anything, it’s this,” Andy said, wanting more than anything not to let Dalton down. “Those who want to beat you down can’t succeed unless you give them a lot of help. God grants us free will to live life as we choose, Derby. You’ve taken a wife, you’re raising a fine son, and you’ve done everything possible to protect them both from harm.”
“But look at how I failed Marie and my mother.”
He took her hand. “No, you had nothing to do with that. What happened was God’s will, and nothing, no matter how hard you tried, could have prevented it from coming to pass.”
“God’s will? That’s the best you got?”
“Just like your father, I swear,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “You simply can’t control everything in your life. Things happen, and you have to accept them and try to find a way to keep going forward.” He held up his hand to keep her from interrupting. “I know it’s easy to say, but sometimes simple is exactly what’s needed. Would it be fair to Emma and Hayden if you just accepted defeat?”
“What kind of question is that?” A little of Cain’s fire seeped into her answer.
“One that begs an answer.”
“I’d never give up and abandon my family. You know that. If you don’t, you didn’t know my father and what he taught me at all.”
“I knew your father better than most, and how he raised you and all he taught you.” He squeezed her hand before letting it go and leaning back. “Why are you here, besides the fact that I asked you?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know. It’s a little about respect, a little about being summoned, and a little about finding answers to the million questions in my head. I certainly enjoy having someone safe to talk to and not have what I say come back to bite me on the witness stand.”
“Then you’ve found the one reason your father came often. The church is for everyone, Derby, even those not in the pews every Sunday. I can give you absolution for your sins.”
“Even if I have every intention of sinning again?”
Andrew laughed again, feeling like he was spending time with his childhood friend. “Even then. The other thing I can offer,” he continued on a more serious note, “is a little wisdom. No one can be strong all of the time, no matter how broad their shoulders. When your load gets too heavy, let the woman you’ve chosen help you.”
“I thought the church frowned on the fact that I love a woman.”
Andrew exhaled a long sigh. “Someday all believers will see love for the beauty that it is, no matter where it’s found. That day hasn’t come yet, but some of us are a little ahead of the times, no matter how many years we carry around with us.”
“And the wolves at my door?”
“Neither the church nor I has an answer for them.” The whirl of a leaf blower came through the window, and Andrew waved to the young man operating it. “However, I do know who does have an answer to that question.”
“Father Andy, if you tell me to pray on it and it’ll come to me, I may have to smack you one.”
The laugh lines around her eyes were a sign that her smile was genuine and that she was teasing.
“I see some smiting in your future, if you don’t behave,” Andrew shot back. “I was going to say that the one person who could answer that was your father. After all, he was a man of honor, but also a man with more than his share of enemies. So he had a philosophy about what the two of you liked to call wolves.”
Cain leaned forward and put her hands on her knees. “How much easier would my life be if he’d lived?”
The question didn’t seem directed at him, so Andrew stayed quiet.
“There was still so much he didn’t tell me before he left.”
“Knowing Dalton the way I did, I can tell you he didn’t choose to leave. He got his money’s worth out of each day God gave him, and if he could have, he would’ve bargained with the devil himself to stay for a while longer and watch you shine.”
The easy silence came once more, broken when Andrew said, “Hell, I miss him so much I would’ve made the bargain myself.”
“I’m sorry, Father. I didn’t mean to come here and upset you with old memories.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m an old man who gets more sentimental every day.” He slapped his hands together. “So on to the answer to your question. Dalton Casey believed that man had dominion over the animals.”
“Is this a riddle?”
Andrew shook his head. “If man has dominion over all the animals, then you can either tame the wolves causing you trouble or give them a new scent to follow. What’s most important here is not to show fear for any reason. Accept the things you can’t control, Derby, and plan around them. But you
As Cain smiled and sat quietly, she brushed back some mussed hair, an old habit that made Andrew see her incredible resemblance to Dalton. “I can see why my father loved you, but why did my mother?”
“Not everyone can be shown the way by taking the same road, child. I listened to your father and didn’t judge, because that’s not my job. To Therese, I was Bishop Goodman first, a man of faith who helped her find peace by praying for her family. It took me an age, it did, but she finally also accepted me as Andy, the guy who shared a few whiskeys with her husband on Saturday afternoons.
“But your father liked coming here for another reason, especially toward the end of his life.”
“Another riddle?”
“Just an observation, but perhaps useful, and the real reason I asked you here today.” With his fingers steepled
