“Yes, sweetheart. I’ll be fine.” Darlene squeezed her granddaughter’s hand.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” Felicity shot Dean a warning look before heading inside.
Darlene gestured to the porch chairs, and after he sat down, she took one across from him. She wouldn’t sit next to him, wouldn’t let him that close.
“You have fifteen minutes,” she said. “Then I need to start prep for tomorrow’s breakfast.”
“The B&B looks amazing.” He glanced around the wraparound porch. “You’ve done well for yourself.”
“I didn’t have much choice.” The words came out sharp and clipped. “A single mother needs to provide.”
Dean’s shoulders slumped. “I know I hurt you badly. Left you in an impossible situation.”
“You left me with nothing but a note saying you couldn’t handle being a father.” The old pain rose in her chest. “Do you know how many nights I cried myself to sleep? How scared I was?”
“I was a coward.” He met her eyes. “Plain and simple. I’ve spent over forty years knowing that.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, fighting the urge to flee inside where Felicity waited. But she’d spent too many years wondering why. Maybe it was time to hear his explanation.
“Say what you came to say, Dean.”
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I got remarried. Had two more kids.” He paused. “My wife passed last year. Makes you think about things differently. About mistakes you’ve made.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said quietly. Despite everything, she meant it.
“Cancer.” He cleared his throat. “Before she died, she made me promise to try to make things right with my first family. Said no one should leave this world with regrets that big.”
Her throat tightened. All these years, she’d imagined him living carefree, unburdened by the choices he’d made. Instead, he’d carried this weight too.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” Dean continued. “I just wanted you to know how sorry I am. For everything.”
Her fingers traced the arm of her chair as Dean’s words settled around her. The life he’d built after leaving her—a new wife, more children—it was everything he’d run from when he’d abandoned her. Her chest ached with an old, familiar pain.
“So you weren’t too young for a family after all,” she said bitterly. “Just too young for one with me.”
He shook his head. “I was different back then. Selfish. Scared. By the time I met Janet, I’d grown up enough to handle it.”
The casual mention of his wife’s name stung more than she expected. This woman had shared his life, raised his children, grown old with him—everything that should have been hers.
“I saw an article about our son in the business magazine.” Dean’s voice held a note of pride that made her bristle. “The tech company he founded…”
“You’ve kept tabs on us?” The thought unsettled her.
“Just… checking in from afar.” He shifted in his seat. “I wanted to know you were okay.”
She let out a harsh laugh. “We were okay because we had to be. Because I made sure we were.”
The sound of Felicity moving around in the kitchen drifted through the screen door, grounding Darlene in the present. Her granddaughter’s presence reminded her of all she’d built from the ashes of Dean’s abandonment.
“You know what’s ironic?” She ran her finger over the smooth wood of her chair, needing something to do with her hands. “I spent years wondering what I did wrong, why I wasn’t enough. But here you are, telling me you managed just fine with another family.”
“Darlene—”
“No, let me finish.” She held up her hand. “I just realized I don’t need your explanations anymore.”
But even as she said the words, she recognized the lie in them. Part of her—that young, pregnant girl he’d left behind—had always needed to know why. But now she had her answer, and it was both better and worse than she’d imagined. He hadn’t wanted a family with her. Hadn’t wanted her enough to stay and raise their son.
“Now that we both agree what an incredible fool I was, and what a terrible person I am, have one more thing to tell you, then I’ll leave.”
