stood there for a long minute listening to the muffled voices of the guests inside. Skylar’s loud laughter carried through the walls and echoed in the quiet street.
I thought about my father and the years he had served before I was even born. He knew what it meant to stand by your people and never leave a teammate behind.
Yet, here I was, feeling like I had been left behind by my own flesh and blood. I felt like unwanted baggage that nobody wanted to claim or acknowledge.
When my mother finally stepped out onto the porch, she wouldn’t look me in the eye. She wrapped her cardigan tighter around herself and said, “Skylar didn’t mean those things, Riley, because she is just under a lot of stress.”