“Your father knew.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Emily knew some of it.”
He looked toward his daughter.
Emily nodded slowly.
“Mom told me Grandma paid for college.”
Richard flinched.
“Your mother always hated me.”
“No,” Emily said. “She hated what you became when you were afraid someone might see where you came from.”
Richard stared.
Emily’s voice trembled.
“You missed my high school agriculture banquet because you said it was embarrassing.”
Richard looked stunned.
“You remember that?”
“I won student of the year.”
He closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You told me agriculture was a dead end.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“No. You were protecting yourself.”
Richard bowed his head.
Evelyn saw the boy in him again.
Not the successful consultant.
Not the man in the expensive suit.
Just the boy who once came inside crying because a calf had died.
He had not always been cruel.
But somewhere along the way, insecurity had become vanity.
Vanity had become contempt.
And contempt, left unchecked, had become permission for people like Vanessa.
Richard wiped his eyes quickly.
“I told Vanessa the farm would come to me.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I assumed it would.”
“I know.”
He looked up.
“I talked about your money.”
Thomas’s cup stopped halfway to his mouth.
Evelyn remained still.
“How much?”
“I didn’t know the real number.”
“What did you tell her?”
Richard swallowed.
“That the land might be worth five or six million someday.”
Evelyn nodded slowly.
“What else?”
“I told her you wouldn’t sell.”
“What else?”
He looked toward the doorway.
“I mentioned the black walnut.”
Thomas leaned forward.
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“Did you tell her she could cut it?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I swear.”
“Did you joke about it?”
Richard’s eyes moved.
That was enough.
Evelyn’s heart sank.
“What did you say?”
Richard stared at his hands.
“She asked why I didn’t just sell the trees if you didn’t need them.”
Evelyn waited.
“I said…”
His voice disappeared.
“Say it.”
He swallowed.
“I said you probably wouldn’t notice if a few went missing.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Emily made a quiet sound.
Evelyn did not react immediately.
Seventy black walnut trees.
Some older than Richard.
One planted the year he was born.
Another planted after his first day of school.
Samuel had planted six of them himself along the western ridge.
Vanessa had not known that.
Richard had.
Evelyn asked, “Did you know she contacted a logger?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
“Did you receive money?”
“No.”
“Did she ever tell you she had done it?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked toward Thomas.
He nodded slightly.
His investigators had apparently reached the same conclusion.
Richard had been reckless.
Arrogant.
Careless.
But perhaps not criminal.
Richard covered his face.
“I’m sorry.”
Evelyn watched him.
“I don’t know whether I can forgive this today.”
He looked up.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“I’m not asking about the inheritance.”
His expression tightened.
“Then what?”
“Would you still be sorry if the farm were worth nothing?”
Richard’s mouth opened.
The question took all the air from him.
Evelyn waited.
“If the appraiser had come back and said I had ten thousand dollars, would you be sitting here?”
Richard looked toward the floor.
“If Thomas had not arrived, would you have apologized?”
Silence.
“If Vanessa hadn’t been exposed, would you still have taken her home tonight?”
Richard closed his eyes.
Evelyn whispered, “That is what you need to answer.”
