I Chose a New Life novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Hands Off
Half of Bayfield was on the pier when I got there.
Bennett's father stood beside a black car at the foot of the dock, in the same charcoal suit, with a leather folder under his arm.
Two fishermen leaned on the rail and watched him.
A woman from the bakery had come out with her coffee.
Rhoda stood with her arms folded across her chest, three feet from his shoes.
"Ah," Bennett's father said. "There she is."
Cliff stopped at my shoulder.
I kept walking until I was close enough to smell his cologne.
"You wanted me," I said.
"I wanted to be civil." He opened the folder and took out a check and a single typed page. "Fifty thousand dollars. You sign this statement saying the wedding was a misunderstanding and that you were not harmed. You return Roxana to her family. Your wages are paid in full, and the theft claim goes away."
He held out the pen.
I looked at the check.
I looked at the number.
It was more money than I had ever had in my life, and I had spent six years doing his books.
"Read it out loud," I said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The statement. Read it to them." I nodded at the fishermen. "Start with the part about not being harmed."
He gave a small, tired smile.
"This is a private matter."
"You came to a public dock."
He said nothing.
I took the page from his hand, held it up, and read it myself, loudly.
"I, Della Harker, was not harmed on July fourth. The wedding party was a misunderstanding. I accept that I took property that did not belong to me."
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