“Then,” she said. “But I should have visited him before the accident. I should have come home years ago.”
“You were married.”
“And miserable,” she said. “And too proud to let my dad see that he was right, that I never should have married Harold.”
“Stop beating yourself up,” Brett said. “Frank was too proud and stubborn, too. He could have gone to see you. He should have been at your wedding no matter what he thought of your husband-to-be. He let you down, Trish.”
At that, the sobs that had been burning her throat slipped out, making her tremble as the tears poured from her.
Brett closed both arms around her and held her against his chest while she cried on his shoulder.
How did he always know what she needed? Not just him this time but his words; they released the heavy pressure of the guilt she’d been carrying for years.
“It wasn’t all on you, Trish,” Brett said, as he rubbed her back and touched her hair. “Your dad was the parent. He should have made the first effort. He should have made certain that you were okay all these years because you weren’t.”
She held so tightly to him now, not wanting to let him go. He’d given her a lifeline, something to hold on to so that she didn’t drown in her grief. Maybe that was the real reason she hadn’t come home when he’d gotten hurt and then died. She’d felt so guilty that she knew she would have lost it and probably her babies, too. The grief and the guilt would have destroyed her.
“Shh…” he murmured as he stroked her hair now.
Finally, the sobs subsided, and a sigh slipped out of her lips, a ragged one of relief. “I can’t believe you’re saying all these things…”
“Why not?” he asked.
“My dad was your best friend,” she said. “You’ve told me that. Everyone’s told me that.”
“Just because we were friends doesn’t mean I can’t admit when he was wrong,” Brett said. “Or when I was wrong. And I was wrong about you.”
She wanted to ask if that was all he’d been wrong about, or was he wrong to think that love wasn’t worth the risk? Had he changed his mind about that?
But even if he had, she couldn’t. She had her babies to worry about, their future to secure.
* * *
Bob closed theoffice early, shortly after Brett’s visit, actually. He didn’t have any appointments that day and Maci didn’t either or she wouldn’t have been working from home. He was going to have to hire a new assistant soon. So he should discuss that with his business partner, Katie O’Brien Haven. But that discussion wasn’t the real reason he drove out to Ranch Haven.
His conversation with Brett had unsettled him so much that he needed perspective and advice. The minute he parked, he rushed up the front steps and opened the door and walked in as he’d been told to do so many times before. “Hello?” he called out.
The kids were at school so the house was almost eerily quiet. Even the twin babies were curiously quiet.
“Hello?”
Was everyone gone or just busy working the ranch?
He walked down the wide center hall to the enormous kitchen that was the heart of Ranch Haven. The long center island had some pans of bread rising on it but there was nobody in the room. Nobody sat at the long dining table that stretched between the hearth of the big brick fireplace and the interior wall. The French doors on the other side of the table were open to the patio. And that was where he found Sadie and Lem, sitting at one of the small iron tables, their heads close together as they studied the screen of a tablet.
Relief coursed through him at the sight of them both looking so spry and happy. “There you two are,” he said as he walked out to join them. He leaned down and kissed Sadie’s leathery cheek. She spent so much time in the sun. Then he walked over and kissed his dad’s, and his snowy white beard was soft against Bob’s face.
His dad squeezed the hand he’d rested on his shoulder. “What a wonderful surprise,” he said with so much happiness.
Bob felt the familiar flash of guilt for all the years he’d stubbornly pushed his father away.
“What brings you out to the ranch?” Sadie asked.
She was so insightful that she would know he had a reason; she probably even had a pretty good idea what that was.
“I’m worried I screwed up my kids,” he admitted as he dropped onto one of the chairs around the table.
“Nonsense,” Lem said. “Your children are perfect. They’remygrandchildren.”
