Denton sat down on the floor beside the big desk, and Missy came to sit on his lap. She watched her dad while she held onto the envelope. When he looked at her, she could see how much he missed his dad as well. When Denton smiled, Addie thought they were going to be all right even if the envelope had nothing more in it than a note telling them that he loved them all very much.
“I guess he’s really here. I mean...I had no idea. I wanted to believe he was around but...my wife said it was wrong to encourage Missy to talk to him.” He nodded to the envelope as he continued. “Did he tell you what it is? Or what we’re supposed to do with it?”
“No. He just wanted her to have it.” Addie looked up at the client she’d come to help. As he spoke, she repeated it to his son. “He said he’d had plans to tell you where it was, but got...he wasn’t expecting to go so quickly. The accident, he said, really mussed up his plans. Your father said to tell you that you’re doing a great job with your child, and he’s never been prouder of you than he has been lately.”
Denton laughed. “Yeah, the accident messed up my plans too, having him gone like this. I was ready to have him come and help me get my business going, and he up and has a heart attack while driving home from the library.” Denton hugged his daughter before he looked around the room to continue. “Dad, if you can hear me, I miss you so much. Every day, every single minute of every day, I find myself wanting to find you to tell you something. Or show you what I’ve done. Not having you around feels like a hole in my heart and life that will never fill up.”
“He said he sees it and misses you as well. And he hears you talking to him. He wishes he could help you, but he thinks that will help.” Addie pointed to the envelope. “He left you that so it will keep you in good with the wife. And to help Missy when the time comes.”
Missy opened the envelope and money spilled out in her hands. Hundreds of hundred and five hundred dollar bills landed on her lap and around them both. When Mark picked up the folded paper that was with it, he sobbed hard as he read it. Then he looked at her and Kari.
“He said that...my dad said that he’d been saving for a rainy day, and when it pours someday I’m to use this. He goes on to tell me that he didn’t rob a bank, which I have to admit I’d not put past him the way he was. He has no idea.... It’s been pouring for a few weeks now.” Addie knew that. Denton senior was telling Billy that his son and family were about to lose it all. Their power was going to be shut off, as well as the bank was about to foreclose on the house. There was a second folded sheath of papers with the letter. Denton looked it over, then looked up at her. “It’s an insurance policy. I don’t...do you think this is real?”
“I would say so, but you can check it out. Call the company there and ask them.” She looked up at Denton senior when he spoke. “He said that it’s real all right, and you’re the only person he could leave it to after your mom passed. He said to tell you he’s with her now, and she’s as proud of you as he is of anything that you ever gave her when you were a child. Even the automatic toast jam spreader you made when you were ten.”
Denton laughed again and hugged his daughter. Addie and Kari stood up…it was time for them to go. Denton senior thanked them as well and faded out of the room. But almost as soon as he was gone, he came back and asked her to speak to Denton about something.
“He wants to know if he can come and see Missy and bring her grandmother.” Denton cried harder and nodded. “Your dad wants you to know that he’s caring for Missy and will, for as long as he can, be there for her. You too, he said. He said he hears you when you speak to him at his grave. Both of them do.”
“Oh my God, he’s really here, isn’t he?” Addie nodded and wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “My dad is here, with us, and I can...tell him yes. Yes, I’ll come and talk to him more, and that he must bring Mom to see Missy. I’d really...I’d really love that.”
Soon after that they left, cautioning the man to not say the money had been found and that the insurance policy had been buried deep within the desk, and it wasn’t until today he’d decided to look. Addie and Kari decided to have lunch as a treat for their morning.
~~~