“You did the right thing by her,” his father replied. “I’m not trying to be a jerk here. It isn’t worth staying together for the children. You need to go find the woman who’s right for you, not try and make something permanent that was never meant to be more than a fling.”
“I didn’t do that!” Logan snapped. “You never even knew my wife! How would you know?”
“I’m talking about myself and your mother,” Harry said. “But if the shoe fits...”
Harry still knew how to push his buttons, and he rubbed his hands over his face.
“What’s this, anyway?” Harry asked, tapping the box.
“My mother left it for you in the will,” Logan said, and he pulled the envelope from his pocket. “This is the key.”
“Hmm.” Harry couldn’t accept the envelope with his bad hand, and Logan tucked it into his father’s front shirt pocket.
“I could help you open it,” Logan suggested. “I’ve been curious about what she left you.”
“No.”
Logan cleared his throat. “Why?”
“It’s private,” Harry said simply.
Even this—even this memento from Logan’s own mother—was something that Harry would hold away from him?
“I don’t know why I came,” Logan said quietly.
“Because I’m your father,” Harry replied. “Even if you don’t like it.”
And to prove that he was a better man than his wife had thought. But right now he was filled with cruel words that could effectively crush his old father, words he was biting back.
“For what it’s worth,” Harry went on, his voice trembling slightly. “I think you’ve become a good man, over all. You’re a lot like me, actually.”
“How so?” Logan snapped.
“That.” His father waggled a finger at him. “That growl in your voice. That’s from me.”
“And you think I’m a good guy?” Logan wasn’t ready to let that pass quite yet.
“Yeah.” Harry nodded slowly. “Yeah. I do. You’ve worked hard. You married the mother of your child. You built something for yourself. By a lot of people’s standards, that would be success.”
“And by your standards?” Logan asked.
“I’m the one who messed up with your mother,” Harry said quietly. “It wasn’t your fault.”
And that was as close to approval as Logan had ever gotten from his father. It was also as close to an apology as he’d ever gotten, either.
Their conversation turned toward Junior and his siblings, and Logan didn’t attempt to bring it back around to himself again. This was what rejection felt like—a stubborn insistence that he was overreacting. And at seventy-five, his father wasn’t about to change his ways. But when he talked about Junior, Harry’s whole face lit up with love.
Later, when Logan and Melanie were back in the truck, Melanie asked tentatively, “How was it?”
“I’m not sure, actually,” Logan admitted. “We did some general updating of each other. I gave him a brief history of my life since Graham’s birth, and he told me what my siblings have been doing.”
“Oh... That sounds formal,” she said.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I wasn’t sure how I’d feel telling him about Mom’s death, but you know, Mom is beyond his reach now. His reaction, or lack thereof, can’t hurt her.”
“He didn’t react?” she asked.
“He said he was sorry to hear it,” he replied. “And then he talked about Dot dying. I guess it makes sense. Obviously, his wife’s passing was a pretty big loss. He did tell me something interesting, though. Dot felt really badly for how she’d ostracized me. She said so when she was in the hospital.”
“Wow...” He heard the tremble in her voice, and Logan glanced over to find her dark gaze locked on him. “That’s something.”
“I guess so. People get honest when they’re facing death.”
“Did he say why he hadn’t done anything to stop it?” she asked. “I mean, he was the one who let her push you out. You were his son.”
Except Dot hadn’t been all bad. She’d been fighting her own battles against his mom—and now that he’d been married, he could recognize that insecurity. And marriages could be complicated, so he wasn’t angry with Dot, either. It was just unfortunate that the adults in his life hadn’t been able to sort out their own issues sufficiently to be nurturing to him when he needed it most.
But that was a long time ago. Maybe now what he needed was some respect, or some explanation.
“No, but he did say he thought I’d become a good man,” Logan replied. “He’s never said that before—he’s never said he was proud of me. I should be thankful for that.”
“What was in the box?” she asked.
“Don’t know. Mom left a key in a sealed envelope, and Harry wouldn’t open either the box or the envelope in front of me.”
Melanie sighed. “Maybe he was afraid of what he’d find.”
“I’m curious, though,” he admitted. “I have no idea what she left him. I didn’t know she was even thinking of him toward the end. She asked me to buy that box, and I was the one who picked it. I didn’t realize it was for him.”
“Maybe she missed him,” Melanie said.
“It would be a waste of heartbreak,” he replied bitterly.
“So, is this over, then?” she asked. “You gave him the box. Your mission is complete. Are you headed back to Denver now?”
He smiled ruefully.
“Not quite yet. I’m going to come by again in a few days. Maybe he’ll have opened the box and he can let me know what was in there.”
If Harry would even tell him. He sensed more than hesitation in his father. He sensed secrecy. There was a lot his father would rather he not know...and maybe he’d been the same with his other kids.
“I’m glad.” Melanie smiled then, and he couldn’t help but smile back. “So you’re in town for a few more days, at least.”
“Yup,” he agreed. “I pick up my son from the airport on Sunday—so that’s as long as I can hold out here, even if my dad decides to open up.”
Logan wasn’t ready to go, and it wasn’t just because
