Sins of the Father by Angela Benson Page A

became common
     knowledge, she had no doubt Saralyn would use it against him. She’d either try to
     ruin the relationship or try to get Melvin kicked out of his job. Maybe she’d try
     both. Looking at Melvin and the naive smile he wore, Leah decided to change the subject.
     “Now that I’m feeling better, I’m getting hungry. Still wanna fix me lunch?”
    He met her eyes. “You’re going to have to stop hiding one day, Leah. You insult God
     when you reject His forgiveness. And you insult me when you think gossip will change
     my feelings for you. That’ll never happen.”
    “I know,” she said, but she really didn’t know. “Now let’s go eat.”

Chapter Nineteen
    D eborah sat in her plush leather desk chair in her twelfth floor office in the MEEG
     Building in downtown Atlanta. The first floor lobby, while lush, gave no hint of the
     luxury found on this floor. She’d first come to this building when she and Michael
     were in high school. Both of them were curious about their absentee father and thought
     a trip to his building would offer some insight. They had read about MEEG in the papers
     and in the magazines their mother tried unsuccessfully to hide from them. She’d returned
     from the trip in awe of the wealth her father had amassed. Michael returned angry
     at what he considered the scraps Abraham tossed their way when he obviously had so
     much more.
    As she sat taking in her surroundings, from the gold nameplate on her massive mahogany
     desk, to what she suspected was museum-quality art on the walls, to the magnificent
     view of the Atlanta skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows, she couldn’t help but acknowledge
     that Michael had been right to be angry.
    While they had not been poor growing up, neither had they been well-off. Sure, Abraham
     provided money, but both she and Michael had needed scholarships and loans to get
     their degrees. They’d both gone to Georgia State in downtown Atlanta and lived at
     home to keep expenses low. Looking at the opulence that was MEEG, she had no doubt
     that Abraham could have easily paid their full ride. Why hadn’t he?
    A knock at her door got her attention, and she looked up to see a smiling Alan standing
     in her doorway. “How do your like your office?” he asked.
    To be honest, she thought it was a bit of overkill. “Let’s just say it’s a few stories,
     not steps, up from my cubicle at Pearson Entertainment. I’ll have to invite some of
     my old colleagues over here so they can see how the rich live.”
    Alan walked fully into the room and slid easily into the guest chair in front of her
     desk. “What can I say? Abraham and Saralyn believe in going first class all the way.”
    Except when it came to us, she thought. “So I see. It’s going to take some getting
     used to.”
    He chuckled. “Believe me, it won’t take that long. Did you get everything taken care
     of in Human Resources?”
    She nodded. “Very efficient group. I didn’t have any problems. I’m now an official
     MEEG employee.”
    “Don’t be modest,” he said. “You’re more than that. You own a part of this company,
     or you will one day.”
    She shook her head. “I still can’t believe that. After all these years, Abraham remembers
     he has two other children. It doesn’t make sense.”
    “I don’t know,” Alan said. “Sometimes a man reaches a point where he has to take stock
     of his life. When he doesn’t like what he sees, he tries to right some of his wrongs.”
    Alan’s choice of words stung. Somehow they made her and Michael seem like the wrongs,
     when Abraham’s desertion was the real wrong. “Is that what you think Abraham is doing?”
    He nodded. “Don’t you?”
    A part of her hoped that it was more than duty driving him. She wanted to believe
     that he cared for her and Michael. Maybe it was wishful thinking. “You said you’ve
     known him for twenty-five years. Did you know about us?”
    He shook his head. “Not until