Cherished (Steel Brothers Saga #17) - Helen Hardt Page 0,75

this before, but I see so much of myself in you, except that you’re more together than I ever was.”

“I don’t feel very together sometimes,” I say.

“No one feels together all the time.”

I nod, though I have a hard time believing Jade doesn’t feel together constantly. She’s a wonderful mother, a brilliant lawyer, and gorgeous as all get-out. Plus she’s just nice. Such a nice woman, and I’m privileged to know her.

“Thank you,” I say.

“For what?”

“For letting me stay here. For the opportunity you’ve given me.”

“That was Ryan,” she says.

“I know. But I feel like you guys all function as sort of a unit, you know?”

She chuckles. “I suppose we do. Talon and his brothers and sister are all very close.”

I gather my nerves. “Is that because of their father?”

“In some ways.”

“I asked Dale about him,” I say.

“I doubt Dale could tell you much.”

“No, he couldn’t. Just that he was in prison for tampering with federal evidence, and that he died within a year of his incarceration.”

“There’s a huge story there,” Jade says, “and to be honest, I never agreed with Talon and the others to keep it from the kids. Ruby and Melanie agreed with me, but the rest, including Marj’s husband, Bryce, wanted it kept quiet. I was outvoted.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Brad Steel was a very good man. He was also a very bad man.”

“What about his wife? Talon’s mother?”

“She was mentally ill for most of her life.”

I touch my lips, remembering what Ryan told me about the Steel Foundation. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“She lived out her life in full-time care, in a dreamworld where her children were still small. It’s very sad.”

But Brendan said she committed suicide. Maybe he meant later. “I had no idea.”

“I know. We don’t talk about it, and as I said, there’s a lot the kids don’t know.”

“I get it.” And I do. My own mother didn’t tell me the truth about who my father was until recently. “But they’re adults now,” I continue. “Don’t they deserve to know the truth of their history?”

“I wrestle with that. But look at it this way. Do you think Dale is better off now? Knowing his birth father?”

I stare down at my now-empty glass.

I don’t know whether the answer to Jade’s question is yes or no.

Chapter Fifty

Dale

“Get on with it,” I say. “Rich Uncle Fred.”

“Uncle Fred was really rich,” he says.

“Well, lawyers tend to do well in big cities.”

“Oh, he was way richer than most lawyers. He had outside investments.”

“Great, great. He was a damned millionaire. Who cares?”

“He wasn’t as rich as your father, but close.”

I stop my jaw from dropping. Does he have any clue how much the Steels are worth? Because if this guy was close, he was a billionaire. Or close to being one.

“What kind of outside investments?” I ask hesitantly.

“I didn’t know at the time, but I found out. They were mostly illegal.”

“So your uncle was a crook. So what?”

“I didn’t know that at the time,” he says, his voice cracking. He begins to pant and then he wipes at his face, knocking the nasal cannula out of his nose.

Beeping again. I stand and look at the machines. His pulse ox is down to eighty. The same nurse scurries in once more.

“Mr. Jolly, you’ve got to keep this on.” She adjusts the cannula. “Are you going to behave yourself now?”

Right, I say to myself.

She looks to me. “Have you finished your business yet? He’s very tired.”

I move to open my mouth, but Floyd speaks first.

“No, he’s not done here.”

The nurse sighs. “Very well, but try to stay still, okay?” She whisks back out the door.

“Get on with it,” I say, not kindly.

“If I could relive the next few moments I’m going to tell you about, I’d never go to my uncle. I’d live on the streets, die on the streets.”

“Maybe it would have helped you,” I say. “I know a young woman who grew up homeless, and she’s bright and hardworking and the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

Floyd turns, finally, meeting my gaze. His green eyes are bloodshot and watery, but still I can see myself in them. I see the man who fathered me. The man who once looked a lot like me. Tall, broad, blond.

And now he’s a shadow of his former self. Booze and pills will do that.

“You’re in love,” he finally says.

I say nothing.

“Don’t try to deny it. I see that look in your eyes when you speak of your young lady. Don’t let her get