“Aidan—” Nancy squeaked, but John nodded.
“Yes, he was cremated. We interred his ashes. You thinking about paying him a visit while you’re here?”
For the first time, Aidan seemed to realize how blunt his questions had been. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
“It’s alright,” John said, and gave Aidan a smile, the very same smile I saw Aidan give so often. Real and genuine, warm and caring. “I try to think of the good memories. When we were kids. And hewasyour uncle, after all. Coming up to your ordination, makes sense you might want to honor him, remember your ancestors. He’s interred in the family plot with your grandparents if you want to pay a visit. Now, Nancy, there’s no need to cry. Aidan’s a good boy and he’s remembering his family, just like he should.” He reached over to pat his wife’s hand.
With a father like John O’Leary, I might have had a different life.
After that, Aidan was very quiet again until it came time for us to leave. By this time, Nancy had given me a tour of the home, which I’d appreciated, because I’d been able to check their windows and doors. These were nice people and I didn’t want them getting mixed up in anything, but I was going to recommend setting up some sensors and cameras around the perimeter, along with the 24-hour watch by our associates. I would run it by Aidan first, but I didn’t think he would disagree.
John even showed me what Nancy called his “man shed,” and we were making our way back through the house when he asked me to wait, told me he’d box up the extra apple pie he’d made for us to take home. I waited there in the living room while Aidan and his mother were already outside on the porch. I could see them through the sheer curtains on the window, and when I listened, I could hear what they were saying to each other.
“And you’re stillsure, Aidan?” she asked quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“That this is what you want to do. The priesthood.”
“WhatIwant doesn’t have much to do with it, Mom. You know that.”
She pursed her lips ever so slightly. “Alright, then. You’re still sure this is whatGodwants for you?” He pulled back from her embrace, but she kept him there, arms tight around him. “You’re my son and I love you,” she said fiercely. “But sometimes, Aidan, you get an idea in your head, and it blinds you to other possibilities.”
“Whatother possibilities?” he demanded in a low, angry voice. “Godcalledme. This is the life I’ve dedicated myself to since—since—”
“Since before you really knew what it would mean, I think,” she said gently, and then smiled. “Oh, Aidan, I’m not telling you what to do, and I’ll support you either way. All I want is for you to behappy. But I wouldn’t be doing my job as your mother if I didn’t caution you again to think very carefully. Especially when you have such a lovely young man as Teo who looks at you like he does.”
Aidan snorted. “Teo and I, we’re not…and besides…”
“Teo and you are none of my business,” she said briskly. “But I want you to know, sweetheart, that no one will think less of you if you decide not to take your vows. The priesthood is a hard, self-abnegating life. That’s not a challenge; it’s just a reminder. Be very sure, love.”
“Iamsure,” he said icily.
“Then your father and I will be very proud to watch you take your vows.”
John came back in with a whole new apple pie fit snug in an old cookie tin, and gave it to me. “You seem like a good guy,” he told me, though his eyes were appraising. “Take care of my son, won’t you?”
“I plan to,” I told him truthfully.
He patted my arm and rewarded me with that warm O’Leary smile.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Teo
“So,” I said casually to Aidan in the car, as soon as we took a left off his parents’ street, “you got something you maybe wanna tell me?”
“The guy in the photo is my Uncle Jim.”
“Figured that much.”
“Itcan’tbe, though. He’sdead.”
“Figured that, too.” I thought it over, then said, “How come you didn’t recognize him back at the church? He seems pretty buddy-buddy with your parents in that photo.”
“That’s the thing,” Aidan sighed. “After he joined the Donovans, which was before I was even born, things changed. My Dad decided to cut him out of our lives after he got caught up with organized crime—this is just what I’ve heard over the years at family reunions and from rumors when I was a kid. I’d never even met Uncle Jim before…well, before he came into Our Lady and threatened me like that. I did say at the time he looked familiar, I just…I never thought…” Aidan let his head fall against the glass window. “He’s supposed to bedead.”
“Tell me about that.”
