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“Does it matter?” He says.
“No, I guess not.” I say. It really doesn’t.
“The letter probably answers some of it, but again, it probably doesn’t matter. You’re safe. She’s safe. You turn 18 next week and you’re coming home to Denver.”
He hands me the envelope. “You read it.”
“Rowan, I can’t do that.”
Chapter forty-three
We step out into the sticky Madison air and it feels glorious. Damn good. I’m free. Finally, finally free.
I shake the attorney’s hand and she gives me a warm smile. “Congrats,” she says.
I smile back, still unable to speak and still in a slight bit of shock.
“You did great in there,” she adds.
I nod. The meeting with the attorneys had been way less volatile than I expected. Dad knew he had lost. He didn’t fight any of it. He was strangely complacent. He looked exhausted. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
He’s lost two wives and two sons now. Maybe the reality of that set in. He has more than enough money to allow him to live comfortably for the rest of his life, unless he blows it. That is all on him now. He seemed to fully grasp that.
I feel like I just lost a hundred pounds. Amazing how used to carrying the load of stress you become. It’s part of you. So much so you don’t know it’s there until it’s gone. Finally, finally gone.
I look at my hands. Steady as a rock.
I face the sun one more time and my thoughts shift to Nandy. He would be proud of me for this, I think. Be proud that my heart isn’t pounding. I’m sweating, but it’s because of the June heat and not my anxiety threatening to cause me to combust. I feel calm. At peace for the first time in my life, I think. No, this is the peace Nandy brought me in the elevator and every time I heard him play. Every time his arms were around me.
There is a finality that hits the pit of my stomach when the door to my plane closes. A finality that would have knocked me right off my feet if I hadn’t already been sitting down.
Rowan glances out at the runway and then at me. “You good?”
“I am.”
“Let’s go,” he says, his voice excited. “What if I don’t like the house?”
“Then you can buy your own damn house.” I smack him playfully across the head.
He laughs. “Can I get a dog?”
I look at him. “My schedule doesn’t really allow for one, so it would be completely up to you to take care of her.”
“Her?”
I laugh at myself. I think of my sweet Madison. It’s the first time it really dawns on me she shares a name with the town we are leaving. Carter said it was the last street sign he remembered seeing before he spotted her. She may not want to share me.
Share me. Damn. I miss them.
“Let’s get you settled, enrolled in school, then we can see about a dog. We are right by a park and lake and trails, so it is perfect for one.”
Rowan nods.
I’m really looking forward to spending time with him. The two of us together without the cloud of our father hanging over us. Without me constantly feeling like I need to protect him…that may never go away…but at least I have secured protection from the monster that is Frank Marshall for a while.
I’m finally going to get to know my half brother. Get back to my life. I’ve spent more time in Chicago and other cities in the last six months than I have Denver. When the plane touches down and I see the mountains off in the distance and the skyline come into view as get into my car and head to the city…. I’m home.
“Have you been to the bank in Denver yet?” Rowan asks.
