. . . resilience.”
“Did you get any sleep?”
“Some. You?”
“Some.”
“Dad, I want to thank you for what you were prepared to do. It’s not just the money, but—”
“You should know better than to thank me.”
“That it’ll irritate you. Yeah.” The smile didn’t come so hard this time. “But I have to anyway. Just like I have to say I love you, Dad.”
“That doesn’t irritate me.” Hugh clamped a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for family. You’re the same.”
“I’m trying to figure out now what the best thing to do for family is. I’m supposed to leave for New Orleans in two weeks to start on Quiet Death. Even if I brought Cate and Charlotte with me—or Charlotte for part of it, as she’s got Sizzle shooting in L.A. next month—the long hours . . . I’m thinking of backing out.”
“Ah, Aidan, I hate to see you give up that role. It’s a gem. I know why you’re considering it, I just hate it. All of this. You know Lily and I would keep Catey with us while you’re on location.”
“I don’t think I can go without her, not now.”
No, he thought, he knew he couldn’t go without her. As much for himself as for his daughter.
“Charlotte worked so hard to land Sizzle,” he continued. “I can’t ask her to give it up and base in New Orleans while I shoot.”
Hugh stared up at the peaks, at the way the clouds hovered over them as if they’d drop and smother them.
“You’re right. I’d do the same in your place.”
“I’m thinking of taking six months off, maybe a year. I could take Cate to Ireland, help Nan settle in. They’d both love that.”
Though it hurt his heart, Hugh nodded. His mother, his son, his precious granddaughter, an ocean away. “That might be best.”
“I want to hire a private detective if the police don’t find these bastards, find them quick. I could offer a reward.”
Hugh turned to his son. He hadn’t shaved, and more gray than black grizzled his chin and cheeks. “There our thoughts align.”
“Good. Then I’m on the right track. And I want a good family therapist. Resilient or not, I think Cate needs to talk to someone. All three of us do.”
Aidan looked at his watch. “The police will be here soon, and that’s the next step. I need to wake Charlotte.” When he turned, he saw Cate at the breakfast counter, her ankles hooked together as she watched Nina sift flour into a bowl.
“Take a look,” he told his father.
“Squeezes my heart,” Hugh murmured. “In the best way.”
Hugh walked to the door, opened it, walked in with Aidan.
“Here’s my girl.”
He stepped over to kiss the top of her head, sent a grateful look at Lily, who leaned against the big fridge with her own cup of coffee.
She’d pulled Cate’s now shiny fall of hair into a high, bouncing ponytail, helped her pick out jeans with flowers on the pockets, and a bright blue sweater.
She would have looked like any pretty ten-year-old girl, except for the bruise on her temple, the dark circles under her eyes.
“Nina’s making pancakes.”
“Is that so?”
“Caitlyn asked for them, so . . .” Nina sent a pleading glance toward Aidan, one out of shadowed and tear-swollen eyes.
“I’m all about the pancake.”
So he’d wait just a bit longer to get Charlotte.
He caught a signal from Lily before she stepped out of the kitchen. He followed her out, and into what had been his grandfather’s study.
Liam Sullivan’s Oscars and awards gleamed; framed stills from his movies, candid shots with actors, directors, Hollywood luminaries graced the walls.
The wide glass doors led out to the garden he’d loved.
“Aidan, you know I love Cate more than I love red velvet cake.”
He had to smile. “Yes. And I know how much you love red velvet cake.”
“Nina,” she began, in her blunt way. “She’d moved to the room off the kitchen because she knew Charlotte didn’t want to see her. But she heard us when we came down. She just wanted to see Cate, to have a moment. I’m going to say Cate was so happy to see her, and before you know it asked for pancakes. Aidan, that girl wasn’t careless, she wasn’t irresponsible, she—”
“I know it.”
At the interruption, Lily drew in a breath. Topaz eyes against her milk-pale skin managed to transmit both relief and disappointment. “But you’re still going to let her go.”
“I’ll try talking to Charlotte again, but I don’t see her changing her mind. And