Chapter 9 - The Night at the Yellow Cottage

The first strange car appeared on a Thursday evening.

A dark sedan rolled slowly past my yellow cottage, continued to the corner, and returned fifteen minutes later.

I told myself it could be a neighbor.

Then the driver parked across the street and raised a phone toward my front porch.

Helen was visiting, and she noticed immediately.

"Do you know that person?"

"No."

We stayed inside.

I called the nonemergency police number and reported the behavior without speculating about who was responsible.

The car left before an officer arrived.

The next morning, photographs of my cottage appeared in a family group chat.

Jessica had written, Look where Margaret's money went while she was living off us.

The implication made me feel sick.

I had worked in that house for years, providing meals, childcare, and the work of keeping a household functioning.

Even now Jessica described me as someone who had consumed their generosity.

A cousin called to congratulate me on my "secret mansion."

I looked around my modest two-bedroom cottage and almost laughed.

"It has a porch," I told her.

"That's about as extravagant as it gets."

But the photographs frightened Helen.

"They know where you are now."

"Yes."

"Will they come?"

"I don't know."

I added exterior lighting and documented the incident.

Richard advised me to keep my address private where possible, and to notify him if anyone trespassed or threatened me.

The following weekend, Colin drove to Charleston without warning.

I saw him standing at the end of the walkway with a bag of groceries in his hand.

For one beautiful second, I thought he'd come as my son.

Then Jessica stepped out of the passenger side.

She looked up at the cottage, and something hard crossed her face.

"So this is what you bought," she said.

"This is where I live."

Colin lifted the grocery bag awkwardly.

"Can we come in?"

I looked at Jessica, then at the door behind me.

"Colin can come in for coffee. Jessica can wait outside or go back to the car."

Her face reddened.

"You're actually going to exclude me?"

"Yes."

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