Chapter 66: A Heart-to-Heart Between Father and Daughter
Fiona had been working hard, but none of the money she earned was spent on herself—it all went toward supporting the family.
She was a stubborn girl, the kind who hated asking for help and refused to show any weakness at home.
This week, she hadn't gotten her paycheck yet—it would come next week. With the family running low on essentials, she didn't ask Lip or the others for money. Instead, she quietly searched every corner of the house for spare change.
Watching Fiona do this made Frank's heart ache.
She was only twenty-one. While other girls her age were worrying about exams, boys, celebrities, fashion, and travel, Fiona was stressing over groceries, rent, and household necessities—like an exhausted single mother.
"Thanks, Dad," Fiona said, looking at the money in her hand. She didn't reject it this time.
"What are you thanking me for? You're my baby girl," Frank said, handing her a cigarette.
"Have you ever thought about your future?" Frank asked as he lit his own.
"My future?" Fiona echoed blankly. Every ounce of her energy was spent surviving and holding the family together. She hadn't had the luxury to think that far ahead.
"You're still a kid—just like Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, and Liam. You deserve your own life too. You should be thinking about yourself, not just everyone else," Frank said.
"Are you planning to wait until all the kids grow up before you think about your future? Liam's only two—it'll be sixteen more years before he's an adult. By then, you'll be almost forty."
Fiona took a long drag of the cigarette and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"You've already done more than enough for this family. Now it's time to think about yourself—for your own future. I may not have been much help before, but from now on, you've still got me," Frank said gently.
"Jisela told me there's a free software course on Saturdays. If I learn it, I might get an office job with a starting wage of twenty bucks an hour," Fiona finally said after a moment of silence.
"Then go for it! Don't worry about the house or the money. You've got your old man here," Frank said quickly, encouraging her.
Fiona had only ever done low-wage, part-time, or day jobs—everything from cleaning sewers to waiting tables to handing out flyers. All of them paid barely ten bucks an hour. Twenty dollars an hour sounded like luxury.
Plus, learning software would mean she'd finally have a real skill.
Sure, for many people, using office software was like playing a simple video game—basic stuff, almost second nature. But for someone like Fiona, who dropped out of high school and had been working ever since, it really was a skill. There were still people who typed with one finger and didn't even know how to copy-paste or format a document.
"Have you ever thought about going back to school?" Frank asked.
"Back to school? You mean high school?" Fiona was stunned.
In the U.S., high school dropouts can go back to earn their missing credits and still graduate. But Fiona had been out of school for so long, grinding through jobs, she'd never even considered it. She couldn't even remember what subjects she'd once studied.
But Frank was serious. He wasn't just trying to shove her back into a classroom. He genuinely believed that for the sake of her future, Fiona needed to finish her education.
Even if it was just a public high school diploma, there was a big difference between having one and not having one. Without it, people viewed you as basically illiterate—a lost cause in society.
With a diploma, even from a low-ranking public school, you could at least prove you'd been educated. With some luck, maybe even land a job with benefits.
A high school diploma was the bare minimum, no matter what people claimed about degrees not mattering. That kind of talk was total BS.
"I can't go back. I still need to work," Fiona said, shaking her head without hesitation.
"You can always work. You could study in your free time. Here's what we'll do—tomorrow, I'll go to the school with you," Frank said firmly, not giving her a chance to object.
He had cancer. He didn't know how much time he had left. But he knew this—before he died, he wanted to do right by his kids. He wanted to leave behind as few regrets as possible.
"Enough about me—how did things go with Lip today?" Fiona asked, changing the subject.
"It went well. That professor really likes Lip. The whole test-taking issue is cleared up, but he won't be able to keep doing it anymore," Frank replied.
He didn't mention the part where the professor suggested Lip skip grades and start at the University of Chicago next semester. That conversation would come later.
Just then, the kids got home from school, and their heart-to-heart came to an end.
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"Hey, Gallaghers! Come meet my daughter—Ethel!" Kevin burst through the front door with Veronica and a teenage girl in tow.
"Wait—your daughter?" everyone asked in shock.
Frank stared at the girl behind Kevin, confused. She was adorable, dressed in a modest long dress with her hair in a tight bun. She looked shy, but clearly older than Debbie—maybe thirteen or fourteen.
But Kevin and Veronica had just gotten fake married. Where had this girl come from?
"She's adopted!" Veronica said, rolling her eyes as she carried a pot of sauce into the kitchen.
Everyone quickly pieced the story together. Ethel wasn't actually their daughter—they had temporarily taken her in through child services. She'd only be staying with them for a week until a permanent adoptive family could be found.
And no, they weren't doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. They were doing it for money. The government provided a daily subsidy for foster care.
"Ethel's been through hell. She and seventy other kids were rescued from some crazy cult," Kevin told Frank quietly.
"She doesn't even know how to play board games—Monopoly, Sorry, nothing. Doesn't go to parks either. First thing she said when she came in was that she needed to do chores. She claimed the Bible says housework keeps your soul pure."
"I swear, I don't remember God ever saying that. I took her out to have fun, but she wouldn't smile. Then I gave her some chores, and she lit up like a Christmas tree. Cutest little grin—totally heart-melting," Kevin said, throwing his arm around Frank.
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