and tell me how much she loved me. But I never remember hearing Dad and Mom talk about him.
I set Aaron in my lap and pick up the photo that was under it. It’s a three-by-five of a man in an army uniform. I turn it for him to see.
The hurt in his gaze turns to anger. “What’s this all about, Adri?”
“How old were you when Uncle Terry was killed?”
“Fifteen. What does this have to do with anything?”
I pick up the next photo. Grandpa. “When Grandpa was killed in the car wreck, I remember you insisted that Grandma move in with us, even though she was only two doors down.”
“I wanted to look after her . . . to be sure she was safe.”
I lift Grandma’s picture and look at it. “You wanted to protect her.”
“Yes!” he shouts. “Of course.”
“But you couldn’t.”
His jaw tightens and I see a tremor in it. “No.”
“Because there’s no way to protect someone from cancer.”
“Adri, please,” he says, holding up his hand and backing toward the hallway. There are tears welling in his eyes, and I know this might be too much, but he needs to hear it.
I stand from the couch with Mom’s picture in my hand. My voice is hoarse from the lump forming in my throat. “And you wanted to protect Mom.”
His face crumples, and tears spill down his cheeks and trickle into his beard. “God, yes.”
“But no one saw the aneurism coming.”
He shakes his head.
“So there was nothing you could do.”
He leans into the wall and slides to the floor with his face in his hands.
I go to him and sit on the floor, tears streaking my face. I pull him into my arms and rock him. “You’re an amazing cop, Dad, but there are some things you can’t control.”
I hug him close as he fights to get his emotions under control, but it’s a losing battle. As we cry together on the floor, memories of Mom, Grandpa, Grandma flash through my mind, fueling the tears. I know Dad’s reliving some of it too by the way he shakes with silent sobs. I’ve never seen him like this, and in some ways I regret what I’ve done. But he needs to understand. He needs to stop feeling like everything is his responsibility.
Finally, he lifts his head and scrubs a hand over his face. “You have no idea how hard it is to lose everyone you’ve ever loved. And you . . . I love you most of all. I couldn’t bear it if I lost you too.”
“I know, Daddy, but you can’t protect me from life.”
He blows out a weary laugh. “God knows I would if I could.”
I tighten my arms around him. “I love you, but you have to let me make my own choices, even if they turn out to be mistakes.”
“If anything ever happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself.” His grip on me is crushing my ribs, but I don’t push him away.
“Things are going to happen. That’s what life is. I’ll share the ones I can with you, and I’m happy to listen when you have advice, but in the end, how I live my life has to be my decision. You have to let me live, Dad.”
He lets me go and draws back to look at me. “So . . . you and Chuck . . . ?”
I can tell by his expression, more sad than hopeful, that he already knows the answer.
“I love Chuck almost as much as you, like family. He’s my safety net and my best friend, but he’s not the love of my life. I could never think of him like that.”
His expression hardens. “And you think this Davison character is? He’s no good, Adri.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong. You need to let him go and trust that I know what I’m doing.”
His face reddens in anger. “I’m not going to trust him. He and that family are ghosts, and I’ve been in law enforcement long enough I know what that means. They’re a danger to society. I’m not dropping the charges until I know what their story is.”
“Daddy, don’t to this. You’ve spent your whole life setting an example for me and everyone else in this town. You think he’s a danger to society, but if you start using the law to settle your personal grudges, how are you any better?”
“I don’t deserve that! I’m totally justified charging him.”
I nod. “Maybe you are. But I think you need to