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“But not too proud to send a child in his place?” Rosalie asked with increasing wrath.

“Vernon went to them last time Father was home,” Oscar said. “The lie wouldn’t have worked if Father was away at the time, so it had to be then.”

Rosalie turned furious eyes on Vernon, and Oscar continued in a rush.

“Don’t blame everything on Vernon! He told us what he’d done, and we both approved. The three of us took the money to Father together, so we’re all at fault.”

“You already gave Father the money?” Rosalie asked in dismay. “But why would he accept it? Where did he think you got it? Don’t try to tell me he condoned what you’d done because I won’t believe it!”

“We told him it was our pocket money,” Vernon said. “You know how lavishly he and Mother used to provide for us all. We told him that since we never wanted for anything, the three of us had been saving our pocket money for years.”

“And he believed that?” Rosalie stared at him in astonishment. “I never saw any of you receive a coin without immediately spending it on sweets!”

“You know that.” Vernon’s head drooped even lower. “And Mother knows that. But Father was always at the office when we spent it.”

“He was touched,” Ralph said in a clogged voice. “Kept checking we didn’t want to spend it on ourselves. He felt bad about taking it, but he also understood that it would benefit us all if he could use it to build a new business.”

“Wait,” Rosalie said, fresh horror washing over her. “How long ago was this? Last time he was here, he was so down because of that promising new business venture that went wrong—the one that fell apart just before he started receiving profit. Are you telling me he’d invested your borrowed money in that?”

All three boys remained silent, their faces pictures of misery.

Rosalie’s hands flew to her mouth. “The three of you were so upset about it,” she whispered, “and he was so apologetic. But I thought you were just disappointed that we weren’t going to get our old life back after all. It never occurred to me…”

“He apologized to us over and over,” Oscar said in a small voice. “But we knew it wasn’t his fault.”

“I never should have borrowed it,” Vernon murmured. “I realized it then, but it was too late to undo my mistake.”

“Why didn’t you say anything at the time?” Rosalie asked. “Why didn’t Father say anything to Mother or me?” She stilled. “Does he still not know the truth about the money?”

All three boys shook their heads.

“How could we tell him when he was already so down?” Vernon asked. “I borrowed the money, so it’s my responsibility.” He glanced at his brothers. “We figured something would happen to allow us to repay it on our own.”

Rosalie shook her head. Apparently the many disasters that had befallen their family still weren’t enough to overcome the boundless optimism of youthful boys.

“How have you been paying the interest?” she asked. “Don’t tell me the lender has been kindly waiving it because I won’t believe you.”

The three of them exchanged guilty looks.

“We’re much better hunters than you and Mother think,” Oscar admitted. “We’ve been selling some of the game we catch in town. We’ve always managed to scratch together enough for the interest, but we haven’t been able to pay off any of the principal.”

Rosalie’s head spun. She could imagine just how it had been. Kindly townsfolk must have been purchasing the game and thinking they were helping Clifford’s family in the process. After all her and her mother’s hard work to make sure the family was self-sufficient, they had been relying on the kindness of others without even realizing.

She drew a deep breath, reminding herself that her brothers were still young. They had made a mistake, but the real villain was the one who had loaned them the money without checking with their father directly. And her brothers clearly felt bad enough without facing her wrath as well.

Her thoughts faltered. If the situation had been ongoing for months, what had happened to make them finally confess it? Had the forest been bare of game lately? Did they need help with the next interest payment? She wasn’t sure where she could find extra coin, but if they needed it, she would have to find a way.

“So why are you telling me this now?” she asked, wishing she didn’t have to hear the answer.

“We didn’t want to tell you,” Vernon said. “But telling Mother seemed worse. Besides, you really ought to know, given…” He faltered, and an uncomfortable presentiment filled Rosalie.

“What is it?” she asked. “Tell me quickly!”

“It’s Jace,” Vernon said quietly, watching her closely.

She went cold all over. She had known Jace was going to do something terrible, she just hadn’t expected it to involve her brothers.

“What has he done?” she asked harshly.