29. Chapter 29

"Petal?" Jack called to me as I got out of Evan"s car. He tried to stand but I motioned for him to stay right where he was.

"I"m okay, Dad. Can"t say the same for Mark, though."

He looked from me to Evan and back again. "Someone needs to explain," my father demanded.

"I left early today and went home to find Mark in our bed with Jennifer."

"Jennifer?" He asked.

"My ex," Evan enlightened him.

"That son of a bitch. I might be on my way out of this life, but he can sure as shit join me."

Evan laughed. "No need to worry about it, Pops. Your little Petal took care of his ass…" He glanced at me and grinned. "Or was it his balls?"

I shook my head and then looked up to see the question in my dad"s eyes. "I may have zapped him in the balls with my taser. No need to worry, though. The police officer wrote it down as self-defense and took pictures of my wrist where Mark grabbed me to try to keep me from leaving."

Jack nodded his head and then he started laughing, which lead to wheezing, and him having to try to catch his breath in a horrifically painful way.

Evan and I looked at one another and then I moved closer to wrap my arms around Jack"s frail shoulders. "Come on, old man, we need to get you inside. I think you"ve had about all the humidity you can stand for one day."

"Stop trying to take care of me when you"re the one who needs to be cared for right now."

"You know what would make me happy?" I asked.

"What"s that, Petal?" By his placating tone, I knew he was already aware of the answer.

"Taking care of my dad. It will get my mind off things while Evan goes back to help our family clear my things out of the house before Mark gets out of the hospital."

Jack nodded his head as we moved inside. "That"s good. I"d like it if you would stay in the house for a while, instead of the barn. That is, if-"

I cut him off. "I was hoping you would offer, so I wouldn"t have to ask. Honestly, I just want to be close to my dad right now." I couldn"t help the sniffle that followed. It wasn"t a lie.

"That"s two birthdays of yours that bitch has ruined now. I hope you hit her with that taser of yours, too."

I giggled at his vengeful side. "Well, I didn"t hit her with the taser, but I didn"t allow her to get clothes on either. She ran from the house naked, and the neighbors saw her."

Jack laughed again, and wheezed, and then struggled to catch his breath. "Damn it…" Those two words were a struggle for him. "Proud of you," he finally managed.

"Have you eaten dinner?"

"No, Petal. I"m glad I waited. If you have any appetite left you could humor an old man and share a birthday dinner with me."

"I would love to."

"You knew, didn"t you?" He asked as I worked on getting something ready to cook for us.

"I suspected, but come to find out, things had been going on for longer than I thought. There"s also the fact that I overheard their conversation. He was planning on developing my family"s farmland after we married." Dad looked like he was ready to hop in his truck and go murder Mark in the hospital. "He had the nerve to tell that bitch that he loved me, too. Marrying me wasn"t just about the property. Can you believe that? He was having sex with another woman, in our bed, and had the nerve to talk about loving me."

"I"ll never understand your generation," Dad admitted.

"No," I shook my head. "That"s not my generation, that"s just an asshole thing to do. He clearly doesn"t know the first thing about love."

"Something tells me that maybe he knew he was climbing an uphill battle with you, Petal. Maybe he did love you, but knew that your heart was already claimed by someone else?"

I gasped. "Are you excusing his behavior?"

"Not at all. He took the cowards way out instead of having a real conversation with you about who held your heart. Far as I know, you never lied to him about your feelings." When I shook my head, Jack nodded. "Didn't think so. You've always been a straight shooter, Petal. He didn't have the talk with you because he already knew your heart would never belong to him. That's his problem. If he didn't think you could love him the way he hoped, then he should have said something and accepted you as you were or ended things. He also shouldn't have kept his intentions regarding your family's land to himself."

"No, he shouldn't have, and I can't believe it never crossed my mind. Dad, he's asked what my intentions were for the land so many times, but I just thought he was trying to get me to decide what to do with it – for me. Truthfully, I thought he was hinting that we should move there, considering the house is huge and family ready." I fought off the chill that winded its way through my body. I could never live there again knowing that my mother hung herself in that house for me to discover her body after reading the cold, uncaring note she left behind.

"Don't mean to be a downer, but I was hoping to talk to you about your family's land, too. I had a look at the books, in comparison to what I know has been going out over there. I hope you'll consider getting someone to do an audit. That bastard that's been running things has been skimming from you, and not by small amounts."

"I know."

"You… Wait… What? What do you mean, you know?"

I chuckled at Dad's startled response. "I already have Devon looking into things for me, and if need be I will press charges. I hope to not have to do that, but if my hand is forced, I will." When Jack continued to stare at me as if he'd never seen me before, I laughed. "Come on, Dad. I might be an artist instead of a farmer, but I'm far from stupid. I know the amounts that have been going out too. I might have been young when I lost my father, but all those times he took me out to work the fields with him, he explained how things worked, what everything cost, and how much he could expect to earn."

"He was preparing you to take over one day," Dad surmised while nodding his head. "Your father was a good man."

"Both of them," I corrected. "Both my fathers were damn good men and did a good job raising me."

His eyes closed but those thin lips of his tipped up at the corners in a contented smile.

"Always wanted a girl," he mumbled before his head dipped. Dad nodded off more often lately, and at random, concerning times. I swiped angrily at the tears that fell. It wasn't fair. This good man, this man who had taken me in and became my father when mine passed on, was about to lose his battle and there wasn't a thing I could do to help him.

While it stung that my boyfriend cheated on me while everyone else thought he was preparing to propose marriage, at least he did me an unknowing favor. I wouldn't have to feel guilty for spending what time my dad had left in this world with him. He was now my sole focus.