held it against you though. That sense of loyalty was what made you such a damn fine man, one I'm proud to call my son.'
Colin shook his head. 'I never deserved you.'
'You damn well did. You still do. You think I don't know you're here now, fighting to save what's mine? Only a son would do that for his father.'
Colin closed his eyes but he couldn't shut out the truth. Joe knew him better than he knew himself. The older man understood things about Colin he himself had just come to recognize and accept. The running, the emotional barriers, all a result of his parents' deaths, had distanced him from his life and the people in it. But no longer.
It had taken Joe's stroke to bring him home, Joe's seeming betrayal to shock him into looking deeper, but it had been Rina who'd taught him the biggest lesson of all in understanding, acceptance-and love.
He shook as the word ran through his mind, and settled there. He loved Rina. Something he'd deal with when he left the hospital.
And he loved the older man lying in the bed before him. 'I'm lucky to have you. Always have been,' Colin told Joe. 'But why didn't you just tell me about giving Corinne power of attorney?'
Joe's brown eyes clouded over. 'Fate. Honest to goodness, fate. When I got sick, no way did I want to call you home, and when the doctors insisted I cut back, I put Corinne in charge.'
'She knows nothing about running a paper, Joe.'
'But I love and trust her, just like I do you. Just like I did Nell before her.' He gestured for the water and Colin passed the cup again, waiting while Joe finished soothing his dry throat.
Hearing how Joe felt about his wife made Colin's mission to enlighten his father about the paper's problems more difficult. Colin ran a hand over his eyes and groaned.
He didn't know how to approach the issue, and since he still didn't have a direct answer to his question, he focused on that first. 'Why didn't you tell me you put Corinne in charge?' he asked again.
'Because it wasn't something I felt I could do long distance. I knew you'd come home for Christmas, even if it was a short visit. I planned to tell you then. But like I said, fate intervened and I had the damn stroke first.' Joe's voice returned to a low whisper he had to strain to hear, but there was no mistaking the regret in his voice.
The vise holding Colin's heart hostage eased with the realization that everything Joe did had been in Colin's best interest. At the expense of his beloved paper.
He hated to hurt Joe, and he realized he hated to hurt Corinne, the woman he now understood Joe loved. But the older man didn't blink at the information.
Colin narrowed his gaze. 'You knew this was coming, didn't you?'
He nodded. 'Corinne finally told me she'd made some mistakes.'
An understatement if Colin ever heard one.
'But I wasn't feeling well even before the stroke, and she didn't want to tell me,' Joe continued. 'She was determined to fix things and make me proud.'
'You don't sound angry.'
He shrugged. 'When you face death, you realize there are more important things in life than selling newspapers.'
Colin scrubbed a hand over his burning eyes. 'Well, I'm about to complicate things.' He explained how they'd lost advertising dollars and were poised to lose more. And then he topped off his story with the fact that he'd borrowed money to keep the paper afloat. 'And like me, Ron thought you'd want nothing more than to have things return to the status quo. I promised him I'd get rid of the fluff in favor of hard news, and according to Fortune's, I have until January first to provide proof I can do that or they're pulling out.'
'And how exactly did you plan to save the paper from my terrible clutches, Colin?' Corinne walked into the room at the worst possible moment.
'By getting your promise to return things to the way they were.' He didn't turn to face her, but he had to admit the truth. 'And by getting rid of your new columnists, to start.' That had always been the plan, replace the new columnists with news worth printing. Only now, discussing his plans aloud, he realized how shortsighted he'd been.
'You wanted to fire Rina and Emma?' Corinne asked, outraged.
He winced, knowing he no longer advocated that scenario, but nodded because that had been his intention. But he now realized that like Joe said, some things
It was time to face Corinne and explain his change of heart. He turned, but behind Corinne, he saw Rina in the doorway and his stomach plummeted.
Eyes wide and full of hurt, she met his gaze. His gut clenched hard. Damn. 'Rina.'
She turned, pivoting and walking away. He stepped toward the door, then paused, looking back at the man in the bed.
'Don't you think you should go after her?' Corinne asked.
Colin was torn, but with Joe so ill, he had to take opportunity when he could and mend fences here first. 'I'll talk to her as soon as we finish.' Facing Corinne wasn't easy. 'My perspective has changed, even if the promise I made hasn't. And I'd like to explain.'
Corinne nodded. 'Seems fair.'
'Then both of you sit,' Joe said. 'It's time we started acting like a family.'
Although his heart was with Rina, Colin did as Joe asked. They talked like a family for the first time. When it was over, Colin knew they had a chance of saving the paper. Corinne agreed not to touch the remainder of the lender's money on anything without Colin's approval. With Joe supporting her columns, she was more agreeable to putting the news on the front page.
In return, Colin was willing to invest the rest of the lender's money in creating a supplement section to the paper that would carry her beloved columns, as well as the syndicated ones Colin had already lined up to return.
All that remained was working the magic he thought of earlier. He had to prove to the conservative Fortune's Inc. that Rina, Emma and Corinne's other ideas would increase sales if they weren't the sole focus of the paper. Ironically, he'd use Corinne's argument that people's priorities had changed, and they could sell newspapers by combining news and softer pieces. If a simple phone call wouldn't do it, Colin would resort to statistical proof, something that would cost money and take time. He hoped he could at least get a deadline extension out of Fortune's.
By the time he left the hospital, Colin felt more centered about his family situation, but he still had to settle things with Rina. After not returning yesterday, Colin wasn't about to repeat the same mistake and compound her anger over what she'd overheard. Instead, he showed up in time to suffer through a frosty Christmas dinner. And he wasn't referring to the weather outside.
Rina barely spoke to him and he couldn't say he blamed her. He also couldn't find time to talk to her alone, and since Jake and Brianne planned to stay late, he had no choice but to pick things up at work in the morning. And he wasn't surprised when Rina didn't walk him to the door to say good night.
He let himself out, disappointment in his gut and her Christmas gift still in his pocket.
MONDAY MORNING, Rina called in sick. She wasn't ill. She was merely informed and armed with knowledge. She intended to protect herself and her future. She had no choice since she was about to lose the job she loved. True, eavesdroppers didn't always hear correctly, but Corinne had been by her side, peppering Colin with questions, and his words had left no doubt. He intended to
