Remember This✔

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Have you ever thought to ask your foster parents those questions?" Alan says.

She shakes her head.

"They can arrange a meeting between yourself and your family's lawyer," he says. "You'll be entitled to your inheritance when you turn eighteen but if you want to start preparing then it won't hurt to find out."

"They went through all of that years ago," she says. "They said it would be my decision one day to either keep or sell the house. The house was paid for so it's just been left there all these years. I can't imagine there's many people out there willing to buy a house that. . . with its history."

"You'd be surprised. These are decisions that you will have to make soon unfortunately, but you'll have help, lots of help."

"What happens if I don't take it?" she mumbles. "If I don't meet with the lawyer or sign the documents?"

"I'm not sure. They might hold it for a while but I imagine it would eventually be passed to the closest living relative. Did your parents have any siblings?"

Molly nods. "Yeah, I have an uncle from my dad's side and two aunts from my mum's side. I hardly knew them. My dad's parents died before I was born and my other grandparents. . ." She takes a deep breath and starts trembling.

"Died in a fire," Alan says.

"Yeah."

"That's something you haven't talked about yet."

"What's the point? People die around me, it's what happens. Anyway, the closest relative would be Riley."

"Riley? Who's Riley?" Alan stares at her in confusion and she realizes she hasn't talked about him either. "There's no mention of a younger sibling in your records."

"He isn't my sibling," she whispers. "He. . . um. . ." She starts thinking about him, the last time she saw him, the last time she held him in her arms and sang him to sleep. Molly wipes away her tears and starts scratching at the inside of her wrists.

"Hi, excuse me, are you Doctor Ranch?"

Molly looks up at her case worker, Abigail, who she hasn't seen since the day she was placed with Pam and Daniel. She is dressed formally with a white buttoned shirt and blue blazer. Her hand reaches out to shake Alan's before he's even had the chance to stand up.

"I'm Abigail Green, Molly's social worker. I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier; I was on vacation."

"Pleasure," Alan mumbles. "I'll leave you alone to talk." He looks directly at Molly. "I'll be right over there if you need me."

The moment he walks away, Abigail sits down with a large breath and starts flipping through a file book.

"Hi, Molly," she says. "How are you doing?"

Molly shuffles further along the bench to put distance between them and she twists her lips into a smile that lasts half a second. "Fine."

"I understand you've been having some mental health problems and you were hospitalized due to an incident on Friday night. I'm here to do a follow up and ask you some questions which might be difficult. Are you okay for me to proceed?"

"Sure."

"Before I begin is there anything you want to tell me? Anything to do with life at home or any problems at school?"

"No, Pam and Daniel have been great. This was nothing to do with them, or school."

"You know you can tell me anything," she says quietly. "If you've been mistreated in some way, or hurt, then you can tell me. Even if it seems insignificant."