Chapter 12 - The Hospital Call
Jessica called crying.
“Dad had chest pain after your lawyer served him.”
“Is he okay?”
“They’re running tests.”
“I’ll come.”
“Mom doesn’t want you there.”
I paused.
“Then why are you calling?”
“Because I need you to stop the case.”
There it was.
Old reflexes rushed back. Dad was hurt. Fix it. Apologize. Make everyone calm.
But I wasn’t fourteen anymore.
“I care about Dad,” I said. “I’m not dropping the case.”
“You could give him a heart attack.”
“No. His choices caused this stress. I didn’t take money from him.”
Dad was discharged that evening. Anxiety and high blood pressure. No heart attack.
Mom told relatives I had “nearly killed him over money.”
Cousins began texting me.
Family is more important than money.
Be the bigger person.
You only get one father.
Nobody wrote: Your father should not have taken your inheritance.
I stopped answering.
Three days later Dad mailed Emma a letter.
I read it first.
Emma,
I knew you were being left out and I did not stop it. I told myself it would be easier. That was cowardly. You did nothing wrong. You deserved better from me.
No excuses.
No demand for forgiveness.
I handed it to Emma.
“Do I have to answer?” she asked.
“No.”
She folded it carefully.
“Maybe someday.”
The next day Mom sent her own letter.
The first sentence said:
I’m sorry you misunderstood my intentions.
May you like
I stopped reading.
And fed it into the shredder.
