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“Master Charles, I don’t know who those people are in that room. They’re obviously my mother and father, but I don’t recognize them. I knew nothing of a wedding in London, or a plantation in Louisiana. I’ve never been to either location. I wasn’t aware they had been either. I’ve seen no fancy jewels or expensive silk dresses like in the pictures of them at parties. My mother had me when she was forty-three. They said I was a miracle. Unexpected, but a blessing. The life I lived.” I stopped, taking a deep breath so I could slow my words. “It was so far from my reality that my mind can’t process it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Green eyes scanned mine while Charles remained quiet.
“I’m sorry if I upset you.” I shifted in my chair. “I really am. I heard how hard you worked on that room. I was just—”
“George never told you? Any of it? Not even a little?”
I blinked through his questions. “You thought I knew he had money?”
“I assumed he told you what was coming. I thought he must have prepared you.” He stopped. “I’m sorry. What a shock this must be for you. Had I known…” He trailed off.
“Please. What did he do? What happened?”
Charles looked between me and Aimon, clearly just as overwhelmed as I was. “He gave it to me. Not to have, but to hold. To protect.”
“Protect? From what? From whom?”
“Himself. Others. George was becoming reckless. Angry. He saw what was happening. What goes up, also comes down. Times were different back then. He began making bad deals with the wrong people. People he should have never borrowed money from in the first place. But he did. The deals he was working on were historic. No bank back then would take the risk. And some definitely were risky. For a while there, he was in a lot of trouble. There were certain people you didn’t cross or stand up to, and George wasn’t one to back down. He stayed successful through it all which inflated his ego even more. He was greedy with his money. He made the wrong people mad. That caused tension with Marilyn. She came from a middle-class family, but she wasn’t naïve to our world. She stuck with him for a few years while he battled the ups-and-down. There were threats. Attempts on his life. On hers. That plantation you speak of, it’s gone, Fay. Someone burned it down. George had it all, but he also had problems he couldn’t run from.”
“When he and Marilyn found out about you, George couldn’t risk it anymore. Despite that he hadn’t wanted to, he paid off all his debts and gave everything else to me. He spent the first year of your life convincing people his bad luck had finally caught up to him. Some believed. Others were the wiser. The ones who mattered thought it served him right. And that’s exactly what he wanted them to think. Your father couldn’t risk something from his past catching up with him. He was smart enough to know he wasn’t to be trusted concerning the future.
“So, he gave up everything to protect us.”
It wasn’t a question. Charles nodded, continuing on.
“There were times George almost gave in and came back. He’d get that fever that sent his blood racing. He’d come to me, weighing his options. Wanting to buy, buy, buy. I’d give him files to go over, or possible deals I was weighing. We came up with solutions to tame the desire. I controlled his transactions when he did make purchases. I made sure he was safe. That he was taken care of.”
My eyes closed as I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Nothing he was saying was making me feel better. It all sounded like some movie or overdramatic excuse. I didn’t understand it. Not when I was the one who’d suffered.
“Let me get this right. He was making deals after I was born. Long after?”
“Until last year, actually.”
“Alright. Stop.”
“Fayette.” Charles looked at a loss. “I don’t understand what’s wrong.”
“Grandfather.” Aimon reached over, grabbing my hand as he took over. “Where did the funds for the deals go exactly?”
“To Fay’s account, of course. I didn’t steal if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
Aimon’s hand rose in a calming manner. “I’m not saying that at all. I’m trying to explain the reason Fay is so upset. She didn’t have an easy life. George didn’t make much money in construction. The lack thereof caused a lot of fights between her parents. A lot of fights over things like food and bills. Fayette lived through the stress of not having money her entire life. Did you know George made her pay back her school loans? She worked three jobs to pay it off because he said there was such a high interest rate that he couldn’t afford it. Fay was never handed anything. She neglected to go on school trips because she knew her parents wouldn’t have the money to send her.”
“I’m sure my reaction to this seems unrealistic,” I cut in, “but the anxiety money gave me growing up, the stress of us not having enough, it—”
“Made you smart.” Charles’s lips curled into a smile. “So much smarter than us. You know what it’s like to be at the bottom. You have what it takes to put in the hard work. Am I right?”
I held Charles’s gaze, nodding.
“Your father was a smart man too, Fayette. He knew what he was doing. I’m not excusing his decisions or behavior. George wasn’t always easy to get along with, but everything he did, he did for a reason. He loved you and Marilyn. He didn’t want either of you harmed by his past. Even I don’t know the extent of how dangerous it was. I got out after my daughter died, but it was bad enough that he felt he had to give up a life he loved. He didn’t want the risk for you. He wanted you to have the best. To never have to worry about anything like he did. Even if you had to wait for him to be gone to have it.”
“I’m so mad at him.” I took a deep breath, feeling the smallest amount of calm wash over me. “I understand, but I would have rather he told me himself. At least hinted or—” My lips parted as his voice raced through my head. Flashes blinded me of our last conversation. I hadn’t wanted to hear him at the time. I didn’t let him barely speak, more or less explain. Before I knew it, I was standing, seeing nothing but him.
“Fay? Fay, what’s wrong.”
“You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Let me make a call. It’s time, Fay.”
And then the dinner the night he was killed. He wanted to talk.
