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Levi drops his head and groans. “It’s so much worse than simply not knowing, Fiona. He said he finally feels like the man he’s always wanted to be.”
I throw my hands up, caught between coughing and gagging. “Is there anything else we need to know about how it went tonight?” I ask, trying to be composed and polite. It’s hard for me not to shoot the messenger, but I have no right to.
“Honestly, that’s about it. He spent most of the time bragging about his number of reps of…everything. It was dizzying, actually.”
***
First thing in the morning, I drive to Silverbell Care Center to pay Dad a visit. I’m in no humor, whatsoever, to see his face. But I have to at least take a stab at reasoning with him. Perhaps he’s so far gone that I can get a lawyer over here and cajole him into signing everything over to me after all. For the moment, I just want to get an idea of what I’m dealing with. And it’s a fact that I haven’t visited in over a month, since the last time he didn’t seem to notice I was even there.
“Hi Dad!” I greet him jovially, hoping for the best. If he still remembers Quade so clearly, and that I’m legally married to the guy, shouldn’t he be able to communicate with his own daughter?
“Fiona,” he responds gruffly. “How I have failed you as a father.”
Well this is off to a good start. I pull up a chair and take his hand between mine, eager to hear him finish this thought.
“Your mother and I both, we failed you terribly…and for that I am sorry.”
He’s quiet for a minute while I try to come up with a diplomatic response to such an obviously correct statement.
“We tried to set a good example in our long marriage, but somehow never taught you how to treat men,” he explains, just as I open my mouth to speak.
My mouth hangs open but nothing comes out.
“What you’re doing to my son is despicable.”
“Your son!?” I finally manage. “Dad, I am your only child! Your daughter.”
“No Felicity, that’s where you’re wrong. I do have a son, a son and a legacy. And he is going to carry on my good name with or without you.”
At the word “Felicity” I stand and stagger backward…my blood pressure rising so quickly that my vision blurs.
“Felicity…Felicity?” I mumble inaudibly. “Dad, do you know that I’m your daughter, Fiona?”
Radio silence. “Dad…dad?”
“Yes I hear you! And no daughter of mine would ever betray a great man like Quinton!”
“Quinton? Dad…you’re making a huge mistake here. Quade…Quinton has lied to you. I am not having an affair!”
“You get out of here right now! I won’t listen to this scallywag anymore! This is nonsense! Nonsense! Wade would never lie to me…to his own father! The very idea of it! Just where do you get the nerve to come marching in here and try to tell me—“
Before he can finish, I’m out the door and rushing down the hall…teary eyed and panicked. I’d intended to ask whether his will had been signed off on, but clearly his arrangements with Quade make no difference to my world. My father’s not going to leave me anything and that’s that.
Chapter 26
Bo
A whippoorwill sounds as I finish glazing the last corner of the living room floorboards. In the past month I’ve recarpeted the upstairs, refurbished the master bath with a deep, jetted soaking tub, redone all the lighting in the kitchen, installed ceiling fans throughout, and gotten my floorboards cleaned up. The place is startin to gleam and I’m gettin excited to move into it, but the idea still falls flat when I think of doin it without Fiona.
I clean up my supplies and head over to the shack to rustle up some dinner. Since our ill-fated phone call, I’ve learned to direct my thoughts away from Fiona enough to get through the day…but at night they come cascading back, every night. My body doesn’t listen when my mind tells it to take a rest, and Fiona’s the torturous itch that I keep havin to scratch.
Late summer fades into the milder heat of Florida autumn, and then finally into the relief of our benign winter. But I hear nothing from Fiona. I’ve decided to drive up and find the woman if I haven’t heard from her by next year. By then the house will be all finished, freshly painted and ready to cozy into.
I turn in early and have the first non-erotic dream about Fiona since we met, and this one’s alarming. She’s yelling, crying and alone, distressed by the collapse of a series of mountainous towers surrounding her. They crumble to the ground one after the other, as if detonated, while Fiona screams in protest. Once they’ve all fallen, she stands straighter, unballs her fists and looks out at a new horizon…a dry, flat field with nothing visible at first. Then, as the dust clears, emerald green grass appears at the perimeter. Fiona stares at it, transfixed, and then she’s gone.
I awaken sweating. The thought of my lady in emotional torment perhaps bothers me more than the thought of her axing me from her life. And the combination is hardly tolerable. As I stare into the darkness, unable to get back to sleep, I remind myself to keep my faith. Fiona is my love, and I am hers. She’ll find her way out of her darkness and back to me. I’ve waited so long for her, I’ll never give up now.
Chapter 27
