Page 88 of Getting Lucky

He hesitated. “There were extenuating circumstances.”

“Like fraud and misappropriation of funds?” she asked in a direct tone.

Maisie’s mouth dropped open, and Jack’s heart started hammering in his chest. His father had committed fraud?

Prescott was quiet for several seconds, then said in a tight voice, “Mistakes were made.”

“Yes,” she said. “That we can agree upon. Mistakes were made all the way around. I told Beau not to give you money the first time, when you and your partner were at risk of being indicted, but he couldn’t bear the thought of your children living without you.” Her voice broke. “Even then, he hoped you’d be a better father to your children than he had been to you when you were young, but you turned out to be much worse.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Prescott said in a controlled voice.

“I know more than you realize.” She paused. “Did you know that Laura kept in contact with Beau?”

Prescott remained silent.

“They corresponded quite often,” Dottie said in a loving tone. “She told him about the children and their activities. She knew that Beau desperately wanted to be part of their lives. It broke her heart that you forbade it.”

“My father wasnota good person.”

“Your father had many faults, just like the rest of us. And yes, he was far too absent in your early years while he was setting up his business. When you left, he realized he’d taught you the wrong lessons. Not that hard work reaps great rewards, but that success matters more than family. He knew why you went into commercial real estate. You were looking at the dollar signs.”

“There’s nothing wrong with making a good living.”

“There is if it’s at the expense of your relationships with the people you love.” Her voice turned sterner. “There is if you do it at the expense of other people.”

“You’re talking about the deal that went wrong,” he said in disgust. “Those people knew there were risks.”

“I was speaking of yourchildren, Prescott. Especially Jack. That poor boy was saddled with a conniving mother and a bitter, resentful father. But yes, let’s address the fraud charges you so narrowly escaped.”

Maisie reached across the tabletop and snagged Jack’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

“It was all that woman’s fault,” Prescott sneered.

“Yes, Genevieve was instrumental in that first escapade, but you were a grown man, Prescott. With two young children and an adoring wife.”

Another squeeze from Maisie.

His mother had been in on the fraud? He knew it should surprise him, but it didn’t. She was always looking for what she thought was the easy way out.

Prescott grunted. “I had two noisy toddlers and a wife who thought I was perfect. I had to provide for them, so I did what I could.”

“Laura only wanted you to love her, Prescott,” Dottie said quietly. “I read the letters she wrote to Beau. You broke her heart.”

“I was never going to be good enough for her,” he jeered.

“No,” Dottie said, her voice dripping with disappointment. “You never were, only not in the way you think. She didn’t want all the money you’d promised her when you married her. She only wanted the good man she saw beneath the bluster. That was the man she married.”

Disgust filled Prescott’s words. “I am no longer that fool.”

“No,” Dottie said, her voice breaking. “It’s obvious that man is dead. Beau saw it too, and it broke his heart. That was why he didn’t give you a thing. He’d already given you practically everything he had, and it was never enough. So whatever he had left went to his grandchildren. He hoped it would help lead them to the truth.”

“The truth?” he scoffed. “What truth?”

“That love is the most important thing in the world. More important than money and material things. He discovered that at the brewery, and he hoped his grandchildren would find their place there too.”

“The brewery is a waste of time and resources. It would have been far better to sell it.”

“Better for you when you thought you were inheriting it,” Dottie said, her voice cold. “I know you need the money.”

---