“You’re here and safe,” he said, stroking my hair. “I’m sorry for getting you mixed up in this.”
“You didn’t. I did.”
“We can talk about all of this later.”
I was about to nod but stopped myself. “No, Dad. There are things we need to talk about now.”
While my father didn’t look surprised, my four best friends certainly did.
There was no way my father could walk much farther than the nearest chair, so everyone else would have to leave. “Can you please excuse us?” I asked, looking around the room.
Lucia and the man who’d helped my father inside, escorted him to the chair where I pointed. Once he was seated, they stood behind him.
“Is my father under arrest?”
“No, but—”
“Please excuse us, then.”
They followed the others that had been in the room out the door that led from the farmhouse to the terrazza.
Once I heard it close, I sat on the floor at my father’s feet. He reached out and stroked my hair.
“I was so worried about you.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the chair. “I’m sorry, Tara. For everything.”
“I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell me. I’ve known Brand my whole life.”
“It was Vi’s decision, and I respected that.”
“No one knew?”
My father shook his head. “No one.”
“Did Brand know?”
“Eventually. Not until he was an adult.”
“How did he find out? Did you tell him?”
“I set up a trust on his behalf, the same as what you have. When he turned twenty-five, the money became his. It was then that Vi decided it was time for him to know.”
I thought back on that time. Brand had just graduated from college with his master’s degree. I’d flown to Chicago to celebrate with him. Instead of a group dinner, Brand had asked me if he and I could go out alone. A part of me worried he thought there might be more than a friendship between us, but that hadn’t been the case.
He told me that night that he was moving to Europe to pursue his art. I remembered being happy for him, but he didn’t seem like he was for himself.
“It was right after his graduation,” I murmured.
“That’s right.”
“He and I had dinner that night.”
My father raised his eyebrows.
“I’d flown in to surprise him, thinking I’d just join in on wha
tever celebration was taking place. As it turned out, he was saying goodbye. He left for Italy a few days after that.”