“Mom,” she said.

“Was my dad a bad person?” I took my time.

“Your father did some good things once,” I said.

“He loved you when you were a baby.

That was real.

But he made terrible, selfish choices, over and over, when it counted most.” “Why didn’t he stop?” she asked.

“Because every time he had a chance to tell the truth,” I said, “he chose a new lie to cover the old one.

He could have confessed about the money.