A Winter Dream(7)

“Maybe he was just trying to get attention,” my father said. “Like an adman. If so, he succeeded.”

“There’s more to life than attention,” my mother said.

“You would know, sweetheart,” my father said. “You would know.”

My mother was the constant recipient of male attention, something that both flattered and frightened my father.

I sided my Honda Pilot up to the Delta terminal’s curb and put it in park. My father climbed out first, signaling a skycap over to the car. A meaty, mustached fellow quickly obliged. “May I help you with your bags, sir?”

“Yes,” my father said. “We have two bags to check.”

“How many are traveling?”

“Two of us.”

“May I have your IDs, please?”

My father handed him his license, then turned back to my mother. “Rachel.”

“Sorry,” she said. She got her license out of her purse and handed it to the skycap, who took the licenses over to his counter. A minute later the man returned with luggage tags and two boarding passes. “Two tickets to sunny Phoenix,” he said. “I was just there last week. You and your daughter are going to love it.”

“She’s my wife,” my father said.

“There goes the tip,” the man said, but, obviously a pro at his job, added, “Well done, sir.”

My father grinned. It wasn’t the first time the mistake had been made. It wouldn’t be the last. While my father was rifling through his wallet for a tip, my mother leaned forward and hugged me. “I love you.”

“I love you,” I said. “Have a good time.”

“We will.” She looked at me for a moment, then said, “I know last night was hard. But take it in the spirit it was intended. He means well.”

“Okay.”

“Take care of Ben.”

“I always do,” I said.

My dad walked up to us. “Here you go,” he said to my mother, handing her back her license. “Let’s go.”

“Have a good time,” I said.

“Of course we will. And you keep busy.”

“Of course we will,” I said.

He gripped my shoulder. “See you soon, son.” Then he put his arm around my mother and the two of them walked into the terminal. I climbed back into my car to drive home and get some sleep.



Sunday was a day of rest, which I was grateful for. Around six o’clock I met up with Ashley for dinner at her parents’ house. It was a quiet evening that ended with our making homemade ice cream and watching 60 Minutes with her father, who fell asleep during the last segment.

Monday morning we had our usual nine o’clock staff meeting. Thankfully, none of the brothers said anything to me about the party. Not that they had forgotten—I was sure they hadn’t. We were just busy. With my father gone, we were all loaded down with as much work as we could handle. In addition to the typical maintenance our accounts required, like printing and media purchases and placement, we also had the entire Murdock campaign to produce. I was glad to focus on my work.

The following Tuesday afternoon I was in my zone, writing radio scripts for the Pack Your Bags campaign, when Simon buzzed me in my office, interrupting my concentration. “We need to see you in the conference room.”

“I’m in the middle of writing,” I said.

“We can’t wait,” he said sternly and hung up.

We? I hated being interrupted in the middle of my writing, but with all the tension in the office I wasn’t about to fight him on this. I got up and walked to the conference room.

I was surprised to find the room filled with all of my brothers; Rupert, Simon, Levi, Judd, Dan, Nate, Gage, Ashton, Isaac, Zach and Ben.

Everyone wore grim expressions. All of the tension in the room seemed focused on Ben, whose eyes were red and puffy.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

For a moment no one spoke, then Rupert leaned forward, knitting his fingers together. “We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” I asked.

“Actually, Ben has a problem,” Judd said.

I looked at Ben. “What’s going on?”

Ben was unable to speak.

“I’ll help him out,” Simon said. He glared at Ben. “Ben embezzled from the agency.”

It took a moment for the words to settle. I looked at Ben in disbelief. “You what?”

“I was going to pay it back,” Ben said softly.

Ben worked in the firm’s accounting department along with Dan and Judd.

“Six months ago,” Rupert said, “Ben secretly transferred a significant sum of money to his bank account. Dan caught it.”

“Transferred?”