Luke didn’t react to anything Margaret said, surprising Sarah. He gave her a nod to prod her on.
“Yes, you’ve seen me on the phone and the computer. I’m working. Always working. Because I’m not just the name behind Spencer Software, I run Spencer Software. I always have. Sean had a dream but didn’t want to put in the hours and hard work it takes to build a company. So he used me to do it and took all the credit. Without my hard work and technical know-how there wouldn’t be a Spencer Software. “
She pinned Margaret in her gaze. “Everything you said about me wanting more money, always going out and having a good time, spending money we didn’t have, all of it applies to Sean. Not me.”
Margaret sucked in a breath in shock, but Sarah continued. She was going to make Margaret understand if it was the last thing she ever did. “Sean wouldn’t have gotten through his last year of college if it hadn’t been for me. He’d burned out and turned to drinking to cope, which made it even harder for him to get through his classes. He wanted to leave and start the company without finishing his degree. I convinced him he’d be better off with the degree in hand, that it would open doors. I got him through his last year of school. If you’ll remember graduation, you’ll recall I graduated summa cum laude, while Sean didn’t even graduate with honors.”
Margaret’s eyes turned thoughtful. Sarah assumed she was thinking back to graduation, and hopefully, to what her son was like when he attended college.
“He was quite the charmer back then. I never realized he was using me until it was too late and everything was a complete mess. He knew I had talent and he used my abilities and me because he saw an easy mark. A young woman alone and lonely; pay her attention, she’ll eat it up and try to please to get more.” It embarrassed her to remember how she’d been back then.
“Sarah.” Just her name on Luke’s lips conveyed all his sympathy and understanding.
She wasn’t that girl anymore. She stood up for herself now. “Yes, we started the company together, but early on, Sean just couldn’t keep up. He found it a lot easier, and much more fun, to be the salesperson and drum up business. I’m not saying that isn’t worth anything, but without all the work I did to back it up there would be no company today. And when that work made clients come to us and Sean didn’t have to sell so hard to keep the orders coming in, well, he liked to travel and have the time of his life. At first, he made it seem like the trips were for business, and then he just simply took off whenever he wanted. He was spending money like it would never run out, and I was trying to keep the company afloat.” She looked at Margaret with regret. “If you sent Sean money, I can tell you, it didn’t go into the business. He probably spent it on a trip, or . . . something else.”
Bridget had a question in her eyes that she didn’t voice, and then her gaze reflected whatever revelation came to her mind. Still, she said nothing.
Sarah wondered if Bridget had always known more about the real Sean than she let on.
She didn’t think Bridget would share, so she went on enlightening them to the realities of Sean’s life. “We’d been approached by venture capitalists to take the company public. We were in the process of doing just that when I got pregnant with Nick. I didn’t feel well during the pregnancy, so I frequently worked from home. The perfect setup. I could stay home with Jack and work while I was pregnant. It left a disconnect sometimes between me and what was happening in the office. Sean would bring the contracts home and I would do the work. What I didn’t know was for every five or six programs I was completing, Sean was taking credit for four of them, so the venture capitalists would continue to have confidence in his ability to run the company and continue to give the company money. We needed the investors’ money so we could get to the initial public offering of the stock. Sean felt once the stock went public the company would explode like all the other tech companies, and he’d be wealthy beyond belief.”
Margaret nodded. “That would have happened if he hadn’t died.”
“No, it wouldn’t have. When Sean died I sent you a check for what was left of his share of the business and our personal assets.” She opened the one envelope that Margaret had opened and pulled out the letter she had sent and the check.
“I remember that check. It’s for less than four hundred dollars. It was an insult that measly check was all that was left of Sean’s inheritance and the company.” Her anger built again. “It was you. Ever since he met you nothing was ever the same with him.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “That’s for sure. I unwittingly allowed him to use me, so that he could live the life of a wealthy businessman, even if he had to steal it. And then he left me with a huge mess to clean up.”
“What do you mean, steal it?” Margaret didn’t understand the obvious.
“Luke, you’re a lawyer. Spell it out for her, because if I say the words, she won’t believe it.”
Luke sighed, hung his head for a second, then raised it, and looked Sarah in the eye. “Are you trying to tell us that Sean was embezzling money from the company?”
“Exactly.”
Luke swore. Margaret gasped. Bridget’s eyes went wide.
“When he died there was barely enough money left to make payroll. I had to sell everything we owned to pay off debts he racked up. I sold the house, the six luxury cars Sean had bought, several expensive watches. You name it, and Sean had bought it. I sold it all and still there wasn’t anything left. Then I had to go to the board of directors and investors and prove to them that the work Sean had claimed was his was actually mine. I had to convince them I could run the company and get them their money back.”
“Why didn’t you let it go?” Margaret asked, still not getting it.
Sarah frowned and tried to hold back the anger bubbling up in her gut, threatening to spew venomous words out of her mouth. “Let it go? I had over a hundred and twenty employees who depended on their jobs and the money from the company going public. I had a board of directors to answer to and the investors threatening legal action. I couldn’t let all those people lose their money because of what Sean had done. I could have ended up in jail and the boys would have lost their father and me for a time.
“I’m not blameless in all this. I simply didn’t care what Sean was doing anymore. I had turned my back on him and was trying to start a new company, so I could leave him.”
Margaret gasped.
Bridget avoided eye contact with any of them, making Sarah think that Sean had told her something about Sarah divorcing him. Or a version of it that made Sean look like the wronged party.
Margaret shook her head. “I really didn’t know how bad things were. Sean said he was unhappy in the marriage. But I never thought—”
“Yeah. You blamed me. And with all that going on, you demanded I keep the company for the boys. You made me promise. I didn’t want you to know what Sean had become. I couldn’t let anyone find out all he had done or everything would have fallen apart.”
“If I’d known . . . I just wanted something of Sean’s to survive.”
“It did. The children are his legacy. As for the company, well, Luke pointed out what I’m always reluctant to admit. The company was never Sean’s. It was always mine. I did the work. I made it a success.”
She opened the envelope on top of the stack and pulled out the contents.
“I kept my promise to you. The company is thriving. Since you didn’t cash the original check, I invested it in the company. When I was finally able to offer retirement accounts to the employees, I asked the investment specialist to diversify the money I had originally invested for you. This check represents your investment in Spencer Software and other investments I was advised to make. As for not keeping in touch with you, well, if you had opened this mail, you would know the answer to that. You were simply too angry to see the truth, and too stubborn to give me a chance.”
Margaret touched her fingertips to her temple. “I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
Sarah wasn’t done
. “You blamed me for Sean’s death. You were right.”
Margaret’s head snapped up. “What?”
Luke leaned forward. “Sarah, that’s not true. Don’t take that on when Sean is the one to blame.”
“Maybe,” she acknowledged, because Sean had turned his back on her, their boys, and his own conscience. “But I’m the one who, with the help of the chief of police, who was a personal friend of mine, covered up what really happened the night Sean died.”
Bridget gnawed on her thumbnail, looking uncomfortable.
“Why would you cover up what happened?” The lawyer in Luke came out.
“I couldn’t allow the press or public to find out the truth. The stock would plummet, everyone would lose their jobs and livelihoods, the boys would find out the ugly truth about Sean . . . I just couldn’t let them find out . . .” She took a deep breath and finally said the truth out loud. “On the night Sean died he was racing home to confront me. Since he was never home, I left him a message that I was filing for divorce and taking the boys. Without me, there wouldn’t be a company, and he’d go to jail for stealing the money. He was drunk when he crossed the center divider and hit an oncoming car. I settled with the accident victims out of court and paid for their silence.” She looked at Luke. “The report you read said Sean lost control of the car on the rain-slicked road. That was only half true.”
Luke’s mouth drew into a tight line, but he gave her a nod to acknowledge he understood why she’d had to do it.
Margaret stared at her, wide-eyed and in shock.
Bridget bit her thumb too hard and winced.
Sarah wondered if they’d accept the truth, or hide behind denial and keep treating her like the enemy.
Luke already knew most of what she’d said, and a few other things he’d eluded to discovering during his investigation into Sean. She held those back from Margaret. Some things that would only disillusion Margaret more about the son she thought good and honorable.
Margaret needed to know, but—
A knock sounded a second before the library door opened and Jack peeked in. “Uh, Mom, Nick spilled the juice all over the kitchen counter and floor.”
“Na-uh. Jack did it,” Nick called out.
“Perfect. Another mess to clean up.” Maybe she’d confessed enough for one day anyway. “I’m coming.” She dropped the check and contents of the envelope on the desk and headed for the door.
She took Jack’s hand and stepped out of the room, closing the door on any further questions and leaving a lot still unsaid.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Margaret stared at the papers spread before her and thought of all Sarah had revealed. Denial came first. “She’s lying. This can’t be true. Sean . . . He wasn’t like what she said.” Margaret tried to put it all together and understand what happened.
“People change. And sometimes they don’t always show us who they really are. But Sarah . . . She’s open and honest.” Luke’s admiration rang loud and clear in his words.
“It’s just so unbelievable.”
“Is it? Do you think Sean would tell you any of the things Sarah revealed?”
No. Sean never admitted wrongdoing, even when caught. She’d had to scold and punish him for lying often when he was young.
Luke drew her from the past back to the present she didn’t want to face. “If Sean was the one doing all the work, how did she keep the company running and profitable after his death?”
“I . . . I don’t know. I just assumed she hired people to do it. I’m trying to make sense of it.” She wanted to believe her mischievous son had grown up into a good man, despite the lack of decent male role models in his life. She’d picked poorly when it came to the men in her life. And she feared Sean had learned the wrong lessons, and Bridget had learned to walk away when things got tough.
Margaret stood from her chair. It took a little extra effort these days, but she managed. She made her way around to the other side of the desk and sorted through the papers. A handwritten letter from Sarah, financial statements marked with the Spencer Software logo, and a bank statement that stunned her. She slowly sank into the chair behind her. “This can’t be. She couldn’t have turned three hundred and something dollars into this. It’s not possible.”
“How much is in the account?” Bridget asked, coming around the desk to look for herself.
Margaret had never told her about the envelopes. She held up the statement. “One million six hundred forty-two thousand eight hundred seventy-two dollars and fifty-seven cents.” Margaret put her hand to her open mouth, disbelieving what she saw and admitted out loud, “I had no idea. For two years she’s been sending me these envelopes, and I never opened them. I was too angry. I thought she just wanted to shove it in my face that the company was thriving while Sean missed it all. I never dreamed she sent me money.”
“Just you?” Bridget asked.
Luke moved closer. “Seriously? You think you deserve a piece of what she built? It goes to her character and how much heart she has that she did anything for Margaret.”
Bridget wound up, but Margaret cut her off before she spoke. “He’s right. Sean left her with two little boys and not much else. She didn’t have to protect his name and do this for me.” Margaret thought about it and understood what Sarah intended. “She knows I’m always here to support you, Bridget. I’m sure she meant for me to help you with this money, just like I’ve done in the past.”
Bridget picked up the statement and stared at it. “This changes everything. I could stay home with Sophia. We could move into a nicer place. She can go to college.”
Margaret pressed her lips tight, not liking that Bridget wanted to do what Sean had done, live off the money Sarah made and not work for what she wanted. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, dear. I’ve given you all I have up to now and I need to dig myself out of the hole I’ve put myself in.”
“Yes, but . . .” Bridget pointed to the statement. “This is a lot of money.”
“It is. And it’s thanks to Sarah that our financial future is sound. So long as I spend wisely.”
Luke jumped in. “In other words, Bridget, that money isn’t your ticket to easy street and living off your mom the way Sean lived off Sarah’s hard work.”
“No one asked you,” Bridget snapped.
“He’s right,” Margaret interjected, grateful Luke said exactly what she wanted to say. “I’ll help, but I won’t enable you to stop taking care of yourself and your responsibilities.”
Bridget silently fumed.
Luke changed the subject. “Do you mind if I look at some of this?”
“Go ahead.” She pushed the documents toward him. “Maybe you can tell me what these statements mean.”
Margaret opened some of the other envelopes and sorted through their contents. Each one contained essentially the same items: the financial statements for both the company and her personal account that Sarah had set up, pictures of the boys and their artwork, and a letter from Sarah.
Tears gathered in her eyes and regret and self-loathing filled her gut as she read the lovely accounts of the boys’ lives. “She talks about the boys’ first day of school, fun things they like to do, and their accomplishments.” She held the letters up. “It’s like watching the boys grow up through Sarah’s eyes and words.” Margaret felt terrible for ignoring all of this. Especially when Sarah had signed every letter the same, “Best wishes, Sarah.” She didn’t hold a grudge. She’d tried to build a bridge and Margaret had dynamited every attempt by ignoring Sarah and piling on the scorn.
None of the letters contained any hostility or said anything about what Sarah had gone through to get the company back on solid ground, or how hard she’d worked to make it a success.
Shame washed over Margaret.
Sarah had done everything to make sure Margaret knew about the boys and their lives. Margaret had been too stubborn to even open the envelopes.
She’d missed out on so much.
And it w
as all her fault.
Luke gave a half smile and held up the papers. “She’s done an amazing job with this company. These statements show that when Sean died the company was out of money and headed toward crippling debt. After just six months, the company made a small profit. Quite an accomplishment based on what Sarah had to overcome. After the first year, she made a generous profit. She even gave out bonuses to the employees. Though she could have, and deserved it, she didn’t take one. The second year she more than doubled the profits and the projections for this year are four, almost five times as much. She’s projected to make almost two hundred and thirty-five million. That’s the profit, Margaret. All of that is after she pays her staff and overhead.”
Margaret couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
Luke leaned in. “Did you know she does the major projects that have catapulted the company to success? She puts in a sixteen-to-twenty-hour day. While she has Camille to help with the house, cooking, and the kids, she takes the boys to school and picks them up herself. She goes back and forth between work and home with the boys at least four times a day and works well into the night and early morning. I listened in on a call between Sarah, her assistant Abby, and her team. They all adore her. And I’ve learned a lot more about Sarah these past weeks.”
“Like what?” Bridget asked for the both of them.
“The company’s main revenue comes from the lower-level programmers who do website design, database programming, and system security, but Sarah is a world-class programmer. She does the major projects that make them big bucks. She has as many as fifteen to twenty projects going at all times. She keeps to herself and rarely meets with clients directly because she doesn’t have the time. She handles most of the business meetings by phone or has someone from her team attend in her place. The press is constantly trying to interview her because she has one of the hottest companies in Silicon Valley. They expect it to grow as fast, or faster, than many of the Internet companies. She refuses all requests for interviews and sends the co-CEO Evan to do public relations and press conferences. She doesn’t date. Ever. She works seven days a week more often than not. She only takes one week of vacation and goes camping with the boys. For that one week, she turns off her cell phone, doesn’t answer email, and spends the entire seven days with the boys.
Lost and Found Family Page 20