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“He could have a full athletic scholarship to several Division II schools but he won’t consider them…maybe even a few Division I schools too. He’s that good but he can’t leave them with her. He deserves to have a life.”
“I hear you Ronan. Are you saying that you would take these kids in?” Sam asked me.
“I would,” I heard my dad’s hand slap against the counter. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I glanced down at Skylar and she nodded her head. She agreed with me.
“Kids, that is really honorable but I’m not sure that you’ve been clean long enough that a judge would allow you custody of them.”
I dropped my head. I wanted to get them out of her care after what I saw last night. I wanted Delilah to care enough to get help. I wasn’t sure that she did.
“What if your Dad and I took them in?” Mom asked.
“Stevie,” Dad snapped.
“We can’t just let them suffer,” Mom said.
“Mrs. Moore,” Dominick said. “It’s all right. I understand. We’re two teenagers and an eight-year-old girl. I get it. Who wants to raise more kids at his age?” My dad snorted. I wanted to laugh. Skylar covered her snickers in my back.
“Is this why you gave up on law?” My dad asked.
I turned my head and looked at him. “What are you talking about?” I asked him.
“I just don’t understand you anymore Ronan. You were going to be so successful. Top five percent of your law class. Some well-known law offices were clamoring for you. You just needed to pass the bar exam. You gave it all up because of a drug overdose to become a teacher making a quarter of what you could make as a lawyer.”
“You sound like I did two years ago when I said something about Fionn becoming a farmer.”
He covered his mouth with his hand. Dad dropped his hand in his lap. “I think this is a little different. Ronan, you can’t save every child who has a bad home.”
“These kids are different. They are family but for the others I can make a difference,” I argued. “I feel like a have a sense of purpose in my life for the first time in forever. Don’t you see Dad?”
“I guess I don’t.”
Why couldn’t he see what the kids were teaching me? They had given me a sense of pride and accomplishment that I could never get sitting behind a desk or in a courtroom. Every Friday night when we took the field as a team, I felt more as an Assistant Coach helping these boys learn to become men than I ever had as a player. I was learning more from them in the classroom as well. At times, it was thankless. There were the smartasses. There were the ones that just didn’t give a shit but there were the ones that were eager to get what you wanted to teach them and go to the next level. College then life. I had a lot about life I could teach them.
“You’re so intelligent Ronan. Your IQ is off the charts. I just don’t get it.”
“Is this why you are so angry at me? You think I’m wasting my life?”
Dad just shook his head at me. “Dad, do you know like Fionn I have my own issues. Maybe that’s why I started with weed.” I stopped talking and thought about it. “I couldn’t shut down. I couldn’t turn off at night. I couldn’t turn off ever. I had to find a way to mellow out or lose my mind. I am happier than I have been in a really long time taking the education courses, getting my teaching certificate so I can teach full-time not just as a substitute.”
I looked down at Skylar watching me. “I’m happier than I have any right to be. I’m lucky this beautiful woman loves me. We’re going to have a son soon and I can’t wait for him to get here. Grams always said things happen for a reason. I don’t like how it happened. I’m still ashamed of how it happened but I’ll be Goddamned that I’ll ever regret again that Skylar is pregnant with Luke.”
He wouldn’t look at me. Dad was staring at the floor.
“Dad, look at me.” Finally, he looked up at me. “Are you any less proud of me that I’m going to be a teacher than a lawyer? It is an honorable profession like a doctor, a farmer or a business manager. An electrician.” I named each of my brothers’ occupations. My grandfather’s occupation and father’s occupation. I waited for him to respond. “Dammit Dad I want you to be proud of me but I also want you to be there for Luke as you have for Ciaran and Fionn’s kids. Don’t you want that?”
The room was silent. No one was speaking. We were all waiting for Dad to answer my question. “He’s a great teacher and coach. He’s also a really good role model,” Dominick put out there for me. “I know what happened. He stands up without shame and says the shit that he did was wrong. A lesser guy would have tried to hide it. That’s all I gotta say.”
I laughed. “Thanks man,” I said. Mom hugged Dominick to her as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I think that you need to take Dominick back to the farm,” Gramps said to my Mom and Dad. “When Delilah wakes maybe we can talk to her about getting help. Let that be the first step.”
“I don’t have to leave,” Dominick argued.
“Yeah kid, you do.” I agreed with my Gramps. “It’s time you let adults be the adults and you be the kid.”
Mom rose from the sofa and tugged on Dominick’s hand. “Come on,” she told him. Dad got up from the barstool where he sat and followed her to the door. I realized then that he wasn’t going to answer my question. I thanked Mom at the door and kissed her on the cheek. Dom was leaving his car here tonight. I would come get the kids in the morning when I brought Gramps home. He was staying with us tonight for whatever reason not that I minded. My grandfather was a comfort to me.
Sam left too. He agreed with Gramps. He felt convincing her to seek treatment was the best solution. He also thought the fewer people that were around the better Delilah would take it.
