“No, she just promised to help me with something.”
Emma barely heard the last part because her father was already moving toward the bunkhouse. He disappeared a moment later when Merrick opened the door for him and showed him inside.
“Just fabulous. I bring Hayden here so I can bond with him, and it’s my father and Cain who end up forging a lasting relationship.” Alone with her thoughts, Emma ignored the cold and sat on the porch wondering what was going to happen next. Two young deliverymen were the only ones who broke the silence as they flung bags of feed off the back of the truck into a pile by the front of the barn.
“Agent Kyle called while you were out.” Carol spoke through a crack she had made in the front door. The windy cold temperatures of a Wisconsin winter were becoming increasingly unbearable as she grew older.
“And what’d he have to say?”
“Our bird started singing this afternoon, so he wants you to try and keep her around for a few more days. I’m glad to see your father finally coming to his senses.” Carol opened the door a little more and pointed toward the delivery boys. The only way Roy was letting that much feed go was if Ross had taken Kyle up on his offer of assistance. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with the boy once this is over?”
“What do you mean, do with him?”
“Agent Kyle mentioned a good school in Virginia for him. Not that we can afford it, but I’m guessing they’ll let the boy keep some of her ill-gotten money.”
Emma watched her knuckles turn almost purple from gripping the armrests of the rocker. “I didn’t do all of this to send him away, Mother, and his name is Hayden. It’s not ‘boy,’ just like
“Don’t get hysterical, Emma. If you want to know, yes, I think what you did with that woman is not only a sin, but also disgusting. Your boy’s an abomination as far as I’m concerned, and if you want to make your home here, it’s going to be without him. I didn’t raise you to go off and whore yourself, sniffing around someone like her. I won’t have it, and I won’t be parading your little family at Sunday services when this is done. To tell you the truth, it took a lot of prayer to not send you away when you came back like you did, but I’m a Christian. The only reason I agreed to all this is because it’ll mean it’s over and I don’t have to worry about you running off again to take up with that spawn.”
The venom in Carol’s voice was hard to miss, and Emma didn’t understand where it was coming from. Her mother had never taken the time to know Cain, so her hatred was hard to comprehend. “What Cain and I shared was beautiful, and it gave me the opportunity to learn how to love. The only reason I even recognized the emotion at all was because of Daddy. You and your ‘Christian’ values were always too busy condemning the rest of us to teach me anything about the concept. I never did ask, Mother, but why did you ever marry Daddy and have me? Being here with the two of us has obviously brought you nothing but misery.”
“Because it was either your father or Mark Liston, and even back then he was nothing but a drunk. If that’s not a good enough answer, then make one up you like better. Women back then didn’t run off and come back with bastards in tow. But you sure made the most of your choices.”
A freshly showered, angry Cain stood ten feet from the porch looking like she was about to pounce on Carol. “You call my son a bastard again, old lady, and I’ll teach you the meaning of the phrase ‘raising the old Irish.’ The fact that you hate me doesn’t bother me, but Hayden’s never done anything to earn your displeasure, so while I’m here, don’t speak to him or his mother like that again.”
The door slammed shut as hard as Carol could muster, considering how little it was opened, leaving Emma alone with a now-angry Cain. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, it was just a fluke, I’m sure. Nothing to worry about, and since I offered your father my help putting all that feed away, I guess I don’t have a choice but to feel better.” Cain pointed to the large pile of bags.
“He likes you, I can tell. My father, I mean.”
“It’s nice to know someone in the Verde family does.”
“That’s not fair, Cain.” Emma stepped closer so Cain could hear her over the truck.
“I’m an expert on knowing life isn’t fair and on how people feel about me. You didn’t just leave Hayden, Emma. You left me with some shallow reason as to why, and you never looked back.”
“Hayden said the same thing to me, and like you, he isn’t going to forgive me either, is he?”
“Why would you care if I forgive you? Worry about your relationship with your son and if you’re going to have one at all. You killed whatever feelings I had for you with the closing of our front door just as effectively as if you’d used one of the guns you always hated being around. Forgive you? I don’t mention your name or even think about you except for the benefit of my son.”
“Cain, are you ready?” Ross called out across the yard.
“Cain, please, I want to finish,” said Emma.
“We’re not done. Don’t worry. Just not now and not here.”
Cain and Hayden helped stack bags of feed until Ross’s storeroom was filled. The sun was starting to set by the time they were done, and despite the cold, they had all worked up a thin coat of sweat before they brought in the last bag. Ross shook hands with Cain before walking back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner.
“Mom, are you sure you’re all right from this afternoon?” Hayden leaned on one of the stall dividers and studied his mother’s face closely for any residual illness.
“There’s nothing wrong, kiddo. To tell you the truth, it was a temporary thing, kinda like getting kicked in the gut. You know what I mean?”
Hayden sat on a bale of hay across from Cain and stayed silent. He had spent the afternoon listening to Emma talk about growing up on the farm and what a shock it had been to leave Wisconsin. The biggest surprise was that she had ended up with Cain after growing up in such a sheltered place. From her stories, he didn’t think she had in her to take such bold chances and go so against her upbringing.
When Emma spoke of going into the Erin Go Braugh and asking for a job, Hayden realized perhaps Cain wasn’t
