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“Do you know why my dad left when I was a kid?”
Gramma sat in pensive silence for a moment before answering.
“Honey, there’s a lot I didn’t know about your father. There’s a lot of things he did that he was raised better than, and I don’t pretend to know why. Your Papa was very hard on him – expected a lot out of him, but he had other directions he wanted to go. Some, I didn’t agree with.”
Farren thought about it for a minute. She stood to lay Harley in the bassinet across the room and sat back down on the bed.
“Do you remember when he first took off, how a man had come for me and found me?”
Gramma nodded. “I do.”
“Do you know who that man was?”
“No… It took several weeks for me to locate you. I never did hear who it was that found you. Why?”
With disbelief, she told Gramma, “I found out tonight it was Rogan. The thing is, I think he’s the reason my dad left.”
“Oh, honey.” Gramma shifted so she was facing Farren. “I want you to listen to me. Your father wasn’t run off by anyone. I don’t know why he left when he did, but your Papa and I had been fighting with him for years to keep him from abandoning his responsibilities. He’s wanted to be free long before he left, and even long before you were born.
“It’s in his nature, in his soul to be a wanderer. That has nothing to do with anything Rogan did or anything you could have ever done.”
Farren searched her Gramma’s eyes as tears welled up in hers.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Listen, I may not know Tom anymore, but he was my son. I knew him. I’m surprised he stuck around as long as he did if I’m being honest.”
“But Rogan, I just know he ran my dad out of town that day. I don’t know why. How can I forgive that?”
Gramma took Farren’s hands in hers.
“Maybe you should give him a chance and hear him out.”
Farren shook her head in protest. “No, I can’t trust him anymore. Too much has happened over these past couple of days. I feel like he’s betrayed me in so many ways, I don’t see how we can come back from all of it.”
She held her face in her hands and cried the bitter, desperate tears of agony, consumed with the grief of not only her own loss but Harley’s, too. He didn’t deserve all of this, and she wanted better for him. She wanted better for her, too. She loved Rogan still, so much that it killed her inside.
Gramma wrapped her arms around Farren and held her tight, stroking the back of her hair.
“You just have to have a little faith
in people. Have a little faith,” she said.
After several minutes, Farren felt Gramma look up as they heard a knock sounding at the apartment door.
Farren recoiled in panic, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. She shook her head in violent resolve. “If that’s Rogan, I can’t face him right now.”
Gramma stood. “Are you sure, honey? Maybe sitting down and talking would help clear up some things.”
She waited for Farren’s answer as another round of knocks came, this time louder and more urgent.
“No, I can’t do it right now. Please tell him to go away,” Farren pleaded with desperation.
Gramma’s mouth opened as if she were going to say something else, but then thought better of it.
“Okay.” She left the room and Farren’s breath held as she listened to Gramma open the door.
“I need to talk to Farren. I know she’s here. I saw her car outside,” Rogan’s determined, muffled voice said.
