Page 60 of Echoes of Eternity
Shutting off the television, he got in his car and drove over to Bill’s house.
Rapping his knuckles against the frame of the screen door, he took a step back and waited. As he did, he prayed. He begged God for gentleness and guidance in the conversation he was about to have with the man who had made it his mission in life to destroy his late father’s reputation and drive the Cedarwood Creek Grill into the ground.
Eyes wide as saucers lit on Bill’s face as he opened the door.
Through the screen door, still closed, Bill asked, “What are you doing here, Ryan?”
“I wanted to talk.”
Hesitation held the moment, then Bill opened the screen door and motioned for Ryan to come in.
The foyer and living room walls were covered in family photographs. Vacations, children, adult children, and a lifetime of memories were spread through each square inch of the walls. Bill appeared more human in that moment than any other moment since Ryan had met him.
“These your kiddos?” Ryan motioned in a sweeping gesture across a collection of photographs.
“Yes. I have four kids and eleven grandkids.”
Sitting down with Bill, Bill on the recliner and Ryan on the couch, Ryan closed his hands together. “Family important to you, Bill?”
“Of course.”
“It is for me too.”
Bill shook his head as he shook a finger at him. “I know where you’re going with this. You must’ve talked to your brother. You can’t—let me correct that—you won’t convince me to not share the information with the town. They need to know the truth about Frank.”
Rising to his feet, Ryan shook his head. “How’d you figure it out? Your nephew?”
Reaching under the coffee table, Bill retrieved a folder and handed it to Ryan. “No, he couldn’t figure it out beyond a certain point. Photographs my private investigator captured. Also, he talked to some of Linda’s coworkers at the diner.”
Shaking his head, Ryan handed the folder back. “If family really meant something to you like you claim it does, you wouldn’t move forward with this. While I didn’t hire a private investigator to go dig into your family, I’m sure there are secrets and things you'd rather not want aired in public. Just ask yourself something, Bill. Does this decision honor Christ? Is it gossip? Remember, anything that lowers one person’s opinion of another is considered gossip.”
Walking to the door, Ryan stopped when Bill stood from the recliner. “You’re more than welcome to come to the town meeting, Ryan. This isn’t a witch hunt. It’s a fact find.”
“I’ll be there.”
CHAPTER 16
If Bill wanted to call his town hall meeting a ‘fact find’, Ryan was determined to give the town the real facts. The moment he arrived home from Bill’s house that night, he set out to writing a speech to deliver to the town of Cedarwood Creek. He worked through most of the night on what he thought was a good direction until the next morning when he read it. He threw the entire speech out and restarted. He only had today and part of tomorrow to finish the speech.
Once the lunch hour died down at the Cedarwood Creek Grill that afternoon, Ryan found a booth and sat down to work on his speech. He felt stuck a few paragraphs in, shortly after the introduction of who he was and who his father, Frank, was in the community. Two basic facts the town already knew.
He set his pen down and raked a hand through his hair.
Jason walked up to the booth and slid into the seat across from him.
“How’s the speech going?” He leaned forward and raised his eyebrows. “Two paragraphs?”
Ryan shook his head. “Not good. I’m stuck.”
“You’ll get there.”
He noticed his brother’s uneasiness. “What’s up with you?”
Clasping his hands together on the table, then spreading them, he started. “Look, I know I haven’t brought it up, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately.”
“About?”
“This whole half-sister thing. Tiffany?”