Chapter 2 - The Family Story Everyone Believed
Robert lowered his pointing hand.
“Put that phone away.”
Thomas kept it raised. “Why? You were proud of yourselves thirty seconds ago.”
Helen looked toward the relatives gathered beneath the canopy. “This is a private family matter.”
“You made it public when you put my children in aprons in front of forty people.”
Aunt Linda, Robert’s older sister, cleared her throat. “Thomas, your parents were only trying to help. Those kids need structure.”
Rebecca flinched behind him.
Thomas turned slightly. “What exactly have they told you?”
Linda hesitated. Robert answered for her.
“That you dump the children here whenever you feel like it. That you throw money around because you don’t know how to be a father.”
Several relatives nodded cautiously.
Thomas felt Samuel’s hand grip the back of his shirt.
Helen folded her arms. “Three children from three different women, Thomas. You can’t expect people not to have concerns.”
There it was—the sentence she had repeated at church breakfasts, family reunions, and holiday dinners. It was technically true, which made the lie inside it easier to hide.
Rebecca’s mother, Laura, had died from an aneurysm when Rebecca was four.
Samuel was the son of Thomas’s younger sister, Grace, who had been killed by a drunk driver. Thomas had taken him in before the funeral flowers wilted.
Jacob belonged to Marcus, Thomas’s closest friend and first business partner. After Marcus and his wife died in a house fire, Thomas became the legal guardian they had named years earlier.
Three children. Three mothers. No wife.
Robert and Helen knew every detail.
They simply preferred the version that made Thomas look reckless instead of loyal.
Thomas lowered the phone just enough to see Helen clearly.
“You told them I abandoned these kids?”
“I told them you work too much,” she replied. “Someone had to be honest.”
“I work because I support seven people.”
Robert scoffed. “Here we go again.”
“No,” Thomas said. “Let’s go there.”
He looked around the party.
“I pay my parents’ mortgage. I cover their utilities, car insurance, groceries, and Dad’s prescriptions. I paid every bill for this party, including the caterers standing twenty feet away while my children cleaned your tables.”
The catering manager, Luis, stepped out from near the grill.
“That’s true,” he said. “Mr. Hayes paid the invoice himself. We were told by Mrs. Hayes not to interfere with the children.”
Helen’s face lost color.
Robert jabbed a finger toward Luis. “You work for us.”
Luis shook his head. “No, sir. We work for Thomas.”
Murmurs spread through the guests.
Helen recovered quickly. “Money doesn’t excuse the chaos in your life. We were trying to teach them humility.”
Rebecca suddenly reached for Thomas’s wrist.
“Dad, there’s something in Grandma’s office.”
Helen turned sharply.
Rebecca’s voice became smaller, but she did not stop.
“She said we had to look irresponsible today. She said people needed to see it.”
May you like
Thomas looked at his mother.
For the first time, Helen appeared afraid.
