“Like some strange invisible string connecting us,” Renn said, as the swell of emotion threatened to cloud his eyes.
“Yup.”Dalton nodded.“Alright then, call me at the hospital if you all need me,” Dalton called as he headed to his truck and the first raindrops started to fall.
Gran stood with a big smile and her hands on her hips.“Oh relax—I’m not going to give you the third degree.You don’t have to tell me why it took sixteen years for you to decide to find your family.”
Renn let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Let’s get inside and have some pie.”
He followed his grandmother into what could only be described as a warm and welcoming family kitchen.The smell of sugar and coffee greeted him, and he was surprised to find a bunch of kids’ art hanging on the fridge with several pictures of a young boy.
“I didn’t even think to ask if any of them have kids.”
“That’s Dalton’s stepson Max’s artwork, and I expect he and Brooke will be giving me more grandbabies soon enough.Come on over and have a seat.”
Renn sat at the kitchen table where she already had two place settings with what looked like a fresh homemade pie set between them.
“Coffee?”
“Yes please.”
“Now you can ask me anything you want.I imagine you thought the worst of us all these years.Considering my son didn’t make much of an effort to be in your life.”
“I’m not aware of him making any effort at all, ma’am,” Renn said, not wanting to be disrespectful.
She just shook her head and started to cut two healthy slices of pie.“I learned to make this peach pie from my mother, your great-grandmother.And I will tell you now, she was heavy-handed with the sugar but was as mean as she was sweet.”
“I never had grandparents growing up.”
She frowned as she shook her head again.“I won’t lie to you, Renn, your father was a good man in so many ways, but when it came to you, I think fear ruled him.”
She set the plate down in front of him and then finally sat down.But she was quiet a minute as she smoothed out the blue and white checkered tablecloth beneath her weathered hand.
“We don’t have to talk about it, if it’s too painful.It won’t change anything now,” he offered.
“No, it won’t, and having lost your mom you know a lot about the pain I’ve carried since Michael died.But I think you should know what he told me.”
“He told you about me?”
“In a letter I found after he died.”
“That must have been a shock.”
“It was, but it also gave me another grandson.When I reached out to your mother, she said she didn’t want to complicate your life and preferred we wait until you were an adult.I felt I had to respect her wishes and keep my distance.But I am sorry we didn’t get a chance to know each other sooner.”
“My mom asked you to stay away?”
“She did in a not so blunt way.I think she thought when you were older and asked more questions she would let you know about us.”
Renn gulped the hot coffee.“So, what did the letter say?Why was my father afraid to be in my life?”
“I think he was terrified.He’d built this life with my daughter-in-law, a woman he’d known and loved his entire life.But he’d broken so many promises to her by having an affair and he was scared if she found out she would leave him.I think he knew he couldn’t live without her.”
“So, he pretended I didn’t exist.”
“In his letter he said he begged your mother to let him see you.He wanted to spend time with you.But she wanted the three of you to be a proper family.She didn’t want him to sneak off to spend time with the two of you.She was in love with him.”
“She wanted to be a real family, and he couldn’t leave the one he already had.”
