Malcolm will always find a way to keep control, as long as he thinks he doesn’t have it. So, I have two choices right now—neither good.
I can leave.
Or I can stay.
But I think I need to love Malcolm as much for my own good as for his.
“I want you to step into the role of my heirs. If I die, I want to know that my legacy won’t die with me. My name will live on through my children and the businesses I’ve built from the ground up. I want you to be…” His voice rises until his speech is cut short by his own hacking.
I feel Archie’s and Piper’s eyes on me as I pour another glass of water for Malcolm, then rest my hand on his back. His body shakes under the shirt that was once fitted but now hangs loosely on him. Not so loose, though, to hide the outline of his shoulder blades rising like mountains bracketing a deep valley.
When he’s finished coughing, I hand him the water with one hand while rubbing his back with the other.
“Cheers,” he says in a hoarse whisper.
When he sets down the glass, I squat next to his chair, so we’re eye level. Almost. I’m a bit lower, so he has to look down to meet my eyes.
“You want respect and gratitude. You have that from me. What you’ve built with Forsythe Tech and everything else—I’m proud of you, Dad.” The words don’t come easy, and I don’t know yet if they’re true, but I want them to be.
They’re words I reckon he wanted to hear from his own father and never did. My grandfather was an even harder man than Malcolm. I’m not proud of his drive to build his fortune over everything else, and I can’t excuse him for almost putting the Holloways and others out of business, but I can show him a kind of unconditional love neither of us has experienced. But I saw it at the Holloways, and I want it for myself.
“And I wish I could tell you that your legacy will live on forever, but I can’t make that kind of promise.” I sink to my knees and lay my hand on his arm. “What I can promise is to be here with you while you finish this fight, no matter how it ends.”
His eyes grow larger. They might even water a bit. So, I’m surprised when, after clearing his throat, he asks, “And in return you want the money from your trust fund, yeah?”
I lift my shoulders. “Course I do, but that’s up to you, isn’t it? I hope you’ll change the terms, because it’s the right thing to do. You understand what it is to build something, to grow something. That’s what I thought I was doing when I let you manage that money fromSurf Cityand my movies. I trusted you to make it grow until I was ready to take over it myself.”
“You haven’t proved you are, yet.”
I take a breath and swallow back the biting words on the tipof my tongue. This moment is about more than convincing Dad to give me what’s mine. It’s about loving him, despite who he is, so that any bitterness I have can be laid to rest with him.
Maybe letting go of that hurt will make me less afraid to love.
I offer my dad a smile. “I can’t promise I will. And if you don’t want me to have that money…” I shrug. “That’s up to you. The only thing I’m asking of you, is to let me be here with you while you take this journey, wherever it may lead.”
Archie sniffs, and Malcolm looks from me to him.
“We’d all like that, Dad.” His voice breaks. Piper glances at him, then nods.
“No tears!” Malcolm orders, his eyes a bit wet. He shakes off my hand and stands. “I’ve got to prep for my call. Send Sybil in on your way out.”
I rise slowly, weighed down with failure.
Then Malcolm turns to me. “And tell her you’ll be staying so she can help you get settled in one of the rooms upstairs.”
“Okay, Dad.” I reach for his hand to squeeze it.
He doesn’t resist.
He squeezes back.
Chapter 22
Cal
Three days.
That’s how long I resist Junie’s nonstop questions about when Frankie’s coming back during our twenty-minute drive to and from her preschool. On the fourth day, the questions start before she’s even buckled in her booster, and it doesn’t seem fair that I’ve already watched Frankie’s video half a dozen times when it was meant for Junie. Once she’s in her seat, I hand her my phone and press play on Frankie’s video.
