Once Upon A Half-Time 2(172)
“I just wanted one cigarette, Jo-Jo. If I did it anywhere outside in this blasted town, someone would have snitched. I had your apartment key and...”
“You shouldn’t smoke. You’re on oxygen.”
“Did you come here today just to chastise me?”
No. But it was easier that way. Granddad went still. I pulled the last paper. My stomach turned, both dread and the baby’s morning sickness.
I handed him a copy of his will, highlighted with the one change he approved two days before the fire. “This was your revised will. You…gave Maddox your electrical company.”
“That I did.” Granddad smiled at me. “Josie, I had to make sure you’d be taken care of. You know I never…approved, but this worked hard to prove himself to you. I honestly believe he loves you, and I wasn’t leaving you with nothing. He had to provide for you.”
“Granddad.”
“I set the fire,” he said.
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it needed to be said. I nodded, tucking everything back into the folder.
He held the photograph, rubbing his finger over the frame. “Couldn’t bear to see this gone.”
“You loved that shop. I loved it. It was Nana’s wish we kept it open. Why did you burn it down?”
“We needed the money,” he said. “I got in trouble at the track and…”
“Granddad, I could have made more money. Worked more hours. Mortgaged the property.”
“I wasn’t taking it from you. I wasn’t making you work through the best years of your life to make up for my mistakes.”
I didn’t understand. “But the insurance money wasn’t enough. We couldn’t pay your debts and rebuild the candy shop.”
Maddox voice rumbled a low warning. “Sweets.”
“We could have handled it,” I said.
Granddad patted my hand. “No, Jo-Jo.”
“It doesn’t make sense. I don’t know if we’ll ever have the money to reopen.”
Maddox called for me again. “Josie. Listen to him.”
I turned, facing the man who helped raise me, love me, and taught me everything I knew.
He swallowed. Hard.
“Jo-Jo, I never meant to survive the fire. I wanted you to collect the property insurance and my life insurance. I set the fire for it to be the end. Maddox saved me, and…”
I blinked tears I didn’t realize I cried. He wiped them away.
“I let Maddox take the blame,” he said. “I did this to us, Josie. And I am so, so sorry.”
“But…” I lowered my head. “Why?”
“I wasn’t saddling you with more debt. I couldn’t.” He cleared his throat to hide his own tears. “You didn’t need me anymore. I’m old. I’m a burden.”
“That’s not true.”
“Josie—”
“Granddad, I’m pregnant.” I didn’t think shocking him into a heart attack would help, but his eyes widened. A smile peeked through a year of silent grief. “Don’t you think I want you to hold your great-grandbaby? He or she deserves to know you, and you should be there for him.”
“Sweetheart—”
“No. We’re going to get through this. We’ll figure out what we can do, together, to right this.”
“Maddox can’t be held responsible anymore,” Granddad said. “I won’t let him carry a record. He needs to provide for you…and the baby.”
Maddox agreed. “I will, but you have to come forward.”
Granddad pulled me into a hug. “I don’t want you implicated in this, Jo-Jo. I’m an old man, and I’ll take responsibility for my actions. You…” He kissed my forehead. “You have a baby on the way. You’ve got a family of your own. And you deserve every opportunity for a good life.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said. “Together. I promise.”
I sat with him a while longer, deciding on a lawyer and who to call. Maddox pulled me away when both Granddad and I grew too tired to continue. He took me home, rested beside me on the couch, and held me close.
“We’re doing the right thing.” He kissed my hand. “I know it doesn’t feel like it.”
“It doesn’t.” The shock hadn’t passed yet. “It’s not revenge. It’s not justice. It’s not…fair.”
“I know, Sweets.”
“Not the best way to begin our life together.”
“Of course it is.” He pulled me onto his lap, letting me straddle him. “It’s our life, and our first step is a big one. But I would stumble without you, and you know it. We can work through it…for the baby.”