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“All these years, I have refused to touch that dirty money. And now, all of a sudden, she wants to get it. She admitted she’d been withdrawing money from the account for years for one reason or another. She also admitted she’d been in contact with her father and taken additional money from him. I was shocked. She knew how I felt about that money.
“She said we were taking Duke out of the country where no one could find us. I told her she was being paranoid, that we’d work it out, but she was determined. Still, I thought she was just stressed out. Until—”
“Until what?”
“She said she was going to call her father and have him take care of Sam.”
“Take care of what?”
“That’s mob speak. ‘Take care of’ means have someone killed.”
Sydney’s heart nearly stopped. “My mother wants to kill Sam?”
“No.” Roy cleared his throat. “What I mean is, she’s no longer in her right mind.”
“Oh my.” Sydney didn’t know what else to say.
“We were near Branson, so I drove to the nearest hospital and had her committed. After only a few minutes of arguing, she relented. So at least part of her knew it was for the best.”
“And you left her in Branson?”
“Not for long. I’m going back. We’re going to find the best possible treatment for her. But for now, I need you to take care of Duke. I can’t be the single parent to him that he deserves and take care of your mother at the same time. Can you do this for me? For your mother? Can you take care of your son for us?”
Your son. Her father had referred to Duke as her son, not his own.
But right now, she had to take care of Sam. “Of course I’ll take care of Duke. But I can’t take him for a day or two, or maybe more. I have to take care of Sam right now. He’s been in a bad car accident.”
“What? Oh my God. Is he all right?”
“Yes, he’ll be all right.” She explained what had happened. “He’s lucky he didn’t lose the vision in his right eye.”
“It sounds like that’s because of you.”
She sighed. “Maybe. But this whole thing is because of me. If I’d told him about Duke in the first place, none of this would have happened. He and I might be living happily together. Now I can never be with him.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t you see? I’ve caused all this. All his pain is because of me.”
“But you saved his life.”
“If I hadn’t kept Duke from him in the first place, he wouldn’t have been rushing to the airport to find you. He wouldn’t have been in the accident.”
“Sydney—” Her father’s voice was stern. “This is not your fault. What if I had told your mother ‘no’ when she wanted to leave? I wanted to, but I didn’t. If I had, Sam would also not be in this situation. And neither would you. And neither would Duke. Don’t talk to me about guilt. I’m harboring a ton of it. What do you say we both let it go?”
A tear fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek. “I can’t.”
“Sydney, you’re my daughter and I love you. Please don’t let the past dictate the future. We’ve all made mistakes, but we need to live as things are today. Would I rather your mother not be in the hospital? Of course. But there she will get the help she needs. She is not well, and I’m afraid she hasn’t been for some time. I should have seen it.
“Would I rather keep Duke with me? Absolutely. I love that child. He is my son. But I can’t give him the life he deserves while I’m trying to take care of his mother. Lucky for me, my daughter, who I know loves him as much as I do, is available to see his life isn’t disrupted too much.”
“Not disrupted? Don’t you think he’ll miss you two?”
“Of course he will, but he’ll be home with his big sister who adores him and can care for him as well as anyone. He won’t be with his distracted father who’s trying to do right by him and his mother at the same time.”
Sydney sniffed. “I’ll just get attached, and when Mom’s better, she’ll want him back.”
“We’ll deal with that when the time comes.”
