“I do. We want him to come here and live with us.”
Logan turned to Emma. “You don’t plan to return to Sable?”
Before she had a chance to respond, Matthew answered the question for her. “We’re not going back because I’m going to school here in the fall. So is Mom.”
Logan’s head tilted to the side as he regarded her. “You are?”
She waved it off dismissively. “Only part time. Ruth will help take care of Matthew and Rose.”
Logan slowly nodded. “I always knew you’d become an academic one day. I would have put money on it.”
Emma was flattered by the compliment, but that was the extent of it. Her husband’s looks and charm no longer had any effect on her. She certainly had no interest in any romantic entanglements, with him or anyone else.
She supposed she wasn’t the same impressionable young woman she’d been when they’d first met. After everything that had gone wrong in their marriage, and since the news of Oliver’s death, Emma felt as if some of her emotions had gone numb. Or perhaps they’d died with Oliver.
Ruth gestured toward the kitchen. “Are you hungry, Logan? I have a pot of soup on the stove.”
“If that’s a dinner invitation, I accept.”
They all made their way to the kitchen, where conversation around the table was, on the surface, light and full of laughter. Matthew giggled constantly at Logan’s funny faces and his amusing tales of veterinary medicine on the farms of Saskatchewan. The easiness of it all came asa relief to Emma because she hadn’t known what to expect from their first meeting. She was pleased to see Matthew so happy and engaged.
After dessert, when it was long past Matthew’s bedtime, Emma gave him a look. “I think it’s time to go upstairs, young man.”
Logan slid his chair back. “Your mother’s right. I’ve kept you up too late. I assume you brush your teeth before bed?”
“Yes,” Matthew replied.
“Then off you go.”
“Now you sound like my mom!” he chortled.
Logan saluted him. “I’ll take that as a compliment, sir.”
Emma watched their exchange like a mother hawk, protective and on her guard.
“Will you come back tomorrow?” Matthew asked.
“I’ll talk to your mother about that,” Logan replied.
Matthew rose from his chair, hugged Emma tightly, and looked up at her with pleading eyes. “Can you let him come? Please?”
She kissed the top of his head and—for his sake—forced herself to remain friendly and open. “He’s welcome to visit if he wants to.”
Matthew smiled again. “Okay. Good night.” He left the kitchen and ran up the stairs.
Emma and Logan stood for a few seconds in silence, gazing at each other from opposite sides of the table. She found herself observing the fact that even though he was older and thinner, his eyes were still the same.
“Could we take a walk?” Logan asked, catching Emma by surprise.
His request hit the wall she’d recently erected around her heart, which only filled her with regret. So many of her feelings, good and bad, were out of reach. She wished suddenly that she could go back to that day in the rose garden with Oliver, after they’d made love, when they’d walked to his boat and her heart had felt fully open and vulnerable—and joyfully so. She’d never felt more passionate and alive.
Thank God she hadn’t known what the future would bring. Otherwise, she might have put walls up that day as well, like she wasdoing now, and she wouldn’t have that beautiful memory to remind her that she’d once truly lived and loved.
Ruth stood up and began to clear the table. “Go ahead, Emma. I’ll take care of this and make sure Matthew gets to bed.”
With caution still in her heart, Emma went to fetch her sweater from the front hall closet.
“Thanks for not saying no to a visit tomorrow,” Logan said as he stopped on the bottom step to light a cigarette. He took a deep drag and savored it as he slowly exhaled.
