Daddy’s voice did not shake. “Eddie, I want every check you ever mailed her, and from now on you write them to me.” Eddie nodded slowly. He said he had kept every stub, because Daddy had taught him to, and that he never thought to question a man’s own daughter. His face turned red with shame.

I was reaching for my phone to call Glenn when tires crunched on the gravel behind us. A white SUV rolled to a stop, and Vera climbed out in her church clothes, her face drained of color. She clutched a thick envelope, and she looked at Daddy as if she was afraid of him for the first time in her life. “Daddy,” she said, “before you say another word, you need to hear what I did with that money.”