Luck Be a Lady - Cathie Linz [52]
Life was hectic here in libraryland. But it sure beat having to deal with her family situation. Megan knew she couldn’t keep hiding forever, though. So after work, she headed to West Investigations where she knew her father was working late.
She walked into his office, took a deep breath and said, “We need to talk.”
Chapter Eleven
Her dad’s face paled. Megan’s heart ached at his nervous reaction to her words. They’d always been so close. She would have bet a million dollars that he’d never lie to her, certainly not about anything big.
Sure, he might fib and tell her she was the smartest girl in the world when she was growing up. Or that freckles were God’s way of saying you’re special. But to tell her that her mother was dead when she wasn’t . . .
“Why don’t you sit down?”
Megan shook her head. She was too wound up to sit. “Why?”
He sighed. “I never meant for you to find out the way you did.”
“You never meant for me to find out, period.”
“I thought maybe when you were older ...”
“I’m almost thirty, Dad. Were you waiting for me to collect Social Security before telling me? Or were you waiting for my mother to really die?”
“No. It’s complicated.” He nervously tugged on his trademark quirky math tie. “I never wanted to hurt you. That was the last thing I wanted. I was trying to protect you.”
“From what? My own mother?”
“I just thought it was simpler to tell you that she’d died.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Simpler? How can you say that?”
“Divorce is a complicated subject for a small child to comprehend.”
“Other parents manage. They don’t lie and say that someone has died when they haven’t. What did you do to drive her away?”
“Me?”
“Or was it Uncle Jeff? Whose idea was it to lie about my mother’s death? Gram says she didn’t know anything about it.”
“She didn’t. We figured the fewer people who knew the truth, the better.”
“Who is we? You and Uncle Jeff?”
He nodded.
“Yet Aunt Sara knew.”
He made no reply.
“What were you thinking?” Megan demanded. “I don’t get it. Did you pay my mother off to stay away from me?”
He still didn’t comment.
She immediately pounced on his silence. “You did, didn’t you? I knew it!”
“She received a generous divorce settlement.”
“And in exchange, you got complete custody of me.”
“Your mother loved you, but she wasn’t able to cope with parenthood.”
“What do you mean? Did she have postpartum depression or something?”
“Something like that.”
“Then why didn’t you get her help? Take her to a doctor or something.”
“I tried. She wasn’t real cooperative.”
“Is that why you got divorced? Because she went into depression?”
“No.” He looked hurt by her accusation. “I’d never abandon her in her time of need like that.”
“Then what happened?”
He rubbed his forehead. “It’s hard to explain.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Relationships are complicated.”
“Was she cheating on you?”
“No.”
“Were you cheating on her?”
“No!”
“Then what?”
“We grew apart.”
“Have you been in touch with her since she left? Has she been in touch with you?”
More silence.
“You’re still not telling me the truth. I should have known that after lying all these years, you wouldn’t be willing to tell me everything.”
“I’ve made a mess of things.”
Tears prickled the back of her eyes. “Yeah, you have.”
“I don’t know how to make it right.”
“By telling me the truth.”
“I can’t. Why can’t you just believe that I did what I did because I thought it was in your best interests? You know I’d do anything for you.”
“Anything but tell me what really happened.” She wiped her tears away. “I have a right to know.”
“I know you do. I just don’t know how to tell you.”
“Is she in