Page 110 of This Time Around
Allie felt the tears welling up in her throat again, but she swallowed them back. “Thanks, Daddy. It feels nice to talk about it. To be able to tell someone.”
She tried not to think about the irony of it all. Telling her secrets, opening her mouth and spilling her guts—that’s what prompted the breakup in the first place. Maybe Jack hadn’t explicitly meant for her to bare her soul to a parent in a green jumpsuit, but still. She was capable of opening up, dammit. Able to be honest and forthright.
All right, fine. That wasn’t the whole truth. The fact that she hadn’t been honest before was what obviously bothered Jack. She could understand that. But couldn’t he understand she’d had her reasons for keeping secrets? About the pregnancy, the broken engagements, the money?—
“Speaking of money,” she said, even though they hadn’t been.
Her father blinked in surprise. “What’s that, honey?”
“There’s something else I wanted to ask you about.”
“What’s that, Alliecakes?”
She licked her lips and glanced at the guard, who was standing a good ten feet away eyeing an inmate pressed close to a very pregnant visitor. The guard wasn’t looking at Allie and her father, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t listening.
It didn’t matter, though. Allie had to get this over with. Had to put it out there once and for all and let the chips fall where they may.
Turning back at her dad, she took a deep breath. “Remember last time I was here when we talked about me poking around the attic?”
Her father frowned. “You didn’t get hurt up there, did you?”
“No, that’s not it. I—um—well, I found something up there.”
“Besides those old love letters?” He chuckled. “Boy, I wouldn’t mind getting a look at those again. Your mom and I used to dream about buying a boat together and sailing off to?—”
“No, Daddy—this isn’t about the letters.” She drew a deep breath. “I found a trunk in the attic. The old steamer trunk that used to be in the blue room.”
“Right, you mentioned that before. You said it was locked?”
Was it her imagination, or something shift in her father’s expression? A flash of unease, but it was gone in an instant. It might have been nothing.
“The trunk was locked,” she said, “but I figured out the combination. There was money in it, Daddy. A lot of money. I didn’t know where it came from, so I thought about it for a really long time—longer than I should have, I guess. And then when I went to visit Mom, I?—”
“You talked to your mother about this?”
Her father’s face had gone ashen. Allie stared at him, and it dawned on her he didn’t look surprised at all. Not about the money, anyway. And why was that the first question out of his mouth?
“I, um—yes. Yes, I did.” Allie cleared her throat. “And Mom said the money was legitimately Grandma’s. But something didn’t feel right about that. I don’t mean to disparage Mom, but she was the one who orchestrated the whole Ponzi thing, so it just didn’t add up, you know? Anyway, I started looking into what I needed to do from a legal standpoint.”
“Oh, Christ.” Her father dragged his hands down his face like he was trying to erase his features. “You got lawyers involved?”
Allie stared at him. “Daddy?” Her voice cracked a little on the second syllable, so she lowered it to a whisper. “You know something about this?”
Her father glanced at the guard. The guy had his hand on his radio as he leaned down to say something to the heavily tattooed inmate with the pregnant visitor. None of them glanced at Allie and her dad. None of them saw the stricken look on their faces.
When her dad turned back to her, he wore a resigned expression. “Yeah,” he said at last. “I know about the money.”
Part of her didn’t want to ask. Didn’t want to know the truth. A little voice in the back of her mind told her to keep believing the story her mother had told. That her grandma had owned the cash free and clear, and now, so did Allie.
But Allie was done listening to that voice.
“Mom hid it up there, didn’t she?” The question seemed to surprise them both, and Allie wondered where her sudden bluntness had come from. Jack, or maybe Paige.
The thought of never seeing either of them again made Allie’s gut twist, and she pressed on, needing to hear the whole truth. “It’s okay, Daddy,” she said, reaching for his hand again. “Look, the courts already know Mom was the one pulling all the financial strings. Maybe this will help with your appeal. Maybe when you tell them you had nothing to do with the money or with?—”
“Allie, honey.” Her father shook his head, a little sadly, it seemed. “You’ve got the story all wrong, Alliecakes.”
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
