Two days after Grandma’s funeral, I was still in her kitchen. Then my brother texted: “”We’re in the Maldives. We can’t access Grandma’s account.”” I said nothing. Good thing I moved Grandma’s $235,000. He panicked when…

September 2022: new refrigerator, $1,890. Washer and dryer, $2,450.

October 2022: living room set, $3,200, because Emily said their old apartment furniture looked cheap.

November 2022: burst pipe repair, $870.

A fifty-five-inch television for the living room, $2,200. New mattresses, $3,800. Master bathroom remodel Emily “desperately needed,” $6,500.

And then the monthly mortgage.

Daniel paid $480 a month. That was all he said he could manage. But the actual payment was $1,400. Every month, without fail, I covered the other $920 out of my widow’s pension.

Thirty-six months.

From the $1,600 a month I received after David died, I paid $920 to help maintain the house where I lived like a servant.

On the last page I had written the total.

Down payment and initial furniture: $84,730.

Mortgage contributions over thirty-six months: $33,120.

Repairs, improvements, and other expenses: $18,950.

Total invested: $136,800.

Almost everything David and I had built over forty-two years of marriage had been poured into that house.

But the most important thing in the sewing box was not the notebook.

It was the manila envelope at the bottom.