I struggled to get dressed the next morning.

It turned out that trying to pull on a dress and a stocking with only one working leg was remarkably difficult and I almost fell over several times. Of course, I could have put my dress on whilst sitting on the edge of my bed, but that would involve far too much wiggling and I had struggled to get my nightdress on in a similar fashion the night before. When it came to my stockings, I only put one on since I couldn't get the second one over the bandage on my right foot.

Once dressed, I made an attempt to put a brush through my hair but it didn't do that much other than make it a little fluffy and even more unruly. I tied my ribbon, pulled on one of my boots - it sort of made me feel like a pirate with a peg leg. Before I left my room, satchel slung a little haphazardly over my shoulder and the crutches digging into my armpit, I took one last look around the room that had been mine for those few weeks.

Unless I could find a way to prove my theory, it would be my last night in Grandfather's house. It was hard to believe that we would be leaving in just a few hours if I couldn't find out the truth about Grandfather's will. I didn't want to leave, but I only had a short amount of time to prove it.

"Miss Isabel? Breakfast is ready," Helen said after knocking briefly on my door.

"I'll be down in a second."

I listened to her footsteps recede and sighed, readjusting my satchel's position, although it was hard to do with the crutches. After one final glance around the room, I hopped out of the room with my satchel swinging aimlessly from my shoulder as I went. It hit my hip as I made my way down the hall with the crutches. When I got to the top of the stairs, I paused for a moment to figure out how I would make it down the stairs without falling flat on my face or rolling down them like a balled-up hedgehog.

Rather than risk falling down, I decided that sliding down the stairs on my bottom might be the best solution I have. I sat down on the top stop and balanced my crutches on my lap before using my left hand to propel myself down the stairs. Each step caused my teeth to crash against each other, but it was far more fun and a more efficient way of getting down the stairs.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone do that to avoid going down the stairs on crutches," Father said, appearing in the dining room doorway and raising an eyebrow at me.

"It's either this, or I fall down them. This is easier and more fun."

"Hm, I'll have to remember that one, maybe pass it off as my expert medical advice to my patients with similar injuries, I'm sure it would go down well."

"It's the only way to get down the stairs as far as I'm concerned."

Father laughed. "Come on, breakfast." He reached down and held his hands out to me. I accepted them and he pulled me to feet, well, foot.

"Thank you," I said, readjusting my grip on the crutches so they sat better under my arms.

I followed him from the hallway and into the dining room where Mother sat watching us walk in, or hop in. She didn't say anything, but I assumed she overheard the conversation in the hallway and already knew about my ingenious way of coming down the stairs. I dropped into my usual spot at the dining table and leant my crutches up against the table with my satchel lying at my feet. Breakfast had already been laid out so I immediately tucked into it.

After not eating much for the past few days due to the amount of stress and anxiety running through me, I couldn't wait to dive into breakfast. I piled some scrambled eggs and some pieces of salmon onto my plate and tucked into it, shovelling large amounts into my mouth. Even though I tried to focus on my breakfast, my mind kept spinning back to potential ideas as to how we were going to keep the house. In truth, I had nothing to go on and no place to start.

It would be a lot harder to find the truth than I thought it would be.

"Marsh will bring you straight home from school today so you may give your room a last look over and ensure it has all been packed. We don't want you to leave anything behind," Mother said.

"Understood," I said, nodding my head.

"Your uncle Christopher has offered to help pack the last remaining things and he's going to help us move everything."

"I'm not going to be of much help, am I?" I smiled a little.

"Probably not, but you can delegate and I'm sure you'll enjoy yelling at us all and telling us what to do."

"Definitely. I do enjoy telling people what to do."

Mother laughed and shook her head a little. "Come on you, eat up. You'll be late, and you have to give an explanation to Miss Reid about your ankle."

"I'll leave out the part about Aunt Matilda, though. She doesn't need to know that bit."

Father smiled slightly, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, though and I knew what he was thinking. I shouldn't have to be hiding the truth from my school teacher because of our dysfunctional family, but I could hardly tell her the truth. She would have to hear the story about how I tripped on the stairs and not what came after it. Even though it sounded so stupid, and to be honest, it was, slipping on the stairs was the only excuse I could hand over.

After breakfast, I met Marsh outside for my car ride to school. Father would be staying behind to help Mother to finish the leftover packing which included my room and Grandfathers too. No one had touched that room since he died, but it would all have to be packed up sooner or later and that time had arrived since none of us wanted Grandmother or Aunt Matilda to go anywhere near it if it could be helped. His room would have to be packed up, but we didn't have to leave. Not if I could help it.

Marsh didn't say much on the car ride, bar for asking about my ankle, but that wasn't all that surprising since he tends to avoid most conversations. I'm grateful for the silence since it gives me time to think things over a little and try to come up with a way for us to try and stay. I knew Grandmother and Aunt Matilda had to have faked the will or changed it in some way, but I had to prove it and how could I do that? None of us had even seen the will.

I wished I hadn't eaten breakfast since my stomach had started to knot itself together until it felt like I would vomit right over the side of the car.

"I shall pick you up from here after school," Marsh said. "I won't be late today."

"I'll hold you to it," I said, laughing.

"Somehow, I expect that to be true, Miss Isabel."

"See you this afternoon."

"Goodbye and don't go getting yourself into any more trouble. Or ending up with any more injuries."

I laughed. "I won't."

He smiled and I climbed out of the car or attempted to since I struggled to actually get out of the car with the crutches. Once out, I stopped next to the car and watched Marsh pull away from the pavement and take off back to the house. Since we were to be staying in London permanently, I didn't know how much Father would need Marsh or the car as he could walk to the office. I knew I would miss our car rides to school in the morning, even if he didn't say too much, I did enjoy them.

When Marsh had driven off, I turned around and hopped through the gates and towards the school. A few people turned to look at me when I passed, but no one spoke to me about it and I did hear the mumble from some woman about the indecency about me not wearing stockings in the street; I would like to see them try and put stockings on over a bandage. I ignored the comments and just hopped into the school building.

Evelyn saw me the moment I walked in and started to try and untangle myself from my satchel and retrieve my chalk slate. She hastened over to me almost immediately and I thought she might bowl me over at the speed she had been moving.

"What on earth happened to you?" she asked, looking me up and down even though the issue was clearly my ankle.

"I slipped on the stairs and sprained my ankle," I said.

"That was stupid."

"I know. I have to use the crutches for at least a week, maybe longer. At least it's not broken."

"Let me help you before you do yourself another injury."

She helped me to remove everything from my satchel and then hung the satchel and my hat upon the peg since I couldn't quite manage. Evelyn then took my things to my desk for me and even went as far as to pull my chair out since I couldn't do it with the crutches. Had it not been for her, I probably would have injured myself again. I sat down at the desk and pulled out my notes for the debate, just to read through them even though the debate wouldn't be happening for another day.

I had wanted to add more to the list the previous day, but life had other ideas and so we still had the plan we had drawn up during school. Due to moving out of Grandfather's house, I knew we wouldn't be able to work on it and I wanted to make sure it was perfect for Friday. The argument seemed reasonable enough, I just needed to memorise the words so I wouldn't have to read them directly from the sheet of paper. Grandmother could not have picked a worse time to ask us to leave.

"Alright, everyone, please listen up," Miss Reid said. "As you all know, tomorrow our debate will take place. You are welcome to invite your families to come along if you wish to do so, especially Isabel and Mildred who will be our speakers. You may have this morning's session to make any changes needed ahead of tomorrow."

"Do you want to stay behind after school? We might be able to finish the plans," Evelyn said.

"I can't, we're moving out of Grandfather's today and I need to go through my room one last time."

"Is there no way it can be delayed? What with your ankle and everything."

I shook my head. "We have to be out by this evening." I drummed my fingers on the desk and looked at her. "I still don't think Grandfather left everything to Grandmother, but I can't prove it."

"Do you know when the new will was dated or who the witnesses were? If you can find that out, maybe you can prove it."

She shrugged and stole the piece of paper from me to make any changes or adjustments to the argument that needed to be made. Her words swam through my head and I found myself thinking back to the times I knew Grandfather had gone to see his lawyer about the will. There weren't too many of them in recent memory, but one had to be the key. The only issue was that I couldn't remember what the date on the will had been.

I stewed over Evelyn's comments for the entire day, trying my hardest to focus on the lessons but my mind constantly drifting to what date Father had said. He mentioned a month. I knew he did.

If I could just remember that date. If I could just remember the last time Grandfather had gone to see his lawyer then maybe, just maybe, I could prove it was fake. Even if it wasn't fake, I might be able to prove that it wasn't the most up-to-date will. I just needed that date. I had to remember or we would be forced to leave and I didn't want to go. We had to fight to stop Grandfather's house from falling into Grandmother's hands.

By the end of the school day, I still hadn't come up with the answer and my time was running out. Evelyn tried to help, but nothing she said could remind me of not only the date Father had mentioned but the last time Grandfather went to see his lawyer. It was recent. It had to be.

"What are you thinking about?" Marsh asked on the drive back. He had been on time, as promised, but I couldn't focus on the car ride, just on that date.

"I'm trying to remember the last time Grandfather went to see his lawyer," I said.

"That's tricky."

"Exactly."

"How recent are we thinking? I remember him going out the day before he left for Ireland, I took him into London myself since I had some errands to run."

"That's it!"

Marsh stared at me, but I didn't say anything else. The pieces of the puzzle connected together, my thoughts formed one, coherent line and I finally had the information I needed to prove that the will had been a forgery. All we had to do was prove it, and I had a pretty good idea of how to do that one, thanks to Marsh jogging my memory.

The moment the car came to a stop outside the house, I hobbled out of it and hopped as fast as I could into the house, swinging the door open and leaving it that way. I could hear the low hum of conversations coming from the drawing-room and I moved as fast as the crutches would allow, entering the room to see Mother, Father and Uncle Christopher all staring at me.

"Izzy? Has something happened?" Mother asked, looking at me with a trace of worry on her face.

I shook my head.

"Grandfather's will is a fake, and I think I can prove it."

~~~

A/N - Chapter Twenty-Nine is here! We are soooo close to the end now it's mad and I hope you're all ready for it!

Questions! What do you think Izzy can prove? Will she be able to save the house?

Comment below!

First Published - November 16th, 2021