“But her brother? Her brother…”
“Her brother. And Uncle Bryce’s father. And Aunt Ruby’s father.”
My jaw drops again.
“Yes. Have you ever noticed that you’ve never heard either Aunt Ruby or Uncle Bryce talk about their fathers?”
“I guess I… I guess I never thought about it. Our family is large, and Uncle Bryce…”
“Uncle Bryce’s father’s name was Tom Simpson, and he was friends with Larry Wade, your grandmother’s half brother. They had another friend as well, whose name was Theodore Matthias—Aunt Ruby’s biological father—but he went by many aliases.”
“And those were the three…”
“Yes. The three who raped your grandmother and sent her into a tailspin when she was only sixteen. They were also the three men who abducted and tortured and abused your uncle Talon.”
I stand then. I grip my hands into fists. “And Dale and Donny?”
“We don’t know. It’s possible, although they all died shortly after Dale and Donny were taken.”
I pace around the office, and then—
“Motherfucker!” My fist goes through the drywall as if it had a mind of its own.
My father doesn’t look even slightly surprised at my outburst. He shouldn’t be. I well remember him spackling up the drywall from his own outbursts when I was a kid. He never laid a hand on Mom, Brad, or me, but the walls took a lot of his rage when he was in one of his red moods.
“Family. Family is always important. That’s what you taught us, Dad. Family over everything. But your uncle, Uncle Bryce’s father, Aunt Ruby’s father. I don’t understand. I don’t understand how people can be so sick.”
“I’ve said it before. It’s better that you don’t understand.”
“Dad, I—”
“Stop. Stop right there. Where you’re going, you have no business going. I’ve seen things. Uncle Talon has seen things in the military. I witnessed a man—Uncle Bryce’s father—shoot himself. I saw his brains spewed all over his kitchen. I can still see it today. That’s something you don’t forget. He did it to avoid being arrested because I found out what he was doing.”
I’m still pacing. Then I look at the hole in the drywall that my fist made. My knuckles are bleeding, but I feel no pain. Not even a slight twinge.
“Why?” I demand. “Why are you laying all of this on me?”
Dad stays calm, though stress is flowing off him in waves. It’s almost visible in its thickness.
“Quid pro quo, Brock,” Dad says. “You asked for this. And if you’re man enough to ask, you’re man enough to hear the answers.”
Man enough to hear the answers.
A grown man.
I told Dad I was a grown man, to stop treating me like a child.
I stay quiet for what seems like an eternity but is only a few minutes. Finally, “Tell me, then. Tell me what all this has to do with our newfound great uncle.” I close my eyes, open them. “Our newfound half great uncle.”
“I don’t know yet, Brock. All I know is that it’s tied together somehow. Uncle Bryce and I have discovered bits and pieces over the years, and we haven’t shared everything with Uncle Talon, Uncle Ryan, and Aunt Marj. Not with your mother or Aunt Jade. Perhaps we were wrong in doing so, but as the two chief officers of the corporation, we just felt…” He sighs, grips his forehead, shoves his hair out of his eyes.
“Damn it, Dad.” I’m ready to put my other fist through his damned skull. “You didn’t want to burden our family because family trumps everything, right? You didn’t want this touching us. Your motives may have been pure, but look at where we are now. All this shit is coming up right now. In the middle of—”
I punch the wall again with my right hand, bloodying my knuckles even more. Again I feel nothing.
“Damn it, Brock, you’re going to fix that.”
“Why don’t you fix it, Dad? After all, you fixed everything else. You and Uncle Bryce unilaterally decided what was best for the rest of us.”
“That’s my job, Brock. I’m your father.”
“Yes, you’re my father. But as you just reminded me, I’m a grown man. It’s not your job to keep important information from me. And it certainly wasn’t your job to keep it from Uncle Talon and Uncle Ryan. Uncle Talon got shot, Dad. Fucking shot! Maybe this all could have been avoided if—”
“Shut your damned mouth, Brock Steel. I didn’t raise you to talk to me that way.”
“No, you raised me to stand up for what’s right. To be a man. Well, I’m a man today, Dad, and I’m calling you out on this bullshit. Your brother was shot, for God’s sake. Now, what the fuck are you going to do about it?”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rory
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I mutter, silently thanking the universe that Jesse and the others already left.
“Just ignore them,” Callie says.
“That’s your advice? You’ve never ignored anything in your life, Callie.”
“Of course I have. I’m the one who used to walk around under an invisibility cloak. Remember?”
“That invisibility cloak was always in your own head, and you know it.”
“He called me an ugly duckling. He called me your ugly duckling sister.”
“Seriously? That’s where all this is coming from? That’s what convinced you that you weren’t as beautiful as I am?” I shake my head. “Callie, you’re smarter than that.”
“Yeah. I know. True enough.”
“We can’t let him get to us. We have to be strong.”
She nods. Funny how my self-assured sister isn’t nearly as self-assured as I always thought she was. Only recently, we discovered that we’ve each been envying the other.
I guess it’s true that everyone is their own worst critic.
“Let’s change the subject,” Callie says. “Tell me more about Brock.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“So he’s okay with your bisexuality?”
“We’ve been on two dates, Callie. We haven’t really discussed my bisexuality.”
I hate lying to Callie. We actually discussed it in depth. Still, I want to keep this private. Special and private.
“Okay. Fair enough. But you’ve told me that your last three relationships have ended because your partner couldn’t accept that part of you.”
“That’s true.”
Two women and one man. All of whom I loved with all my heart. I see now that none of them were forever loves. Especially since they were all so insecure.
“I guess I don’t understand,” I say. “I’ve had three partners, and all of them were afraid that I would leave them for someone of the other gender. Does that even make sense? Do straight people constantly worry that their partners are going to leave them for someone else?”
“No. Not in a perfect world, anyway. I suppose there’s an element of jealousy in every relationship.”
“When I’m in a relationship, I’m committed,” I say. “Why don’t they ever understand?”