By His Hand: Truly Yours Digital Edition (13 page)

“He has a daughter.” The man had reached her side. He whispered, “Are you her?”

A tear spilled down Victoria’s cheek, and she peered at the ground. “I am.”

With all the energy she could muster, she fled amidst the murmurings of everyone in the room. Running down the stairs, she composed herself and made her way to the correct office to pay her fee. No one followed her.
They’re probably all discussing the many ways Daddy hurt families they knew. God, how could I have been so selfish not to think of the pain he’d caused others?

Swallowing back her imminent spilling of emotion, she made her way to the sheriff’s office, got her keys, and found her Suburban. With the turn of the ignition, the dam of her heart broke and tears spilled from her eyes. How much devastation had her father caused? Pain for that family, pain for other families, and pain for her own life seemed to stab at her insides.
Why, God? Why did Daddy do this?

“Hi, Abby.” Chris walked into the kitchen to find Abby sitting at the kitchen table peeling potatoes. His sister’s transformation had been amazing since Victoria started visiting. She hadn’t gotten her hair cut as yet, but Victoria had taught Abby how to wear her face paint a coat or two lighter. Chris had forgotten that his little sister’s lips were actually pink in color and not some funky dark shade of purple.

“Hey, big brother.” Abby half smiled, but her voice sounded distraught. “Have you seen the paper?”

He shook his head and opened the refrigerator. After grabbing a water bottle and an apple, he sat down at the table across from his sister and picked up the weekly newspaper. “Anything happen this week?”

Abby huffed. “You could say that.”

Chris frowned. It must have been pretty big news to capture Abby’s attention. The girl only flipped through the pages to find the TV guide. He started to skim the front page.
An accident on the other side of town with injuries. Another water advisory notice and some town council suggestions on what to do about its continual reoccurrences
.

“Look at the bottom,” said Abby.

Chris opened the page to its full length. He almost choked on his apple when he saw a picture of Victoria leaving the courthouse. The caption above it read, “E
MBEZZLER
A
MONG
Us?”

“It’s Victoria,” said Abby. Chris looked up to see his sister’s eyes pooled with tears. She placed the potato peeler on the table and swiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “You and I both know she’s not an embezzler.”

Chris tried to skim through the article, but tears raced down Abby’s cheeks so he lowered the paper and touched the top of her hand.

“She doesn’t even have the money to pay you for Mary Ann. She’s not a criminal.” Abby pulled a tissue from her jeans pocket and wiped her nose.

“What does it say exactly?”

“Remember that guy they showed on all the stations who’d taken money from his oil companies?”

Chris thought back to the news stories a few months ago about an oil magnate who had embezzled money from his company, but that guy’s name wasn’t Thankful.
What was that guy’s name? It was George, somebody George
. “But that’s not her dad,” said Chris. “That man’s last name was George.”

Abby shook her head. “No, George was his business name.” She stood and walked toward the bathroom. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m afraid Victoria will want to leave.” She covered her face with her hands. “I need her here.” She ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Chris’s heart pounded with uncertainty. Maybe he should try to talk to Abby. But what would he say? He didn’t even know what was going on. Besides, he didn’t know how to talk to Abby. That had been their problem since long before Mom left. He glanced at the bathroom door where Sassy-Girl had already made her appearance. She pawed at the door just as Chris heard the water running in the shower.

Sighing, he picked up the paper and read through the article.
This can’t be right
. He scratched his chin and read through it once more. He rolled up the paper and stuck it under his arm.
There’s only one way to find out the truth of all this
. Grabbing his keys, he walked to the bathroom door. “I’ll be back, Abby. Go ahead and fix supper. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

The door opened. A towel was wrapped around Abby’s head, and a much-too-big robe hung from her small frame. Her face had been scrubbed clean and shiny, but her eyes were still red and swollen. She didn’t say anything; she just sighed deeply and then looked up at him. Her expression begged him to make it all better.

An urge he hadn’t had in months filled him. Without thinking, he grabbed Abby into a tight hug. Sobs overtook her, and she cried into his shoulder. He combed her hair with his fingers and held her tight. She drove him crazy, but God had blessed him with his little sister. God had also given him the job of taking care of her. With Victoria’s help, he now realized that meant providing more than food and clothes. Sometimes it meant a hug, a compliment, a promise. “It’s going to be all right. I’m not letting her go anywhere.”

Abby peered up at him. “Promise?”

He closed his eyes, overwhelmed with a mixture of feelings. Loss for his dad. Loss for his mom. A real need not to lose Victoria. Suddenly he understood how much all of it felt to Abby, too. “I’ll do my best.”

His mind spun in a whirl as he drove to the Wards’ ranch. Was Victoria a fraud like her father? The reports about Mr. George’s dealings with employees and business partners had been appalling. He thought of how upset Victoria had been when he’d given her his estimates to fix Mary Ann. In his gut, he knew she had been genuine in her want to make amends for the accident.

After pulling into the driveway, he yanked the keys out of the ignition and scaled the steps up the porch. Before he had time to knock, Sondra opened the door. Her lips parted in a smile that didn’t quite make it to her eyes.

“Where is she?” Chris asked.

“At the bank.” Sondra motioned for Chris to come inside. “I just laid the kids down. We can talk.”

Chris followed her into the house. The sweet smell of fresh-cut roses filled his nostrils as he walked into her kitchen and saw a vase full sitting on her table. Dylan leaned against the counter taking a swig from his coffee mug. Upon seeing Chris, Dylan put the cup down and offered his hand. “Good to see you.”

Chris barely shook it before he took the paper from under his arm and opened it. “What’s this about? Is it true?”

“It’s true.”

“But Victoria. What does that mean about Victoria? Is she a fraud? Has she been lying to us since she got here?”

Dylan crossed his arms in front of his chest while Sondra sat at the table. She looked up at Chris. He could tell her gaze searched him at the depths of his being. “What do you think, Chris? You’ve been around Victoria. Do you think she’s a fraud?”

Chris frowned. Sondra’s words were not said in accusation or malice. They were formed—stated exactly and perfectly. She was asking him to decide within himself what he knew to be true.

His mind played reels of moments he’d spent with Victoria. He drifted to the day he found Abby and Victoria working in the garden. He thought of the time she had deposited his money at the bank. He saw her with Peewee in her arms the first time she’d met the little guy. “No. She’s not a fraud.” With the words spoken aloud, Chris knew without reservation they were true. “What did happen?”

“Mama, I no feel good.”

Chris glanced toward the hall just as Peewee vomited all over the floor. Sondra hopped up and ran to him as Dylan grabbed paper towels from the cabinet. Scooping up the boy, Sondra raced to the sink as another bout of sickness came. Chris looked over to find Dylan gagging as he wiped up the mess from the floor.

Emily started to cry from her bedroom just as Chris’s cell phone began to vibrate in his coveralls pocket. Dylan picked up the drenched paper towels and carried them to the trash. The smell must have overwhelmed him because once he reached the can he was sick. Ignoring his phone, Chris turned toward Sondra who had already stripped Peewee down to his birthday suit. “You want me to check on Emily?”

Hacking sounded from the baby’s bedroom, and Sondra looked at Chris, her eyes big as the headlights of his car. “No. You better run. We must have the stomach virus that’s going around.” Sondra exhaled and grabbed a two-liter of lemon-lime soda from the cabinet.

Chris’s cell phone began to vibrate once more. “You sure? I can stay and help. What do I do?” His stomach clenched at the idea of cleaning vomit, but he’d do it to help.

Dylan tore a clean paper towel off the roll and wiped his mouth. “Sondra’s right. You get on out of here so you don’t get sick, as well.”

Chris grabbed his cell phone from his pocket as he walked toward the front door. He looked back at Dylan. “If it gets to be too much, you call me.”

“Vic.” Sondra turned from washing her hands at the kitchen sink. “Can you pick up Vic? Wouldn’t you know the poor woman gets her Suburban back, and my van breaks down! I dropped her off at work.”

“Not a problem. I’ll get her. Do you need me to look at your van?”

“I think it’s something I can fix.” Dylan smiled as Peewee streaked buck-naked across the floor yelling for his mom to help his sissy. “You run on out of here. Your day’s a’coming.”

“I don’t know about that.” Chris laughed as he opened and then shut the front door behind him. He flipped open his still vibrating phone. “Hello.”

“Mr. Ratliff?”

“Yes.”

“This is Vern from the pawnshop.”

“Yes?”

The man cleared his throat. “Well, it’s been well over a month since that gal brought that pretty little ring to my shop. I tried giving her a bit of extra time, but I’m planning on putting that little beauty on my shelf today. I promised you I ‘d call first.”

Chris’s mind churned with a sudden idea. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. “Yes, I’d like to purchase it. How much do you want?”

The man quoted the price he had told Victoria she’d have to pay to get it back. Chris’s heart sank. It would take every penny he’d tried to save to get the right bumper for Mary Ann. A slow smile formed on his lips.
Vic’s worth every penny
. “I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Victoria, I’m going to be honest with you. I’m in a bit of a quandary.”

She looked at the man standing behind his desk. Once again the light streaming from the window behind him wrapped his frame giving him an almost angelic appearance. This time his expression held anything but pleasure.

Zack gripped the back of his oversized leather chair. “I’ve spent the entire morning on the phone with my boss as well as several presidents from our sister banks.”

Victoria leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Overwhelming anger and frustration filled her to her core. She’d had nothing to do with her father’s embezzlement; she’d barely even been to his office. Sadness washed over her with urgency. People would always associate her with “the embezzler.” She choked back her yearning to scream, to cry at the unfairness of it all.
God, give me the patience and self-control to make it through this meeting with Zack without outbursts of any kind
.

She looked around the room. How many times had she dreamed of being back in this office with Zack gently touching her hand and asking her to accompany him on a romantic evening of a candlelit dinner and a quiet walk in the park? Or maybe he would ask her to a movie and an ice cream afterward.

She gazed at the man who fit her every dream for the perfect mate. Not this. Never in her daydreams of Zack Bradshaw had she imagined this.

“I want you to know I believe in you, Victoria.” He moved from behind his desk until he stood just inches from her. “You and your father are not the same person.”

Victoria glanced at her shoes. Her perfect, pointy-toed, name brand, crème-colored shoes. “No. No, we’re not.”

“My hands are tied though.” Zack squeezed her shoulder as if to reassure her. “I have to put you on suspension until your father’s investigation is over.”

Gazing into his eyes, Victoria could see it pained Zack to do this. He had fought for her. He didn’t have to say it. She could see the truth in his eyes. “I understand.”

And she did. How could she blame a company, a bank to be exact, for feeling uncomfortable letting the daughter of a multimillion-dollar embezzler work there until she had been cleared of any wrongdoing? “It’s okay, Zack.”

She turned to leave his office. Her mind swirled with problems. She had planned to buy back her grandma’s ring. Now she couldn’t. She had insurance to cover her Suburban for a few months, but now she wouldn’t have gas money to drive it around. And Chris. How would she ever pay him to fix his Corvette?

“Victoria.” Zack grabbed her hand. She turned and looked at him. His gaze held a yearning she had longed for weeks to see. “I really care about you. I’ve been praying and pondering how to ask you…. I mean, it’s a little awkward because you’re an employee…. I mean, there aren’t any rules or anything, I just haven’t been sure how to approach you….”