PART 10 – I Had Blamed Scott for Taking the Watch, but I Was Not Prepared for How His Forty-Dollar Decision Had Brought Us Back to Dad’s Past

I didn't call Scott immediately.

I wanted to understand what we had found before speaking to him again.

I also wanted to avoid another argument that ended with him blaming everyone except himself.

But the thought of him kept returning.

He had taken the watch from Mom's bedroom.

He had sold it for forty dollars.

He had spent the money at a tavern rather than buying the gas he claimed to need.

Then, three months later, the watch had come home in a velvet box.

I couldn't separate those facts from the anger I felt.

Scott had made his decision quickly.

The consequences had followed us for months.

I wondered whether he had thought about the watch since that night.

Had he remembered Dad when he sold it?

Had he felt anything when he accepted the money?

Or had he simply walked away and forgotten the whole thing?

I didn't know.

Mom noticed that I was quiet.

"You're thinking about your brother."

I looked at her.

"Yes."

She sat down across from me.

"I don't want this to become another fight."

"Neither do I."

"But I won't pretend he didn't hurt me."

I had never heard her say it so plainly.

She had spent years making excuses for Scott.

Dad had done the same.

They both understood his financial trouble, his bad decisions, and his habit of asking for help only after things had become serious.

They had loved him through all of it.

That didn't mean he had never hurt them.

Mom looked toward the bedroom.

"I don't know what your father would say to him now."

I thought I did.

Dad would probably ask Scott why he had done it.

He would listen to the explanation.

Then he would tell him to make things right.

But Dad wasn't there to have that conversation.

I decided to call Scott that afternoon.

He answered with a distracted greeting.

"What's going on?"

"The watch came back."

He was silent.

I could hear noise in the background, but I couldn't tell where he was.

"What do you mean, came back?"

"The shop owner found it. He brought it to Mom's house."

Scott didn't answer.

I told him Ed had discovered something inside the watch.

I told him a lawyer had come with him.

Then I explained about the folded paper dated 1981.

Scott interrupted.

"What was written on it?"

"I don't know everything yet."

"Then why are you calling me?"

The question made me pause.

I had called because I wanted him to understand what his actions had caused.

But I also wanted to hear him acknowledge that he had done something wrong.

I wanted him to say he was sorry.

Instead, he sounded worried about what the note might mean.

"Scott, did you know there was something inside Dad's watch?"

"No."

His answer came quickly.

"Did Dad ever tell you anything about it?"

"No, Jen. I didn't know about any paper."

I believed that part.

Scott had spent years looking for immediate solutions to immediate problems.

I couldn't imagine him carefully studying the back of Dad's watch before selling it.

He had seen an object he could turn into money.

That was all.

"Did you know Mom was upset when it disappeared?" I asked.

He sighed.

"Of course I knew she'd be upset."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I told you. I needed money."

"You told me you needed gas."

He didn't answer.

I waited.

Finally, he admitted that he hadn't gone to the gas station.

I already knew that, but hearing him say it again made the truth no easier to accept.

"I spent it at the tavern," he said.

"I know."

"I shouldn't have."

Those four words were the closest thing to an apology he had given me.

They were not enough to undo anything.

But they were different from his earlier excuses.

I told him that Mom had the watch back.

I told him the note was being examined carefully.

I didn't tell him what I thought it might mean because I didn't know.

He asked whether Mom wanted him to come over.

I told him I would ask her.

After we ended the call, I sat quietly for several minutes.

I felt less angry than I had before.

Not because Scott had fixed anything.

He hadn't.

But for the first time, he had admitted that selling the watch had been wrong.

I went into the living room and found Mom sitting near the window.

I told her what Scott had said.

She listened.

Then she looked down at her hands.

"I wish he'd thought about that before he took it."

"So do I."

She didn't ask me to defend him.

She didn't ask me to condemn him either.

She simply sat there, looking toward the bedroom where the watch had finally returned.

I understood something then.

Getting the watch back did not erase what Scott had done.

And whatever Dad had hidden inside it would not make that decision disappear.

The two things would have to remain separate.

One was a mistake Scott had made.

The other was a message Dad had left.

We could deal with both.

But we could not use one to excuse the other.

Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Mom Wanted to Know What Dad Had Hidden, but She Was Afraid the Answer Might Change the Memories She Had Held for Years