I Left Him by Text, and He Kept Paying for My Father's Care novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Marry Her, Boy

Dad woke up at seven that night and looked at the two of us for a long time.

"You're both sitting very far apart," he said.

I had been crying for an hour and my voice was gone.

Eli sat on the radiator cover with his elbows on his knees.

"Mr. Doyle," he said.

"Martin. You've been Martin since you were nineteen." Dad rubbed his face with a scarred hand. "I've got a clear head. I can feel it. It won't last, so listen."

Neither of us breathed.

"Hannie, he's been paying since the spring before last. I told him not to tell you. That was my mistake, not his."

"Dad."

"I was proud. I didn't want my girl indebted to a Garvey. And I thought if you knew, you'd quit your job and drag yourself under." He looked at Eli. "I asked a boy to carry something for me that was too big. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't too big," Eli said.

"It was a lot." Dad reached for the butterscotch tin, found it already open, and took a disc. "Marry her, boy."

Eli stared.

"Dad!" I said.

"I'm not asking you, I'm telling him. He's a fool, but he's my fool." Dad turned to me. "And you stop being proud, Hannie. It's all your mother ever got wrong. I want a wedding I can remember."

"You might not remember it," I said, and my voice cracked.

"Then I'll enjoy it twice, once at the time and once when someone tells me." He winked.

The light in his face stayed on another few minutes.

We played one game of checkers.

He beat Eli and was insufferable about it.

Then he blinked, and looked around the sunroom, and asked Eli politely whether he was here to fix the radiator.

"Yes, Mr. Doyle," Eli said. "I'll have it done by morning."

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