Chapter 66 Henry
Chapter 66
Henry
He wasn’t wrong. He’d seen the sky show off before, but never like what he witnessed earlier in the kitchen. Jean-Paul and Rosalie. He didn’t see that coming. With most shooting stars, you don’t. Renée handled it beautifully, and he told her so, pulling her aside before they left for their rooms.
“We can’t hold on to the things we can’t control, Henry,” she said. “We can only find the lesson and a way to move on.”
Witnessing Rosalie find her father struck a chord in him. As much as he hated to admit it, it was there. Deep inside the piles of rage, there was longing. It was becoming harder and harder to deny it.
It’s six o’clock, and they’re gathered at the table. No one comes out and says it, but it’s a celebration. Rosalie is front and center, beaming. The news about her mother is positive. They’re cautiously optimistic Cassidy will make a full recovery, and there’s relief on Rosalie’s face when she assists Jean-Paul at the cooktop. They have a synergy, humming as they slice lemons, chop garlic. He offers directions, and she follows with ease. Brushing the chicken with flavorful seasoning, adding cream to the mussels. Sienna picks up one of the edible flowers and tucks it behind Rosalie’s ear. Her face is clean of makeup. The girl has never looked happier.
“I bet you were an amazing lawyer,” Rosalie says.
Sienna nods. “I was pretty good.”
“Do you think you’ll ever go back?”
Sienna shifts in her seat. “Maybe. Right now, I have to focus on the girls.”
Lucy leans over to Henry. “I’m going to take the rest of the summer off. We need to spend more time together. We have a lot of catching up to do. As a family.”
He likes what she’s getting at.
Leo’s spotted some conversation cards on a shelf, and he passes a few around as the first course arrives. They used to play a game like this at dinner parties in Buckhead, cards with thought-provoking questions. What one thing would you like to know about the future? If you could change your name, what would it be? The game was a great conversation starter, a clever way to get to know someone, and they’d had their share of laughs amid some soul-crushing conversations. But didn’t they already know enough about each other?
And then Henry’s phone rings.
Michael Wall’s name lights up the screen, and like a reflex, he taps “Decline.” Soon afterward, a text appears. You can’t ignore me forever.
He types back: Yes, I can.
“What is it?” Lucy leans toward him, popping a mussel into her mouth.
Another text comes through. I’m at your door.
The irony. He laughs.
“What?” she asks again.
“My dad’s at our door.”
She presses a napkin against her pink lips. “He’s at the house?”
He opens the Ring app and shows the screen to her. “It appears that way.”
“He’s really trying.”
“He’ll figure it out soon enough.”
“He went all the way to Atlanta?” Sienna asks, but he’s watching Jean-Paul and Renée for a reaction.
He doesn’t care if Michael Wall sits there all night. He hopes it’s muggy hot, and he hopes the termites from the infestation they haven’t yet gotten under control are swarming around his ears. “Okay, I’ll start,” he says, reading one of the cards. “Have you ever lied about your age?”
Rosalie’s hand shoots up. “Me!”
“I’ve been twenty-nine for six years,” Sienna says, pulling a card from the pile. “Who in the room has a tattoo?”
Leo, Penny, and Sienna raise their hands and roll up sleeves and pants to show off their various emblems. Sienna has a tiny butterfly on her ankle. Leo has his kids’ names on the inside of his wrist. Penny’s tattoo matches Leo’s.
“New Orleans,” Penny says while she stares at her wrist and then her husband.
“That was a good trip,” he replies.
Lucy picks the next card. “What song would you sing at karaoke?”
“We need a karaoke machine here, Jean-Paul and Renée!” Sienna calls out.
“‘Cat’s in the Cradle,’” Henry says. Lucy rolls her eyes at the song about an estranged father and son.
“‘Dancing Queen,’” Sienna says.
“‘Wonderwall,’” Leo says.
“I can’t think of one,” Penny says. “Maybe ‘Shake It Off’?”
When it’s Penny’s turn, she draws a card and reads, “‘Is there only one soulmate for every person?’”
The table quiets.
“Can I pick another question?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, flipping through the stack and selecting another. “This is just not my night. ‘What mistake is most unforgivable?’”
“Yeah,” Leo says. “Next.”
“‘What was the best TV commercial of all time?’” Penny quickly answers, “Mean Joe Greene’s Coca-Cola ad.”
Sienna says, “Who watches commercials anymore?”
Another text lands on Henry’s screen.
I’ll bang until I knock the whole house down, Henry. You can’t hide from me forever.
Henry’s watching the camera from his phone; Michael Wall presses his doorbell. Henry steps out of the kitchen, crafting a text in his mind. His dad appears smaller, but maybe it’s the video quality. He looks closer. No. He’s definitely slighter. Fragile. Weak.
Please , he writes again. You’re my son.
And Henry flashes to Jean-Paul telling Rosalie he’s her dad. The look that said he loved her. Already. And his father continues: I’ve lost everything. I won’t lose you too. The phone rings again. This time, Henry picks up.
“Henry.” His father’s voice is rough, no longer warm and smooth—no longer the man who used to read him to sleep. “I just need you to hear me out—”
“How did you find them?” Henry stops him. “Renée and Jean-Paul De La Rue?”
Silence. And then: “You talked about that place a lot.”
“They’re good, hardworking people. They didn’t deserve this.”
His father doesn’t answer.
“They think I gave you their names.”
“I’m so sorry.”
His father’s standing on Henry’s front porch, holding the phone to his ear. Henry stares as the sight of his thin frame pulls him back through time. He wishes he could stop it. But he can’t. He’s felt only half-alive without him. Seeing him makes him feel almost whole again.
“Beans.” That’s the endearing name Michael gave him. Henry Beans. He feels himself falling under his spell.
“That’s not going to fix this, Dad.”
“I know. But I won’t give up trying. You don’t give up on the people you love.”
“You should have thought of that before you destroyed us.”
“Listen to me. I wasn’t the mastermind behind Bluebird—”
“Please don’t. Please don’t try to rewrite history. We all know how you bilked innocent people out of their life savings ... their livelihood. How can you live with yourself?”
“I know that’s what you’ve heard, and what you believe, but I’m telling you that I was duped also.”
This gets Henry’s attention.
“I was lied to. And to make a long, excruciatingly painful and embarrassing story short, I’ve turned state’s evidence against the partners.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m your father. And you know me better than anyone.”
“I thought I knew you.”
“Why do you think they let me out early? It’s going to come out soon. Some Vanity Fair article. Dateline special. Pick. I made mistakes. I turned a blind eye when I shouldn’t have, and I put my faith in someone who didn’t deserve it.”
“People killed themselves. Because of you.”
Henry sees the slackening of his father’s shoulders when he says this. His head drops. “I know. And I will forever live with that. But I need you to understand. I need you to hear me out.”
Henry stares down at his shoes. “I can’t. You’ve given me no choice.”
“There’s always a choice. Family protects each other.”
“Who was protecting Mom and me?”
His father raises his voice, and Henry spots his fist in the air. “I went to prison, Henry. I never gave up on you and Mom. How can you do this?”
He doesn’t feel bad for what he says next: “A lot of people want you to answer that same question. I don’t think you understand the extent to which you hurt people or how humiliating it’s been for me. I can never go back to Charleston.”
His father faces the door, and Henry’s glad he can’t see his eyes. “I swear to you, I had no way of knowing.”
Henry considers this. Considers his father. He’s a bright man. He had to have known. Right? But was he really a master fraudster? Henry can’t be sure. Now he has a criminal record, a mark stuck to him for the rest of his life. People despise him. He wouldn’t be surprised if the death threats come back. And yet, Henry sees him, and he sees his childhood. He sees them tossing a football in the backyard, Michael teaching him to tie a tie. Reflexively, he reaches for his neck. His father. His best friend and confidant. The man who openly cried when Henry walked down the aisle to marry Lucy.
God, he misses him.
God, he hates him.
“I’m sorry, Henry.”
All of them have experienced betrayal. Leo and Penny. Lucy and Henry. Even Rosalie and Cassidy. All flawed people trying to sift through the messes and find the parts to love.
Henry has to get back to the table. He’s said what he needed to say. “Go home, Dad.”
He closes the Ring app and imagines his dad walking toward his car when he speaks. “I made a mistake, Henry. I used poor judgment. But I’m not a bad person. If I could go back and change all of it ... I would. You have to believe me.”
He doesn’t have his telescope, but he doesn’t need it, because suddenly everything becomes clear. They have all made mistakes, poor decisions that lacked good judgment. The choices weren’t made in a vacuum. There were variables and circumstances—much like in the sky and the constellations—that made events happen. Some resulted in explosions, others resulted in falling stars. He realizes that people aren’t always bad, but some decisions are.
The father he knew was sensible and kind.
The father he knew had loved him fiercely and protectively.
He will find a way to hold on to that man.
This isn’t entirely about forgiveness. It’s about understanding that sometimes the stars align, and sometimes they fly off course and learn to coexist.
“Bye, Dad,” he finally says.