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Vivian stood and gathered the coffee cups and cookies. “Your sisters will be here soon. Keep the folder. You can let me know what you think about the idea later. When you’re no longer confusing it with how you feel about me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A STRANGE CAR with New Jersey plates was parked in Karl’s mother’s driveway when he got to Archer Heights after leaving work early on Friday.
“Vivian,” he called into the house as he walked to the kitchen. She didn’t answer, but the sound of an argument in the living room was easy enough for him to follow.
“I don’t have any money to give you, Dad.” Vivian sounded plaintive, and Karl didn’t know who she was trying to convince—herself or her father.
He stood in the doorway between the living room and kitchen, eavesdropping but not hiding his presence.
“Come on, girl. Just because I’ve been gone, doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping tabs on you. You landed on your feet, just like I said you would.” Karl waited for the man to acknowledge that he had been the one to pull the rug out from under his daughter, but he never did.
“I’m working as a cashier in a Polish buffet and living on the largesse of the owner. How is that landing on my feet? I used to have my own apartment, a savings account and a job I worked to get—rather than one given to me out of pity.” Interesting how she was hiding the changed nature of her job and relationship with his mother. How hard was it to say no to this man?
“You’re married to an influential man and that belly of yours is unavoidable. The baby’s got to be worth some gas money.” Yap’s tone gave no indication he considered his words to be offensive. The man must have no shame.
Karl could tell Vivian was crying silently by the way her head was bowed, her hair cascading around her shoulders, but her voice only cracked twice when she responded, “You told me I was just like my mother when you said I would land on my feet, but you keep thinking I’m like you. My pregnancy isn’t a scheme. It’s a child.”
Yap scoffed. “Come on, Vivy, next you’re going to tell me you married for love.”
Was it stupid of him to hope her answer was yes? Even when he knew it wasn’t and that admitting to such a powerful emotion in front of Yap would give his scheming mind something to grasp on to. Once this man got his fingers into something, Karl didn’t think he’d ever let go.
“I got married because we were both drunk and it was Las Vegas. I stayed married because you got me fired and I needed health insurance. For the baby.”
“Has all the makings of a great scheme.” Now Yap sounded excited. This was the man who’d raised Vivian? How had she come out of it with any scrap of honesty? As far as Karl understood, if she hadn’t balked at cheating, she wouldn’t have gotten caught, and neither would she have gotten fired.
“Do you think I wanted to be here?” Did she use the past tense on purpose, and did that now mean she did want to be here? God, love turned people into doubting fools as surely as it gave them rose-colored glasses. “Dependent on Karl or his family for everything? Your last scheme got me fired and I didn’t even do anything. You stole my life savings—”
“I’ll get them back!” Vivian’s father said the words with such forcefulness that Karl was certain the man believed them. Karl didn’t know if he was relieved Yap was fooling himself and thus thought he was being honest, or disgusted that the man was so misguided about his own intentions. “I’m not the kind of father who would take his baby’s money forever. I’ve always looked out for you.”
“You raised me the only way you knew.” Vivian looked up at her father, the silent tears streaming down her face, too intent on her conversation to notice Karl standing in the doorway. Her father was going to keep pushing her, wringing her for every penny until he broke her in half. “But you’re promising to return my money in one breath and asking me for more in another. I can’t do it anymore, Dad.”
“Remember that time in Winnemucca when…”
“Stop.” She was holding her hands out in front of her, both a physical sign to stop and a plea. “Reminding me of good times worked the last time, when you were the only family tie I had. But I have a baby’s future to think about and—no matter how much I love you—the love and responsibility I have for my child comes first. Even if I had money to give you, I would keep it for the baby.”
