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“Yes. It had to happen sometime.”
Brooke sat down in a recliner, sighing. “Would someone mind telling me exactly what’s going on?”
That was our cue to leave. I followed Ryan through the hallway to the front door.
* * *
Ryan had several grades of magnifying glasses, and I was astounded at how much we could actually see on Tom Simpson’s ring. It was fashioned from eighteen-karat gold, and it was quite heavy. This ring had been expensive. Business clearly had been good early on, when these men were still in high school.
“How could they have afforded these rings?” I asked.
“I suppose my father might have bought them.”
That seemed unlikely, but what did I know about Ryan’s father? “Would he have done something like that?”
Ryan sighed. “A few months ago, I’d have bet not. My father was a big believer in earning what you had. Yeah, we were all born rich, thanks to the hard work of our ancestors, but he never let us forget where we came from, and he made sure he instilled the value of hard work in us. He also taught us how to keep track of our own finances, never to trust others.”
“And now?”
He shook his head. “Now? I don’t have a clue. He obviously created a separate trust and didn’t tell us about it. I’d also have bet my father would have never cheated on my mother. But I’m proof that he did.”
“Maybe…”
“What do you mean, maybe?”
“Wendy was—is—obsessed with your father. Maybe she had herself artificially inseminated?”
“And just how would she have gotten hold of my father’s sperm?”
I let out a chuckle. “I haven’t thought this all the way through yet.”
He smiled at me. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel a little better about my father’s character, baby. But the truth of the matter is that he fucked Wendy Madigan at least once, and I’m the result.”
My heart went out to Ryan. Here he was, struggling with his father’s character and his link to my father and the others. I’d long since accepted my own father’s character. I’d had to at age fifteen. But I well remembered how I felt at the time.
“So maybe he’s not who you thought he was. I get that. I do. But you’re still here, Ryan. You’re still who you’ve always been, and knowing you have a different mother than you thought you had doesn’t change that. You’re still you.”
“I suppose.” He picked up a magnifying glass and stared at the ring again, clearly done with this subject.
I couldn’t blame him.
“Do you want to go with me to see Bryce’s uncle tomorrow?” he asked.
“I wish I could, but I can’t. Too much work. But I will go with you to see someone else after I get off work. Someone who knows exactly what this ring means.”
“Yeah? Who’s that?”
“Larry Wade.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ryan
I stared at Ruby, a few strands of hair loosening fr
om her sleek ponytail, her blue eyes sparkling.
“You’re brilliant,” I said. “Why the hell didn’t the rest of us think of that?”
