My key slid halfway into the lock and stopped. The locks had been changed. A gray realtor’s lockbox hung from the doorknob, and in my mailbox I found an envelope from a title company in Providence, addressed to me. My hands trembled as I opened it. Inside was a closing notice. 14 Cove Road was scheduled to be sold on February fourteenth.

The seller was listed as Eloise Marsh, by her attorney-in-fact, Gregory Marsh. My son. I remembered signing a power of attorney last spring, before my knee surgery, just in case something went wrong. I had forgotten it existed. Then I read the buyer’s name and had to sit down on my own front step. The buyer was Tamsin’s mother, for less than half of what the house was worth.