My Brother Gave Her My Place, So I Stopped Coming Home novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: It Was Always Yours

I opened the envelope at Rhoda's worktable, with Kirk standing behind me and Rhoda turned toward the wall.

It was one page, in my father's younger, tidier hand.

"If the child is mine, she is mine. I will pay for everything she needs and I will never be able to say her name in my house. I am a coward. Burn this if you want to."

There was no signature, only the initials W.K.

I read it three times.

"He knew," Rhoda said, still facing the wall. "Before she was born. He knew, and he picked the firm."

"I'm going to keep this," I said. "I'm not going to use it. Not yet."

Kirk put his hand on my shoulder. He didn't ask why.

Dylan called at seven the next morning.

"I need you at the office at nine," he said. "Don't come up. Stand at the back of the lobby. Please."

"Dylan, what are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a month ago."

I went.

The Klingenberg Group lobby had forty people standing in it, holding coffee, and Dylan was on the second step of the staircase in the same dark suit.

He looked as if he hadn't slept.

Janie stood by the reception desk with her arms folded. Dad was nowhere to be seen.

"Thank you for coming," Dylan said. "I'll be quick."

"Everything done to my sister Sasha this spring, I did with my own hands."

Someone near me drew a breath.

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