Chapter 11 - THE WRONG REASON
I wanted to call George.
I wanted to say his name and make him hear what he had done.
Adrian saw me reaching for my phone.
“Give me ten minutes.”
“For what?”
“To make sure anger doesn’t cost you evidence.”
I put it down.
Dad remained at the table.
Mom’s letter lay beneath his hands.
He looked smaller than he had in the ballroom.
Not because of Beverly.
Because he had discovered that the hardest years of his life had been shaped by a lie.
“I should have checked,” he said.
I sat beside him.
“You were taking care of Mom.”
“I should have asked someone else.”
“You were taking care of me.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I keep hearing her tell me to stop trusting him.”
“Dad.”
He looked up.
“You didn’t make him steal.”
His eyes filled.
He turned away, embarrassed.
I stayed.
For once, I wasn’t going to let him have the hard part alone.
Ruth contacted the insurer with Adrian’s help.
The old records would take time.
But Mom had recorded a claim number and kept correspondence.
Enough to start.
Fiona waited near the doorway.
“I can go.”
“Yes,” I said.
She accepted it.
Then she looked at Dad.
“What my mother said was cruel.”
Dad nodded.
“And I was cruel too.”
“Yes.”
There was no lecture.
That made her cry harder.
When she left, I walked her to the elevator.
She held the doors open.
“Did you ever love me?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt both of us.
“And now?”
“Now I don’t know which memories belong to me.”
She let the doors close.
I returned to find Dad listening to Adrian’s associate.
George’s lawyers had requested an emergency hearing.
They claimed Dad and Ruth were interfering with a legitimate sale through false statements.
They wanted restrictions on contacting the buyer.
“They can ask,” Adrian said.
“They still have to support it.”
My phone vibrated.
A video from the wedding had gone public.
It began with me standing.
It ended with me removing my ring.
Beverly’s insult had been cut.
So had Fiona’s laugh.
The caption called me an unstable groom who had humiliated a generous family.
Then an email arrived from the venue.
May you like
They had received a legal demand.
They were withholding the full recording until the dispute was resolved.
