Terrence reached for her and took her hand. “You can do this, Vivian.”
She smiled gratefully at him and turned back to her children. “It’s about your father.”
Hazel’s eyes widened, and Dean sat back in his chair as if a strong wind had suddenly knocked him backward. Alexis murmured something indistinguishable.
“Is… is it bad?” Julia asked slowly, her expression more concerned than everyone else’s.
“It’s…” Vivian looked at Terrence, hoping for guidance, and he shrugged helplessly. “It’s both, ultimately. I have mixed feelings about it, definitely, but I’d say in the long run it’s more good than bad.”
“What is it?” Samantha blurted. She seemed to be the only one who wasn’t afraid to hear the news.
“I was in the attic the other day, cleaning, and I decided to open one of the old keepsake chests and look around in it for a while. I went through a photo album, and then I noticed ashoebox that I hadn’t put in there myself. I pulled it out, and I found thousands of dollars inside.”
Everyone around the table gasped. Hazel clapped a hand to her mouth, and Noelle’s eyes were huge with shock.
“Thousands of dollars?” Dean repeated, a frown of confusion appearing on his face.
Vivian nodded, her heart heavy as she saw that the news was already causing her children distress. It was clear that they associated the revelation with their father’s secret gambling habits, and that thinking about his betrayal was something that made them all uncomfortable. Vivian realized that it was best to simply get the whole story out in the open as quickly as possible so that they didn’t end up imagining the worst.
“Yes.” Vivian swallowed. “There was also a note in your father’s handwriting. It was clear that he’d been saving up the money, trying to repay his debts all at once. He was almost ready, it seems, when he passed away.” Warm tears rushed into her eyes, and for a moment the table in front of her blurred.
Grayson sucked in his breath, and Hazel shook her head. Alexis looked stunned, and Julia’s lips were pressed together firmly. Dean rubbed his face with his hands.
“I know that must be hard to hear,” Vivian said, her voice shaking a little. Terrence squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I felt both touched and hurt when I found out—and frustrated.”
“Why did you feel frustrated?” Samantha asked, confused. She was the only person who seemed to think the news was simply awesome. “You have a lot of money now, and Grandpa left it for you. Isn’t that a good thing?”
Hazel put her hand on Samantha’s shoulder. “It is a good thing, but there’s something we care about more than the money. We all wish Grandpa hadn’t kept this a secret from us. We feel hurt that he didn’t trust us, and that he did somethingthat risked all our futures behind our backs. We wished he didn’t do it at all.”
Samantha nodded, seeming to understand. “Oh. Yeah, I guess if you kept a big secret from me I would feel bad. Especially if it was a bad secret like gambling.”
“Exactly.” Alexis smiled at Samantha, but her eyes were troubled. “And I can’t believe—I mean, the money was up there in the attic all along. We thought we might lose The Lighthouse Grill. We almost did. If we hadn’t had that fundraiser, we would have. And then we might have found the money later, when it was too late?”
“Or we might never have found it at all.” Julia shook her head. She looked the most upset out of everyone. “I understand that Dad didn’t want to tell us about the gambling, and the debt. Those are bad things, and I can understand him wanting to hide them from us. But the money? Why didn’t he find the courage to tell us that was there? He could have confessed his mistakes and softened the news with the fact that he was almost ready to pay his debts off.”
Vivian’s heart stirred with sympathy for her daughter, who looked close to tears. Julia had worked more closely with the results of Frank’s mistakes than any of them. She was the one who had turned The Lighthouse Grill’s finances around after the fundraiser. She’d spent countless hours repairing the damage her father had done with care and precision.
“He didn’t plan on passing away,” Vivian said softly. “I think maybe he would have told us, once the debts were paid off. Maybe he was waiting for that.”
Dean shook his head. “I loved Dad, but I don’t think so. I think he would have kept it all a secret. Maybe he would even have started gambling again.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Alexis murmured.
“We can’t know what Dad was thinking,” Hazel said, looking sad but clearly trying to put a brave face on the situation. “All we can do is give him the benefit of the doubt and be grateful that he was trying to fix his mistakes. At least the money is there. He was trying, and that’s good. I feel better knowing that, even though this is definitely complicated news.”
“But Samantha’s right that it’s good you have the money.” Jacob smiled, clearly trying to lift everyone’s spirits. “Let’s just try to focus on that while you process the news. What do you think you want to use the money for, Vivian?”
“Oh goodness.” Vivian shook her head. “I can’t even begin to imagine. There’s nothing I need—I have no use for that much cash, not now that the pub is doing well again.”
“You could always use it for something,” Alexis said. “What about taking a cruise? You could go to Europe!”
“Maybe,” Vivian stammered. She’d done a fair amount of traveling in her youth, and she’d enjoyed it, but she found that the older she got, the more she got homesick whenever she was away from Rosewood Beach.
“Or you could remodel your house,” Samantha said eagerly, probably thinking of the extensive remodeling her parents had just done to their new home. “You could add anything you wanted, like a tower or a balcony!”
Vivian laughed. “That does sound pretty cool, Sam. I don’t think I’d want to change anything about this house, though, except maybe buy a few new pieces of furniture. Maybe get some new kitchen countertops. I have too many memories here that are so sweet—I don’t really want to change anything. I feel happy with things being the way they are.”
“I understand that.” Hazel smiled. “But maybe you can get those countertops. And I know you were talking about a new matching couch and set of armchairs for the living room—something really comfy but chic, that could fit all of us on it.”
