Feeling somewhat bolstered by his conversation with Doc Bauer, at least in regards to Elizabeth, Jack made his way to his dad’s hospital room. Doc Bauer had offered to accompany him, but Jack felt it was best to have the difficult upcoming conversation with just immediate family.

He paused in the doorway. Bruce was asleep and alone and looking so very vulnerable. It hadn’t been too many months earlier that he’d been hospitalized for pneumonia, but Jack cringed upon seeing his father’s battered face. Being assaulted was different than being sick. It was a pain of a different type, as was the realization that his dad, who’d victimized the Armstrong family for years, had today been victimized by them. Deservedly so, perhaps, but he was a victim of violence just the same.

He entered the room and went to his father’s side, taking hold of his hand. Bruce had delayed his reckoning by nearly two decades, but it was an unpaid bill that was now due. Plus interest.

“It’s all coming full circle, Dad,” he said quietly. “The day you’ve spent your life trying to avoid is here, and I’m sorry you got hurt. I’m also sorry I didn’t force you to be the man I knew you could be all those years ago. But I promise that no matter what happens this time, I’ll stick with you. I’m flawed, and you’re flawed, and I love you anyway.”

Like Elizabeth had done for Nate, he’d do for his father. Elizabeth was the best example of loving loyalty he’d ever known. She’d never made excuses for Nate, but she’d never abandoned him, either. She’d never made him feel like she didn’t care if he lived or died, as Jack had toward his father. Until Bruce’s recent illness, Jack hadn’t known that he did, in fact, care quite a bit about whether his dad lived or died. Jack had realized that without being conscious of it, he’d always expected there would one day be a reconciliation.

Now was the time.

“Hey, brother,” he heard from the doorway.

Jack turned to see a grim-faced Josh try to smile in greeting, and his heart went out to him. The guy was about to lose his idol. Hayley stood behind him.

“Hey, Josh.” He stood up and went to his brother and gripped him in a tight embrace. He felt Josh stiffen from the unexpectedness of it before he returned the hug.

Josh took a step back. “What happened? Dad wouldn’t tell us anything.”

Jack glanced at his sleeping father. “We should probably go somewhere to talk. The waiting area’s just down the hall, right? Hayley, would you mind staying with my dad while Josh and I go talk?”

“Of course,” she said, and added, “Elizabeth didn’t honestly do this, did she? I know her pretty well, and I just can’t see it.”

“No,” Jack said shortly. “She didn’t do it.”

“Let me guess,” Josh said. “Nate got drunk and beat up his only friend, and Elizabeth’s taking the heat to keep her dad out of jail, probably at Nate’s insistence. Am I right?”

“Not at all,” Jack said. “Nate’s not the bad guy here.”

The brothers remained quiet on the short walk down the hospital corridor. Thankfully, the waiting area was empty. They sat, and Josh looked at Jack expectantly.

Jack studied his brother’s face more closely than he’d done in a long while. Josh looked so much like a younger version of their dad—tall, lean, firm jawline, outdoorsy complexion. Jack thought of how much happier Josh had been lately, ever since meeting and starting to date Hayley. He had a new optimism, a new lightness to his step.

“You’ve got the right to know what’s going on,” Jack said, “But it’s going to be a hard conversation.”

Josh arched an eyebrow; it was a gesture Jack had been on the receiving end of many times over the years as Josh probed, and Jack refused, to tell him what had caused the rift between Jack and their dad.

“Is it going to explain why you and Dad can’t be in the same room with each other without nearly coming to blows?”

“It will,” Jack said.

“Then it’s a hell of a long time overdue.”

“I apologize for keeping you in the dark all these years. I can only say I thought it was best for you at the time, what with Mom dying and Dad being the only parental figure you had left, but I’ve regretted every day the distance it’s put between us. You lost Mom. I didn’t want you to lose Dad, too.”

Josh paled. “Why would I lose Dad?”

“Because he let us down, the whole family,” Jack said. “He’s the one who taught us right from wrong and kept us on a good path all throughout our childhoods. And I know he’s your hero even to this day, but he stopped being mine right around the time Mom died.”

“Seriously, Jack, stop with the preamble. What happened all those years ago?”

Jack’s heart pounded. Here went nothing. Here went everything. “How about stealing half a million dollars and letting Nate Armstrong take the fall for it?”

A mix of confusion, horror, defiance, and finally obligatory refusal crossed Josh’s face. “No, he couldn’t—he wouldn’t—”

“He could, and he did,” Jack said. “He stole the cash from the police evidence room to pay for Mom’s cancer treatment, and he let Nate’s reputation get ruined when the money was discovered missing. Nate would never have been investigated for obstruction if the theft didn’t prompt an investigation. I’m not saying Nate wasn’t guilty of the obstruction charge, but Dad was directly responsible for opening that can of worms. Nate lost his wife, his kids, his job, his friends, his pension, and his reputation. He’s finally out of prison, and there’s nothing but hatred for him in this city—his hometown—and all of that is completely Dad’s fault.”

Josh exhaled heavily, one and then twice. He stared out the second-story window into the void of winter darkness. “How do you know for sure? Did Dad tell you?”

“He all but told me,” Jack said. “I was a rookie cop at the time, remember? And Mom and Dad were down in Houston for that last chance gene therapy. I was paying the bills back home out of their account, opening their mail to make sure everything got paid on time. I remember the moment like it was yesterday.”

Jack recollected himself as a kid of nineteen, sitting in his dad’s messy corner of the study, using the brass letter opener he’d always loved, slitting open bill after bill and get-well-soon cards. He’d opened two letters that had made him wonder and made him question. One was a letter from the insurance company denying payment for the experimental cancer treatment his mom was currently undergoing, and the other was a receipt for a cash payment from the hospital in Houston. It was an amount far more substantial than his parents could have saved on their middle-class salaries while raising five kids.

At the Golden Falls Police Department, the drug money had already been discovered missing from evidence, and the investigation was on the front page of the Gazette every single day. Clyde Harrison was gossiping up a storm in his Grapevine column and fueling rumors about Nate.

For days after opening that mail, Jack had tried to talk himself out of his suspicion, but ultimately he’d followed his dad’s cop advice to his rookie son to gather the facts and let the evidence tell him what happened. The evidence may have been circumstantial, but it was screaming loud and clear that his dad should have been under suspicion as much as Nate.

He explained it all to Josh. How he’d taken a few days off from work and flown to Houston to confront Bruce. How he’d asked how exactly they were paying the massive bills for their mom’s cancer treatment. He’d found his mother weak and emaciated, and his father in overwrought desperation, about to lose the woman he’d loved for most of his life. It had been the saddest weekend of his life.

“He did it out of love, Josh. I’m sure of it, and I know he’s felt awful about it ever since.”

“He admitted he did it?”

“Not outright,” Jack said. “He was trying to keep me out of legal liability. He said he refused to compromise me as a cop with any such knowledge, and that if the DA actually charged Nate with stealing the money, he wouldn’t let him take the fall for it. Otherwise, whatever Nate did do, he’d have to pay the price for.”

“So you don’t know for sure he took it.”

“He took it, Josh. If you go in there and ask him, he’s not going to lie to you. Not anymore.” He swallowed hard. “Back then, he asked me not to tell Mom, but I had to. And she was horrified, Josh. Absolutely horrified. She begged me not to tell anyone else, no one in town and not you guys, either. How could I say no?” He sighed. “I kept their damn secret, but it took a toll.”

Josh pressed a palm to his forehead as if a thundering headache had just taken hold. He squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced.

“I’m sorry you had to hear this,” Jack said softly. “I know how much you love the old guy.”

Josh opened his eyes and looked at him sideways. Jack saw death in his eyes, the death of his hero. Their dad had once been his hero, too.

“This is why you cut ties with him.” Josh’s tone was irate. Mad on Jack’s behalf. “For all these years I thought you were the one whose fault it was. We all lost more than just Mom when she died. We lost our family. Our cohesive, crazy, larger-than-life family—and Dad let that happen to save his own ass. He let you bear the burden of it.”

Jack’s throat ached at the acknowledgment. It was nice to be understood, finally.

“I wish I could have sucked it up and kept on as if nothing had happened, but I didn’t have it in me,” Jack said. “I felt dirty. Complicit. I didn’t want to ruin anything for the rest of you, but I needed to walk away. I couldn’t look him in the eye anymore. I couldn’t watch him be the great guy when I knew he’d betrayed every value he ever tried to instill in us. I’m sorry I wasn’t emotionally equipped to handle it better, because I’ve missed our family, too, Josh. We truly lost something special.”

“And we can’t get it back,” Josh said.

“Maybe we can,” Jack said. “Maybe we’re older now, more mature. More able to see the nuances of life.” He thought of Elizabeth and her great capacity for forgiveness where her own father was concerned. “Maybe we can love him, flaws and all.”

“Dad stole the money.” Josh shook his head like he still couldn’t believe it. “My father stole half a million dollars.”

“Yes,” Jack said.

“I still remember when I stole a candy bar from the gas station down the road, and he busted me and made me go back and confess what I’d done and apologize to the store manager.”

“Life is full of irony.”

Josh stood and paced the small waiting area. Jack knew he was adjusting to the new reality, the one where Bruce Barnes was fallible and not the greatest guy in the world. The one where he lay in a hospital bed, his face battered by the man whose life he’d indirectly ruined.

He turned to Jack. “He’s lucky Nate didn’t kill him.”

“Yes,” Jack said. “He is.”

Together they walked back to Bruce’s hospital room. Bruce was awake, listening to a story Hayley was telling him. Josh stopped just inside the doorway and looked at him, arms crossed. Jack made eye contact with Hayley, tried to give her a warning look, to be prepared for the mood in the room to change.

“Is it true?” Josh demanded of Bruce. “You stole the money?”

Bruce glanced at Jack.

“I told him,” Jack said. “I can’t cover for you anymore. It’s cost me too much. It’s cost me my family, and it’s cost me the woman I love.”

“What money? What happened?” Hayley asked quietly, going to Josh and putting her hand on his arm. “Babe, are you okay?”

“I’m not okay.” Josh squeezed Hayley’s hand once, but then pulled his arm away like he couldn’t stand to be touched, to be comforted. He addressed Bruce. “All these years, I thought Jack was a selfish asshole for refusing to talk to you.” He half-laughed, then shook his head, disgusted. “All these years, I thought you were the victim, but Jack was. You put him in an impossible situation and left him there for more than fifteen years! He took it so we all could keep thinking you were a great guy, father of the year! Jack wasn’t the one who let us down. You were, Dad, and now I’m going to be the one who won’t have anything to do with you until you make it right—so make it right. With everyone.”

Josh grabbed his jacket. “Walk me out?” he said to Hayley, who looked stunned by what had just happened.

“You’ll fill me in?” she asked.

“Of course. But then I need to be alone for a while.”

“I’ll be right back,” Hayley told Jack and Bruce.

Josh waited for her to join him in the hallway, and as Jack watched the two of them walk off together, he was glad his brother would have Hayley there for him.

He turned to Bruce.

“All right, Dad,” he said, firmly but a little sympathetically, too. “Now you’re going to do exactly what I tell you.”