“Daddy drove up to the swamplands and then up into a bayou. We carried the body to the water’s edge and left it for the gators. Daddy drove me back to town and got me a permission slip for being late to school.”

Hunt frowned. “Okay, he killed the boy, but why did he need the money?”

“Because of me,” Emma said. “School was just about over, remember? A few days after you were gone, he sent me to Florida to a home for unwed mothers. Mom thought I had a summer job there. But I was going to have the baby and give it up for adoption. He stole your money to fund that.”

Hunt shook his head in disbelief. “It was your mistake. He made me pay for your mistake? Why?”

“Because I wanted to keep the baby, but he killed the father. He said he wasn’t going to raise a kid and look at it every day and be reminded of what happened. He didn’t have the money to send me, so he took yours. I didn’t want to give up my baby, but he made me go, and we were all guilty of his death by participation in one way or another.”

Birdie was in shock. This was the last thing she would ever have expected to hear.

“Did Mama know all of this?” Hunt asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Emma said.

“What happened to the baby?” Birdie asked.

Emma shook her head and started crying. “Oh…that was karma coming back to bite me. I miscarried in my seventh month and it died. It was a little boy. I can’t have any more.”

Before Hunt could react, Ava was beside him. And when she slid her arm around his waist, the rage within him began to fade, and the longer she held him, the quieter he became.

Then he looked at Junior.

“You were fifteen, right?”

“Barely,” Junior said.

Hunt’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Ray. “And you…how old were you, thirteen?”

Ray nodded. “The same age as Ava.”

Hunt took a deep breath and pulled Ava closer.

“And I had just turned eighteen. We were kids…just kids. He was our father, and he screwed all of us, not just me. He involved you in a murder. No wonder you were afraid to tell. I’m sorry I was so angry at you. I’m sorry that I carried such hate with me for so long. I’m sorry Mama was caught in the middle of this nightmare.”

“This is what Mama wanted,” Birdie said. “She wanted us to make peace. I just know it. Thank you, Hunt. You were always a wonderful big brother, but you have turned into one amazing man.”