Page 10 of Echoes of Eternity
Emily said, “Elizabeth.”
Laying on her bed, scrolling on her cellphone, Elizabeth blatantly ignored her mother.
Calm and collected, Ryan walked over to the bed, reached over and snatched the phone from her hands.
“What are you doing?” Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. “Give me my phone back!”
“Not happening.” Ryan back-pocketed the phone. “You need to listen to your mother and me when we’re talking to you. And we’re not big fans of slamming doors. I’m pretty sure we’ve mentioned that before.”
“What?” Elizabeth shook her head. “You can talk now that I sneaked out of the house?”
“What?” Ryan’s voice edged up in tone.
“You haven’t said more than two words to me since we’ve been home from Washington. You’re always working. We never go get coffees anymore, never go to the beach. Nothing. Ever. It’s like you died when Grandpa died!”
“Elizabeth Rae Fitzgerald! You will not speak to your father that way!”
Ryan lifted a hand calmly to Emily. “It’s okay. There’s a lot of truth to what she’s saying.”
Kneeling down to the side of his daughter’s bed, Ryan looked into her eyes and shook his head as his voice was laced in pain. “I know I haven’t been a very good dad lately to you or the boys. But this sneaking out? This kind of thing? This isn’t you, kid. It reminds me of last year with that Randy guy.”
Randy was a boy she had met that was nineteen. She had been forbidden to see him after Ryan and Emily had found out about the relationship.
Elizabeth kept quiet and her chin dipped to her chest.
Rising to his feet, Ryan looked at Emily and then back at Elizabeth. “I’m sorry, and I’m going to do better about spending time with you. Can you forgive me?”
A soft voice lifted from Elizabeth. “I can . . .”
“And I need you to not sneak out. To not lie. I can’t protect you if you’re not in this house, Princess.”
Wiping her eyes of tears, Elizabeth nodded. “Okay, Dad. I won’t sneak out anymore.”
The next morning, just after ten o’clock, Ryan stood from his desk in his study to take a break from designing a shopping cart on a website for a client. Walking over to the built-in bookshelf, he stopped in front of a picture of him and his father from when he graduated college. His father looked so much younger, with brown hair and a youthful glow. Realizing he was now his father’s age from the photograph, thirty-eight, Ryan smoothed a hand over his face. He suddenly felt well aware of his limited time on the earth. One of his father’s favorite sayings echoed through his mind. Life is just a blink . . .
His phone rang.
Slipping his phone out from his back pocket, he answered as he saw it was his brother.
“Tigers.”
“What?” Ryan turned from the bookshelf.
“That $400 draft outgoing every couple of months to the account ending in 3345. It was for a Save-The-Cat Tiger refuge just outside of Spokane.”
Ryan raked a hand through his hair as he walked back behind his desk and sat down. “Okay. So, what’s left?”
“Just the one I can’t find any information on. I know a guy I’m going to call tonight when I get off work. He is kind of a hacker and can find out for me.”
Shaking his head, Ryan said, “Brother . . . don’t?—”
“No. He’s not a bad dude. Nothing illegal . . . that I know of. Ha! Just super smart about getting information about people. That’s why I said kind of a hacker.”
“Okay. Do what you need to do.”
A silence lingered on the phone for a moment, then his brother let out a sigh. “I sure do miss Dad.”
Ryan pressed his lips together to form a thin line as he nodded. “Same. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached for my phone to call him and ask his advice on this . . . Which isn’t even remotely possible.”