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Bret shoved his sister’s hand away. “No kisses. Gross. Hey, Jace, did you know that Mommy used to be married to Julian True—and he’s your other dad?”
Jacey wiped her eyes and dropped her mouth open. “No way!”
Bret grinned from ear to ear. He leaned toward Liam and whispered in his ear, “You told me first?”
Liam clamped down on a smile. “You’re a big boy now. ”
Bret giggled. “Yeah,” he said to his sister, puffing up his narrow chest, “but we’re still a family. ”
Jacey’s arms embraced both of them. She pressed her tear-stained cheek against her brother’s back. “A family,” she said softly. “All we need now is Mom. ”
That evening the story broke. Pictures of “Kayla” and Julian were splashed across television, each one scrutinized and commented upon, their life together cut up into bite-sized pieces for mass consumption. At eight o’clock—right after Entertainment Tonight—the phone rang for the first time. Liam made the mistake of answering it. Some woman from the saddle club was screeching about how it couldn’t be true.
After that, the phone began ringing nonstop. Liam yanked the plug out of the wall.
He went through the motions of ordinary life—he ate dinner, washed the dishes, watched a little television with the kids, then he tucked Bret into bed and read him a bedtime story.
When Bret was finally asleep, Liam carefully crawled out of the bed and padded out of the room. He was about to head downstairs when he noticed the slat of light beneath Jacey’s bedroom door. With a sigh, he headed down the hallway toward her room.
After a long pause, he knocked. “Hey, honey, it’s me. ”
“Oh. Come in. ”
He opened the door and found her exactly as he’d expected: sitting on her bed, wearing headphones, and crying. The television was on.
“Hey, kiddo. ”
She pulled off the headphones and tossed them on the pile of sheets and blankets beside her.
He grabbed her pink beanbag chair and dragged it closer to the bed, then plopped down into its cushy center.
“I yelled at her,” Jacey said. “Mom wakes up after a month in a coma and I yelled at her. ”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. You just go back tomorrow and tell her you love her. ”
“I do love her, but I’m mad at her, and I’m afraid she’ll never remember us. That she’ll only remember … him. ”
“I wish you were still a little girl right now,” he answered in a quiet voice. “If you were, I’d make up a story or tickle you or offer you an ice-cream cone. ”
She smiled. “Something to change the subject. ”
“You bet. But you’re almost grown up, and I can’t protect you from all the hurts in life anymore. The truth is, love comes in a million colors and shades. Some are so clear they’re almost see-through; others are black as pencil lead. ” He stopped, unable to think of anything to say that didn’t sound lame or pathetic. So he took a deep breath and told her what he believed. “Jacey, I don’t know what your mom’s past means to this family, but I know this: We will always be a family, the four of us. Somehow we’ll get each other through it. That’s what families do best. ”
“I love you, Daddy. ”
His heart constricted. A little girl’s word: Daddy. It reminded him of all they’d been through together. They would get each other through this, one way or the other, and when it was all over, they would know how and where the love came to rest among them. “I love you, too, Jace. Now, come here, give your old man a hug. ”
She slid off the bed and dropped onto his lap, twining her arms around his neck.
The beanbag chair was too little, and together they slid off its slick surface and landed in a heap on the floor. Laughing, they separated and crawled awkwardly to their feet.
“Good night, Dad. ”
“Good night, Jace. ”
He left her room and closed the door behind him, then went downstairs. He drifted from room to room aimlessly. It wasn’t until he found himself in the living room, standing beside the grand piano, that he realized he must have been coming here all along.
He sat down. The piano keys were dark. Not that he needed light to play; he didn’t need anything—not sheet music, not light, not an audience. All he needed was Mikaela …
