Daniel's Desire - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,71

reached for his hand. “I can tell them,” she said.

Connor looked shaken, but he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “No. You’ve shared the blame long enough, Kathleen. It was my decision. It’s time I take responsibility for it.” He met Ryan’s gaze, then looked down at the trusting child in his arms. “You’re a father now, so maybe you’ll understand.”

“God knows I want to,” Ryan said. “We all do.”

Connor cleared his throat, then looked to Molly. “I wouldn’t mind another beer.”

She jumped up at once. “Of course.”

Only after she’d returned with the drink and he’d taken a long swallow did he finally speak. “When your mother and I were married, we were young. Too young, probably, but I fell in love with her the day I set eyes on her, and she felt the same. I had a job, a decent one with decent wages. A year later, Ryan, you were born. It was a joyous occasion. I looked at you the first time I held you and thought to myself, ‘I would give my life to protect this boy.”’

Caitlyn patted her grandfather’s cheek. “You’re talking about my daddy, huh?”

Connor gave her a tired smile. “That I am, little angel. Your daddy was something else. He had one speed—full throttle.”

Across the room, Maggie grinned. “Like someone else in the family,” she said, gazing at her daughter.

Connor settled back in the booth, looking more at ease now that the telling was finally underway. He’d always had the gift of being a natural storyteller, and he drew on that now. Daniel knew he would paint a picture for Ryan, Sean and Michael that would make that tragic turning point in all their lives as real as if it had happened yesterday. Maybe it would lead only to more anger and blame, but there was also the chance it could finally lead to understanding and forgiveness.

“And then Sean came along,” Connor said, looking toward his second born, who was wearing a Boston Fire Department T-shirt. “You were born without fear. If Ryan did it, you wanted to do it, too. Nothing was too high for you to climb or too risky for you to try.”

“He’s not scared of anything now, either,” Kevin said proudly. “He fights fires. That’s how me and Mommy met him.”

Connor nodded. “It doesn’t surprise me in the least that you’d take chances, if it meant saving lives, Sean.” He turned to his wife. “You remember the day he climbed up onto the neighbor’s roof? Almost scared the life out of both of us.”

Kathleen nodded. “How could I forget?”

Sean regarded them with bewilderment. “Why was I up there?”

“The neighbor’s cat,” his father said. “Poor, pitiful thing was meowing her head off, and you couldn’t stand it. Everyone else was wringing their hands, and you slipped around back, found a ladder and scampered right up there.”

Kevin was clearly intrigued, but Sean frowned at him. “Don’t go getting any ideas.”

“Amen,” Deanna said, giving her son a forbidding look as the others chuckled at the disappointment on Kevin’s face.

“We had two fine sons,” Connor said, turning to smile at his wife. “But my Kathleen was aching for a daughter.” He focused on Michael. “That would be you, son.”

The laughter grew louder and less tense as everyone gazed at Michael, who couldn’t have looked less feminine. His years in the Navy and his struggle to overcome injuries caused by a sniper’s bullet had given him a powerful build.

Connor shook his head, his expression nostalgic. “If we thought Ryan was strong and Sean was fearless, you put the two of them to shame. There was nowhere they went that you didn’t sneak off to follow them. If they took a risk, you took a more dangerous one. They were your heroes, but there was little question that one day you’d do something heroic yourself.”

Daniel heard the words and felt a sudden twinge of suspicion. “Michael was a Navy SEAL, but you knew that, didn’t you, Dad?”

Connor kept his gaze on Michael and nodded slowly. “I did. I kept up with each of you. I worried over your unhappiness and made myself sick thinking about the danger some of you put yourselves in. I blamed myself for making you think that your lives were worth so little that you might as well risk them.”

Kathleen stared at him in shock. “You knew where they were? You knew what they were doing? You knew all of that and didn’t tell me?”

He regarded her