his back, he’d proved himself to be Connor Devaney’s son. It was a regret he’d live with the rest of his life.
Sighing, he tried to get his attention back on his never-ending mountain of paperwork, but he couldn’t concentrate. He couldn’t fight the image of Molly in his head, fighting tears, her spine and shoulders rigid with pride as she turned and walked away. He’d stared after her, helpless, knowing what he should do, what he wanted to do, but lacking the courage to take the first step.
And then she’d been gone, not just out of sight but out of his life, a door slamming shut between them as securely as if it had been the impenetrable door of Fort Knox. Not until he’d heard the lock click into place had he realized how much he’d lost—the woman he loved, his child, his future.
The next day Patrick had told him about the miscarriage. It was one of the rare times since Patrick had left home when he’d initiated any conversation between them. He’d been all but trembling with outrage, his voice cold as he’d recited the bare facts about the trip to the hospital, then told Daniel in no uncertain terms to stay the hell away from Molly.
“You’ve done enough, more than enough,” Patrick had told him. “I never thought I’d say this, not even after I moved out of the house and you stayed behind, but I’m ashamed to be your brother.”
Even after all this time, Daniel could feel the words cutting through him, slicing his heart in two. He hadn’t fought back, hadn’t tried to explain. There were no acceptable excuses for what he’d done and they’d both known it.
Not that he’d listened to Patrick, not about staying away from Molly. He’d waited a day, then gone to see her, wanting her to know how sorry he was. He hadn’t expected her forgiveness. He’d simply known that he owed her the apology. He hadn’t been surprised when she’d thrown it back in his face.
Given all of that, it was little wonder that she couldn’t wholeheartedly get behind advising Kendra to trust him. That she’d even arranged the meeting was something of a miracle.
He sighed when the phone rang, not in the mood to deal with a last-minute crisis.
“Hello, Devaney,” he said curtly.
“Daniel, it’s me.” Kathleen Devaney’s voice shook.
“Mom? What’s wrong?” Something had to be. She never called him at work.
“Do you think you could come by the house?”
The uncertainty in her tone, the hint of a barely contained sob, scared him. He glanced at his watch. It was after five, less than an hour until he was supposed to pick up Kendra and Molly.
“Is it Dad? Is he having a problem with his heart?”
“No. It’s your…there are some people here. Please, Daniel. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”
A million questions tore through his mind at once. Had his brothers shown up out of the blue despite his pleas to Patrick? That had to be it. He weighed his options. None of them were attractive. He could blow off his mother’s cry for help or he could call Molly and cancel, risking the fragile trust she and Kendra had in him. With a 9 a.m. deadline staring all of them in the face, postponement of tonight’s meeting carried all sorts of risks. Even so, he’d always been a dutiful son, even when it hadn’t been easy. He couldn’t fail his mother now.
“I’ll see what I can do about rearranging my schedule,” he reassured his mother. “I should be there in ten minutes.”
“Thank you.”
He was already en route when he called Molly from his cell phone. “I need to postpone dinner,” he told her.
“Just like that?” she asked incredulously. “I thought this was so important. I thought it had to be tonight.”
“You’re right,” he admitted, never more aware of how impossible it was to struggle with divided loyalties. “It is important, but I just had a call from my mother. There’s some sort of emergency at the house. I’m on my way there now. If it’s something I can deal with in a few minutes, I’ll get back to you and we can still make dinner.”
He thought of his fear that he was going to find his brothers there. “My hunch, though, is that it’s going to take longer. If it’s not too late when I’m through there, I’ll come by the bar and apologize to Kendra in person.”
“And Joe Sutton? Can you put him off?”
“I’ll work it out.