“We got home from Evelyn’s house one day and Father was drunk and pissy. He told us there were union men who were trying to encourage a general strike. Of course, Father wasn’t going to allow that, and he wanted us to see exactly what he was going to do about it, how he was going to deal with anyone who openly opposed him.”
“Oh, Sherman . . .” Stormy was afraid she knew where this was going.
“It’s okay, darling. It was a long time ago. Our father told us that the common men were nothing more than savage beasts, that their role in life was to support those smart enough to make the money. Money was what ruled the world. Without it, people were nothing. Hell, had Bill not met Evelyn, the both of us might have eventually believed that crap,” he said, obviously horrified at the idea.
“Bill and I were silent on the drive to the mill. But the driver didn’t even fully stop the car before our father jumped out at the main gate, having spotted the union rep. In front of all of his employees, he beat the man bloody, leaving him lying on the ground unconscious.”
Stormy gasped. “No one tried to stop it?”
“You don’t understand how different times were fifty years ago. Our father controlled the town. He had all the money and provided the jobs. People were afraid. I get that now, though at the time I didn’t,” Sherman said with a shake of his head.
“I couldn’t just stand there,” Stormy said, a tear falling.
“If you had children to feed, you might feel differently,” he said. It wasn’t judgment in his tone, but acceptance.
“Bill and I had never seen anything like that. We’d seen our father in a fit of rage before, and we ourselves had experienced the brutality of his temper, but we’d never seen him nearly kill a man. We were terrified. Bill grabbed me by the arm and practically dragged me from the car. We went straight to Evelyn’s place. She was in the barn with her dad working on their old bi-plane when we stumbled in.”
“Did your father chase you down?” asked Stormy.
“No. That was the last time we saw him, actually. Later that night, Father was shot and killed by the very man he had beaten. He went to the mill that night and he never came home.”
“Oh, Sherman. I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Yes, it was tragic, but it wasn’t hard to say good-bye. He’d grown worse the older he got, and we were afraid of him. Our mother was afraid. Suddenly we were free. And I think it’s because he left us that we turned out to be half-decent human beings,” Sherman said.
“Did you give up your inheritance?” she asked him. Never had she seen Sherman flashing his wealth, and he was always at that dilapidated café. It made sense.
Sherman laughed as he patted her knee. “I’m a very wealthy man, Stormy.”
She looked at him with confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“We knew we didn’t want to be like our father. But we screwed up. We screwed up big time. No, we were never as cruel as that man, but we spoiled our family, we partied hard, and played harder. We lived a lavish lifestyle for a lot of years. And then, Bill got cancer. It was one of those really nasty types that eats at a man slowly. He was dying, but he wanted to change things before it was too late,” Sherman said with a sigh.
“What things did you want to change?”
“We agreed right then and there that the money would be pulled from the boys until they figured out how to live their lives in the right way. Bill’s last words to his sons were of disappointment and Ace took it the hardest. He was the most spoiled. Bill and I spoke about it, seeing too much of his grandfather in him. We were hoping to stop that cycle. We tried explaining it, but they were too upset to listen.”
“Why would he be so angry about that? It doesn’t seem as if the others are.”
“Oh, they were all angry, but not about the money. The boys had already amassed quite the bank accounts by then. They were angry that their father thought of them as failures when he died,” Sherman told her.
“But the three I’ve met are anything but failures,” she defended.
“They’ve grown up, become fine men, and taken responsibility for their lives. But no matter how much they’ve grown, each still feels he is a disappointment to the man they all idolize. They have to work through that, and part of the process is having a woman by their side who sees them for who they truly are,” Sherman said as he looked Stormy in the eyes, making her nervous.
“Cooper and I are just friends . . . really,” she said somewhat hesitantly.
“If you think that, then you have some more growing up to do of your own,” Sherman told her, not unkindly.