be home with his family. He’d spent a few hours online, getting to know the man who’d fathered the boys and had learned of a long struggle with drugs that’d briefly landed him in jail.
By all accounts, Jace had been clean and sober for some time and had become an advocate for others struggling with addiction. From photos posted to social media, Seamus learned that Jace had blond hair like his sons. In fact, Kyle looked just like him, which led Seamus to wonder if Kyle would notice the resemblance. The boys were smart and bright, and not much got by them.
“If they figure it out,” Carolina said when he shared his concern with her, “then we’ll tell them the truth sooner rather than later. The only thing that’ll matter to them is that they’re safe and secure in their home with us.”
From where they sat at the kitchen table, they could hear the boys running around outside with Burpy barking as he tried to keep up with them. They often joked that they never had to wonder where the boys were because they could always hear them and the dog.
“You don’t think we’re doing the wrong thing by not telling them the truth from the beginning, do you?” he asked.
“No, I think it’s the right thing to wait. They’ve been through so much and have settled into their new life with us. Now isn’t the time to do anything that would disrupt that.”
“Helps to have the advice of a professional mother to rely upon.”
“I don’t know if I’d call myself a professional mother, but I do recall what it was like to move here with Joe after we lost his dad and how important it was to keep things on an even keel for him.”
The sound of a car arriving outside had them moving quickly to go out to greet their visitor. Jace emerged from the back of Ned Saunders’s cab, and the first thing Seamus noticed were forearms covered in ink. The boys were fascinated by tattoos and would certainly want an up-close look at Jace’s.
Seamus could hear the boys and the dog playing on one of the paths that led into the woods that were their playground. They’d been given strict guidelines about how far from the house they were allowed to go and were good about doing what they were told.
Jace paid Ned for the ride and thanked him.
Ned gave a little toot and a wave before backing out of the driveway.
As Jace walked toward them, Seamus noticed that he moved like Jackson did, his stride almost impatient. He shook hands with Seamus and Carolina. “Thank you for having me.”
Seamus appreciated the man’s manners, even if he was predisposed to dislike him on sight. “I’d say it was no problem, but…”
“Oh, you’re Irish.”
“Aye, that’s right.”
The two men sized each other up, almost like prizefighters about to face off.
“The boys…” Jace said. “They’re doing well?”
“They’re doing wonderfully,” Carolina said, “after a rough couple of months following their mother’s death.”
“I… I didn’t know she was sick. I felt awful when I heard about what’d happened.”
“It was a very difficult time,” Carolina said. “But the Gansett Island community stepped up for her and the boys, and we got them through it.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help. I’ve had some… problems, but I’m better now. I understand it was a lot to ask to see them, but I only learned that Lisa had died when I tried to reach out to her about seeing the kids. I wanted to wait until I’d gotten my life together before I got in touch with her, and then I found out it was too late.”
Jace seemed genuinely sad about Lisa’s death. “This is a nice place you’ve got here,” he said.
“We added on after we took in the boys,” Carolina said, gesturing to the new part of the house. “We wanted them to have room to spread out.”
“Are they here?”
“If you listen carefully,” Seamus said, “you can hear them off playing in the trees. They love to be outside.”
“I remember that from when they were little. Always wanted to be outside.”
Seamus put his fingers in his mouth and whistled for the boys, who came running, as they always did when he called for them. He wondered how old they’d be when that stopped.
They burst through the brush, two towheads with sunburned noses and missing front teeth. Burpy was hot on their trail, barking as usual. Seamus often thought it was a good