“He’s fine. Had a little nightmare and didn’t want to be alone.” Atticus closed the book and put it down. “You’re home earlier than I thought you’d be. Everything okay, darlin’?”
She dropped into the chair opposite, determined to make light of the situation no matter how much it tore at her heart. “I guess. Drew’s still not right. I can sense it, but I didn’t make it any better by bringing it up. I should learn to keep my mouth shut.”
He laughed, a soft chuckle that made her smile. “It’s not in your nature to hold your tongue when something matters to you, April.”
“I’m so easy to read, aren’t I?”
“Drew’s a big boy. He would understand he still has some issues to deal with. I might have a little talk to him, try and sort out that mess in his head.”
“He’ll know I spoke to you and that might make everything worse.” She wanted things to go back to normal. Falling in love with Drew all over again had been invigorating, and now it felt as though this episode had taken all the wind out of their sails. It didn’t make for a very nice future the way things stood right now. “He thinks I’m pushing him and he’s probably right.”
“Maybe, but you only want to help him. He knows I’ll figure out what happened. We discussed Bradley visiting so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Besides, I’m his father and I have a right to call out my kids when they’re misbehaving.”
April smiled. Thank goodness the Hope family were close knit. Anyone else would have thought it was interfering.
“I’ll drive out and see him tomorrow. There are a couple of shrubs I picked up for him that I want to take over for the garden. Good enough reason for me to be there.”
“Thanks, Atticus. For the talk and the babysitting. It’s very good of you.”
“No problem, it’s what I do. Listen, I keep forgetting to ask you, but did David sort out your problem with your in-laws?”
“Finally, yes he did. I got a call from him earlier this week. They had to wait for a court date to take it all before the judge, but it’s all ironed out now. They’ve been warned if they come anywhere near us, Ben will throw them in jail. We have a restraining order on them that covers me and the kids.” She looked at her son, a small wave of sadness hitting her. “It’s so wrong, Atticus. The kids are the ones that miss out here.”
“Nothing you can do about it, honey. Some people just don’t know when they have a good thing, I guess.”
He stood up, scooping his arms around Leo. “Let’s get this one to bed so you can relax. Everything will work out fine, April. It always does in the end.”
* * *
“You didn’t have to bring them out, Dad. I could have picked them up.”
“I wanted to see how you were. I like it out here; kinda peaceful and calm.”
“It is. It’s why I bought the place.”
His father gazed at him. “Are you sure that’s the reason? I thought you bought it because of April and your little liaisons here when you were dating in your younger years.”
“Did you come here to annoy me or give me plants?” Drew grabbed the coffee pot and filled a cup for his father. There was no way he was getting rid of him that easy, that much was obvious.
“Bit of both actually.” He took the cup and wandered over to the doors that opened onto the deck. They were closed because of the wind sweeping up the coast. “Thought maybe it was time I apologized.”
Drew walked over and perched on the arm of his chesterfield couch. “What for?”
Atticus turned his head to look at him, then gazed back over the ocean. “When your mon died, I failed you kids. It wasn’t fair of me, but I was filled with grief. If it wasn’t for Gigi I would never have managed to crawl out of the rut I was in.”
This was the last thing he’d expected. “I don’t understand. You didn’t fail us. You brought us up fine. Sure, you had help from Gigi, and we all love her dearly. I’m not saying our childhood was perfect, but it was damn near it.”
His father turned and gave him a quick look. “That’s kind of you to say. Lord knows I did my best, but there was something I missed and this incident with Sally brought it all home. Not only for you but for me too.”
“I’m sorry. If I could have gotten her off the island, I would have. I didn’t have a choice but to operate, Dad. She would have died otherwise.”
“That wasn’t what I meant. You did the right thing. You couldn’t have done anything else. It’s what you’ve trained for. No, where I failed you children was letting you think you had anything to do with your mom’s death. You all saw her being taken away. Last thing on my mind that day was making sure you all knew that it wasn’t your fault.” He put his cup down on a low table and jammed his hands in his jeans pockets.
“The thing is, I spoke to Bradley about it last week. Now I know he can’t say anything you two discussed, but it doesn’t stop me telling to you about what he said to me. To be honest, he gave me a right talking too about my behavior that day.”
“That’s a bit rough. He wasn’t there. How could he know what we were all thinking?” Damn if the man didn’t manage to get into your mind. Guess that meant he was good at his job. Still, Drew wasn’t a huge fan when it was his head Bradley was rumbling around in.
“Guy’s a natural at digging. Anyway, something he said
