Aidan shrugged. “I think coaching was what I was meant to do all along. I’m happy here. I hope to stay.”
Thomas looked startled. “Is there any reason you wouldn’t?”
“If this turns out to be too much for everyone to handle, for you to handle, I’ll leave. It was never my intention to complicate anyone’s life.”
“Nonsense,” Thomas said emphatically. “Chesapeake Shores is where you belong. You’re family, Aidan. Make no mistake about that. We’ll work out all the rest in time.”
And for the first time since he’d arrived in town with this dark secret in his heart, Aidan truly felt at home. Now, if he could only make peace with Liz, his future might very well be everything he’d ever hoped for.
23
Thomas approached Nell’s cottage with a huge knot in his stomach. He hoped that for once the family might have honored his wishes and left it to him to tell his mother about Aidan, but he couldn’t be sure. One thing he did know: she wouldn’t appreciate learning this news from anyone other than him. Nell had always been an exceptionally tolerant and understanding woman, but she had her ways of making her displeasure felt. A simple look could be more gut-wrenching than any words she might speak. Even in his fifties, that look could make him feel like a kid deserving of a scolding from the person he respected most.
He found her in the yard working in her garden. The early-morning sun was already hot, but she seemed oblivious to it as she weeded. A wide-brimmed straw hat, a recent concession to the sun’s effects, shaded her lined face.
“Hey, Ma,” he said as he approached.
She looked up, a smile of pleasure spreading across her face. “Thomas! What brings you by here on a workday? You’re usually out on some mission or another by now.”
“I have another sort of mission for today,” he said. “Can you take a break and go inside, where it’s cooler?”
She gave him a chiding look. “Since when has a little summer heat bothered either of us? I’ll take a break, but we’ll sit where we can see the water. It’s soothing. Though it offends me to see a lovely Earl Grey ruined in such a way, Dillon brought out a pitcher of iced tea not long ago. Hopefully all the ice won’t have melted already.”
At her suggestion, Thomas glanced toward the familiar pair of Adirondack chairs that faced the bay, then smiled at the realization that everyone in their family seemed to have a similar set of chairs for enjoying the view and the breeze. The family’s deep love of this setting had started with his mother, not him.
He watched as his mother rose stiffly from her stool at the edge of the garden, ignoring the hand he held out to help her. Stubborn old gal, he thought, amused. Her steps were surprisingly brisk as she crossed the lawn, then sat down and poured their tea into tall glasses, one of which had probably been meant for her husband, the man she’d loved as a teenager and been reunited with just a few years ago in Dublin.
“Something on your mind?” she asked, after the silence had stretched out too long.
“I’m trying to figure out how to get into this,” he admitted. “It doesn’t speak well of me.”
She frowned at that. “Thomas, I love all of my sons. Every one of you is an honorable, decent man. You’ve all made your share of mistakes, but that doesn’t lessen my love for you one bit.”
He smiled at her ardent claim. “Thanks, Ma.”
“It’s not something you need to thank me for. It just is. Now, tell me.”
“You remember Aidan Mitchell?”
She gave him an odd look. “My memory hasn’t gone yet. Of course I do.”
He drew in a deep breath, then blurted out the news. “It turns out that he’s my son, Ma. Your grandson.”
Her blue eyes widened, at first with shock, then with something he recognized as real delight, the way she always reacted to a new addition to the family, whether spouse or baby.
Tears filled her eyes. “I have another grandson? That handsome young man is your son?” She shook her head. “I should have seen it right away. He has your father’s eyes, just as you all do.”
“It’s your eyes we have, Ma.” Thomas studied her more closely, looking for signs of dismay. “You don’t look as if you’re upset by this.”
“Why would I be?” she asked, sounding perfectly calm. “I might be taken aback at the news coming out of the blue like this, but a new member of the family is always welcome.”
Thomas had expected this reaction...eventually. “No criticisms or lectures about irresponsibility?”
She gave him a long look. “I imagine you’ve covered that ground quite nicely on your own.”
“I have,” he admitted.
“Because you’re a decent and honorable man, as I just said. I don’t need to say another word in judgment. Tell me how this happened and how you finally found out after all this time.” Her gaze narrowed. “Unless you knew years ago.”
He shook his head. “Not a clue. I was as stunned as everyone else who’s learned the truth.” He settled back and sipped his tea, then told her about Anna and their long-ago love affair.
“She sounds like she might have been good for you,” Nell said. “She clearly understood you very well and made what she thought was a selfless decision. I hope you’re not blaming her for that, for keeping you from your son.”
Thomas thought about it, about how much he’d missed, then shook his head. “I’m sorry I lost so much time with Aidan, but she was right. I was probably far too self-absorbed and driven to be a good husband and father back then. Heaven knows, I still hadn’t gotten the knack for marriage the first two times I walked down the aisle, and those came later, when my career was already well established.”
“And
