ingredients spread across the kitchen table, her hands idle, her eyes distant. It was evident that she was lost in memories, none of them happy.
She looked up when he came into the room. “Are they still here?” she asked anxiously.
“They’re waiting to say goodbye.”
She stared at Daniel helplessly. “I don’t know what to say to them. How can I explain what their father and I did all those years ago?”
“Speaking of Dad, where is he?”
“He’d gone out earlier, thank the Lord. I don’t think he could have handled this.”
“Then he doesn’t know they’re here?”
She shook her head.
“When is he due back?”
“Not for a while yet.”
“Mom, maybe you should go back in there and say goodbye for now. We can arrange another time to meet. You and Dad can talk over how you want to handle it, what you want to tell them.”
She gave him a sad look. “They don’t deserve anything less than the truth.”
Daniel squeezed her hand. “Then that’s what you’ll tell them, but not today. I think you’ve been through enough, having them turn up here unexpectedly like this.”
She touched his cheek. “You always want things to turn out for the best for everyone, but sometimes that’s not possible, Daniel. There would never be an easy way or a right way to do this. And I’m not entitled to any compassion from those three men in there. They’re my sons, just as you are, and I turned my back on them and walked away. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t what I wanted, but I did it because your father insisted it was the only thing to do. I can hardly bear to look them in the eye and see the pain your father and I caused them.”
She visibly drew herself together and stood up. “But I will face them. And I will answer their questions. I owe them that.”
“Not today,” Daniel insisted. “You’ve been through enough for today.”
“They’ve been through more,” she said with quiet resolve.
Daniel watched her walk slowly back into the living room, never prouder of her than he was at that moment.
But when they got there, only Ryan was waiting. He was on his feet, staring out the window. He turned slowly.
“The others are waiting outside, but I didn’t want to go back on my promise. I’ll say goodbye now.”
Kathleen Devaney’s step faltered, and she reached for Daniel’s hand, her gaze on Ryan. “But you will come back, all of you?”
Ryan’s gaze remained steady and unflinching. “I honestly don’t know. I’m not sure I see the point.”
She reached for him, then her hand fell back. “Please, you must. You’ve come this far. I know the answers must be very important to you. Come back tomorrow or next week. Whenever you’re ready. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. You should see your father, too. He should see what fine young men you’ve turned out to be, despite what happened.”
“I’ll try,” Ryan said, his tone even more noncommittal than his words. “Sean and Michael say they’re through.”
“Try to change their minds,” she pleaded urgently. “It used to be they would listen to anything you said.”
Ryan sighed. “That was a long time ago. For a lot of years, while we were apart, they blamed me for the separation almost as much as they blamed you and Dad.”
She looked genuinely shocked by that. “How could they? You were a boy.”
“It’s not a rational reaction,” Ryan said. “It’s the reaction of two scared little boys who were abandoned by their parents, then separated from their big brother. They were sure there had to be something I could have done to keep us together at least.”
Daniel tried not to feel the anguish his brothers had felt all those years ago, but it ate at his gut. He’d seen it too often in other frightened children who were facing an uncertain future. He’d seen it in Kendra Morrow’s haunted eyes.
His mother was right. He spent his life trying to find happy endings for kids like that. He wanted one now, even though it was years and years too late. He wanted it for his brothers, even for his parents. They needed this as much as Ryan, Sean, Michael and Patrick did. As much as he did. They all needed to find peace, so they could move on.
“Ryan, they still look up to you. I saw it the first time we met on Patrick’s boat. You can get them back here again,” Daniel told him.
Ryan looked from Daniel to his