Page 139 of The Housekeeper

“Sounds good,” I told them. “I’ll get started on the offer right away.”

“Do you think we have a chance?” Joanna asked.

“I think you have a chance,” I told them, although the truth was that these things were impossible to predict. “Can I ask you something?” I heard myself say.

Joel and Joanna Rowe looked at me expectantly. “Certainly,” Joanna said.

“It’s a legal issue. It has nothing to do with this house.”

The two lawyers exchanged worried glances. “Okay,” they responded together, the wariness in their voices evident.

I hesitated. Hadn’t Roger warned me against seeking legal advice? Although how would he ever know? And it wasn’t as if I’d gone looking, I told myself. Fate had dropped these lawyers into my lap, and I’d be a fool not to take advantage of the opportunity being presented. “Well, a friend of mine…”Really?I thought.You’re really pretending this is happening to a friend?“Her father recently remarried, and his new wife is clearly only after his money, and now she’s urging him to sell the family house, and my friend was just wondering if there’s anything she can do to stop him—” I broke off. “There’s nothing she can do,” I said, acknowledging the looks on both their faces.

“Well, you understand that neither of us is an expert in family law,” Joel began. “I’m in mergers and acquisitions and Joanna specializes in corporate—”

“I take it that your friend has no financial stake in the house?” Joanna asked, interrupting.

“That’s right.”

“Then unless she can prove her father is incompetent to manage his affairs…” she said. “Is he? Incompetent?”

“No. Not really.”Not yet,I thought.

“I know a little about this because something similar happened to a client of mine,” Joanna continued. “Her mother died, and her father remarried this woman half his age, and when he died a few years later, the new wife walked away with everything. My client took the wife to court, and they eventually settled, but it was for a fraction of what his estate was worth, and after she paid the lawyers, she ended up with almost nothing. Believe me, it wasn’t worth the aggravation. Tell your friend to do herself a favor, write it off, and forget about it.”

Her husband nodded. “Good advice,” he said.

“I’ll tell her. Thank you.”

We walked to the door.

“Your friend’s father’s house,” Joanna said, stopping, “should we have a look at it?”