“I understand that. I sympathize. But what does that have to do with my father?”
“He came over one night, the night before we broke up, and sat down with my parents. I hadn’t gone to work yet. When I saw who it was, I joined them. I’m the eldest. My parents figured I was old enough to hear whatever the banker had to say. He reminded them they’d been late on a house payment. One goddamn payment. Said he was sorry but he had to call in the loan.”
“He did what?” She looked shocked as well as disbelieving. She really had no clue what a bastard her father was.
“He called in the loan. Demanded total payment on the house mortgage. They didn’t have the money. Hell, we were barely making it with everyone working and now they were supposed to come up with a massive amount to pay off the loan? It was impossible.”
“I—you must be mistaken. He wouldn’t do that.”
Harlan ignored the interjection and told her the rest of it. “Of course, I knew what it was about. My parents had no clue. I’ll never forget the looks on their faces. Stunned. Totally drained of hope. Despairing.” To this day it made him sick to think about how his parents had felt that night. “I followed him out. He was waiting for me at his car. I asked him what he wanted me to do. I guess neither of us saw any point in pretending.”
“No. He couldn’t have. Tell me he didn’t—”
“He could and he did,” Harlan said flatly. “I went to his office the next day like he demanded. He said if I broke up with you and never saw you again he wouldn’t call in the loan. Of course, I couldn’t tell you or anyone else what really happened. Especially not you.”
She looked stunned. “I—I can’t believe my father would do that. Do you think he knew we...slept together?”
He’d wondered that at the time. “No.”
“If he knew we were dating maybe he found out—”
Harlan cut her off. “If he’d known that he’d have had me killed.”
“That’s ridiculous. He wouldn’t—he would never—you’re exaggerating.”
“Are you sure about that? He was furious that we were even seeing each other. You’re bound to know what he thought of people from the Barrels. What he still thinks.”
Oh, she knew. He could tell by her expression.
“This is a lot to take in.”
“And you don’t know if you believe me.”
“He’s my father, Harlan. I know he’s manipulative and overbearing. But this...I just don’t know.”
“And this is the reason I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Because I don’t know what to believe?”
“Because I didn’t want to hurt you again. I never wanted to hurt you.” And to be honest, because he was afraid she wouldn’t believe him. He was asking her to trust him, the man who’d broken her heart and not her father, who she’d known all her life and clearly loved.
Hell, he might not believe it in her place.
My God. Could it betrue?Had her father really been that cruel? Not only to Harlan but to Harlan’s family too? Could he have done something so despicable? She was horribly afraid Harlan was telling the truth. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to believe my father could have—could have—” Unable to complete the sentence, she broke off.
“I shouldn’t have told you. I knew it was a mistake. I should have just kept my goddamn mouth shut.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. You should have told me then.”
“And let him destroy my family? Not a chance in hell.”
“I could have stopped him.”
He smiled at her ruefully. “Oh, honey, no you couldn’t have.” He took one of her hands and held it gently. “I know you’d have tried. But neither of us could have stopped him in any other way. He held all the cards. We were kids. We had no power then.”
“We could have...been together.”
“How? We could have run away together? With no money, no jobs, no way to support ourselves?” He shook his head. “We hadn’t even graduated high school. Besides, I couldn’t do that to my family. They needed my help.”
