Chapter 27 - The Brother Who Stayed
Richard needed six stitches.
He complained about every one.
Daniel sat beside him in the hospital treatment room.
“You could have moved.”
Richard looked offended.
“He was going after Emily.”
“I know.”
“So why would I move?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
For eleven years, the brothers had communicated mostly through attorneys.
Now Richard had placed himself between Thomas and Daniel’s daughter without hesitation.
Richard looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t become sentimental. I’m injured.”
Daniel laughed.
It surprised both of them.
Then Richard became serious.
“There’s something I should have told you years ago.”
Daniel waited.
“Catherine contacted me six months before she died.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“She knew I hated you.”
“That’s generous.”
“She thought Thomas might approach me because of the lawsuit.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
Daniel went still.
“What did he offer?”
“Control of Arden Development after you were declared incompetent.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Even then.
Thomas had been building contingencies.
“What did you say?”
“I told him to go to hell.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Richard looked away.
“Pride.”
That answer Daniel understood better than any excuse.
“Catherine asked me to help identify two Bellweather accounts. I did.”
“The photograph outside Bellweather.”
Richard nodded.
“I was with her.”
“You could have saved us years of suspicion.”
“So could you if you had returned one of my calls after Dad died.”
Daniel accepted the blow.
Richard continued.
“The last time I saw Catherine, she said something strange.”
“What?”
“She said eventually we would have to decide whether being right mattered more than being brothers.”
Daniel looked down.
“She always did enjoy winning arguments after she left the room.”
Richard laughed.
Then his eyes filled.
“I should have come to the funeral.”
“Yes.”
“I was angry.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel nodded.
Not forgiveness for eleven years.
Not instantly.
But a door opening.
Outside the room, Emily arrived with Noah.
The boy saw Richard’s bandage.
“You got a boo-boo.”
Richard looked solemn.
“A terrible one.”
Noah touched the bandage.
“Need dinosaur sticker.”
Richard glanced at Daniel.
“I assume that is medically necessary.”
“Absolutely.”
Twenty minutes later, one of the richest men Daniel knew left the hospital wearing a green dinosaur sticker beside his stitches.
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For the first time since Catherine died, Daniel felt something other than grief when he thought about family.
He felt possibility.
