Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO FINALLY SPOKE
I met Richard Walker at a quiet café near the waterfront.
He arrived ten minutes early.
His face looked older than it had at dinner.
He ordered black coffee.
Didn't touch it.
Then placed a folder on the table.
“I should have spoken sooner,” he said.
I stared at him.
“About what?”
Richard took a slow breath.
“Daniel came to me last year asking for help with the townhouse.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“He told me you were contributing sixty-five thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
Richard looked down.
“He also told me the money was a gift.”
I felt cold.
“A gift?”
“To him.”
I stared.
“No.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“He said you wanted to help him buy the property but preferred not to be on the deed until after the wedding.”
I shook my head.
“That isn't true.”
“I believe you.”
He opened the folder.
Inside was a copy of a financial statement.
The property purchase had required a down payment.
Daniel had contributed some money.
Richard had provided a family loan.
And my sixty-five thousand dollars had been transferred into Daniel's account.
But only part of it appeared in the closing records.
I looked up.
“Where did the rest go?”
Richard hesitated.
“That's what I asked him.”
“And?”
“He said it was for wedding expenses.”
I stared.
“I paid most of those separately.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“I know that now.”
I looked at the numbers again.
Twenty-eight thousand dollars had gone toward the property.
Thirty-seven thousand had not.
I felt sick.
“Do you know where it went?”
Richard looked at me.
“Not yet.”
He reached for his coffee.
His hand trembled slightly.
“Emma, I know you think my family has treated you badly.”
I said nothing.
He nodded.
“We have.”
I looked up.
Richard swallowed.
“At dinner, I watched Daniel tell you to sit down. And I realized he was speaking to you the way Diane speaks to me.”
That surprised me.
He gave a small, humorless smile.
“In our house, keeping the peace usually means one person gives in.”
I thought of Diane.
Of Mia.
Of Daniel.
Of every time I'd swallowed an objection because someone might be upset.
Richard continued.
“I spent years telling myself that was normal.”
He looked at me.
“It isn't.”
I stared at the folder.
“Why are you helping me?”
Richard was quiet for a moment.
Then said:
“Because you were going to become my daughter-in-law.”
He swallowed.
“And I should have treated you like family before you had to leave.”
I didn't know what to say.
So I said the truth.
“Thank you.”
Richard nodded.
Then he reached into his coat pocket.
“There is one more thing.”
He placed a folded document on the table.
I opened it.
It was a draft occupancy agreement.
The townhouse address appeared at the top.
Daniel Walker was listed as owner.
Mia Collins was listed as resident.
And beneath a section labeled Future Household Arrangements was a sentence that made my vision blur.
Upon marriage, Emma Bennett will assume responsibility for fifty percent of ongoing household expenses.
I looked up.
Richard's face was pale.
“Daniel expected you to pay half the mortgage,” he said.
I stared at him.
“And Mia?”
May you like
Richard swallowed.
“She wasn't expected to pay anything.”
