Page 25 of Rough Start

Eliana was still smiling as she padded down the stairs and into the kitchen where she stopped dead in her tracks. Her father and her uncle Ron were standing over the dining room table with at least fifteen stacks of cash. They looked up at her when she entered the room.

“What. The. Hell?” Eliana asked, enunciating each word pointedly. Stepping closer she saw each stack was sorted by denomination: fives, tens, twenties, fifties and the majority being hundred-dollar bills. “Dad?”

“Look, Liana, didn’t I tell you I had money coming in?” he asked proudly as Uncle Ron went back to sorting from the pile in his hand.

“Dad, there’s no way you came by this legally,” Eliana observed and felt the heat drain from her body. She felt at any moment the front door would burst open and the cops would raid the place, and they’d all spend the rest of their lives in jail.

“Well, not exactly legal but not entirely illegal,” Ron said, waving a hundred-dollar bill in the air.

“There must be thirty thousand dollars here!” Eliana exclaimed, wiping her sweaty hands on her pants. Could she wipe all her fingerprints off?

“So far, we have $67,235,” Ron chimed in. Eliana glared at him, and he wordlessly went back to sorting the money.

“Explain,” she demanded sternly with arms crossed and fixed her dad with a glare.

“Baby, listen,” he said, guiding her away from the table. “Your uncle and I have been taking some… shortcuts at work.”

“Shortcuts?”

“You know all those trips we take transporting lumber from up north to the mill and then down to New Hampshire and Vermont?” he asked, and Eliana only nodded. “We get an advance for transportation. Once the timber is delivered, we keep the commission if it’s delivered on time or under budget.”

“There’s no way you’ve commissioned $67,000 worth of timber!”

“Sixty-eight thousand!” Ron added, waving another bill. Henry motioned for him to be quiet.

“That’s where the shortcuts come in. Do you remember Dean who used to work at the timber yard with me?”

“No.”

“Oh… well he did, great guy, really,” Henry said, stroking his beard. “Anyway, he secured us a freight box on the M and G for a small flat rate about two years ago when he moved south. We can transport whatever we need whenever we want.”

“How does a shipping container on a freight train do any good?” Her head was spinning trying to put the pieces together.

“Because, Eli, that train cuts straight through the state and passes right by the timber yards we have to deliver to. Ron and I can cut nearly sixty hours off of our transportation time in one trip! Do you know what that commission adds up to in two years?”

“Sixty-eight thousand dollars?” she asked in a breathy tone as she looked back at the stacks of money.

“You see? It’s perfect? Ron and I take the hardest contracts we can find, deliver under time, and keep the commission. Why do you think I’ve been gone so much? We are in hot demand!”

“We sure are!” Ron shouted and tossed the money he was holding into the air. It cascaded down like a millionaire’s waterfall.

“Now, Liana, listen,” Henry said, placing his hands on her shoulders and pulling her attention back. “We’ve got more to sort through, but after Ron and I split the money…”

“Fifty-fifty!”

“Right, fifty-fifty,” Henry agreed with his brother, “I want you to take my half.”

“What?” she cried. “Dad, no!”

“Don’t argue with me,” Henry scolded. “Ron and I have a good gig going on here. I can earn more. The house is paid for, and I’m a man of simple taste.” Whiskey. “You’ve got school and Harvard and your whole life ahead of you! I want you to take the money and start a new life. A better one than I could ever give you here.”

“Dad…” Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes. She’d never seen so much sincerity from her dad in her entire life.

“Aw hell,” Ron said with his hands on his hips. “If it’s for your schooling, take ten percent of my cut. Lord knows I don’t have any children to send off to school.” Eliana was still standing in shock when Ron came around the table, and the two men hugged her. She couldn’t force her mind to do the math and figure out what sixty percent of nearly seventy thousand dollars was at the moment, but she knew it was enough.

Enough for a new life for her and Kye.

Kye felt every muscle in his arms and back screaming as he lifted his chin above the bar for likely the hundredth time. Slowly lowering himself, sweat rolling down his face, he lifted himself back up with a grunt.