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“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Daniel said, quickly sitting down at the table.
It was funny how everyone had the same seat since childhood. No one ever seemed to vary from it. Parker sat down in his regular seat. Just once he should sit down in someone else’s place just to see what would happen. He smiled at the mere thought of it. Chaos would erupt.
Jason rubbed his stomach. “We’ve been waiting on the two of you. I’m starving.”
“Maybe you should learn to cook,” Caleb teased, jabbing him in the side.
Everyone laughed. One quick glance in his mother’s direction showed her sitting at the end of the table with a serious expression on her face. Her hands were crossed prayerfully in front of her. Parker could tell she was on edge.
There was a strange vibe in the air. Parker met Jason’s gaze from across the table. He knew Jason sensed it too. His brows were furrowed and he couldn’t hide the look of concern stamped on his face.
Once everyone had been seated, Jude cleared his throat. He placed his large hands in front of him on the table. “We didn’t just call the family together for supper.” He looked down the table at Penelope and sent her a pointed look. “Your mother and I have something to tell you.”
“Oh no!” Shayla cried out. “Are you sick? Did someone die?” Fear was etch
ed on her beautiful features.
Micah reached out and clasped her hand in his. “Take it easy, Shayla. No one died. No one is ill.” He looked from one end of the table then to the other. “Right?”
“No, that’s not it,” Penelope said in a firm voice. “It’s something quite different altogether.” She bowed her head. “This isn’t easy to say, but your father and I…we’ve decided to separate.”
A hush fell over the table. Parker couldn’t remember ever sitting at the Donahue table and hearing nothing but absolute silence. Parker swung his gaze around the table. Everyone had a look of utter shock etched on their faces. They were all stunned, to the point where no one could utter a word.
“Kids, we know this is a shock to the system. We’ve done what we could to stick it out,” Jude said with a heavy sigh. “But some things can’t be fixed. People grow apart and in different directions. We’re not filing any papers yet, but we know living together with all this tension isn’t good for either one of us.”
“It doesn’t mean we don’t love each other,” their mother added. “We’ll always care deeply for one another, but we just can’t go on like this.”
“But what about the vows you took?” Shayla asked, her lips trembling with emotion. “Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“Clearly not,” Heath muttered. Parker studied his brother intently. Heath had recently returned from a stint in the military. He’d been under an inordinate amount of stress. Parker had been worried for weeks about his brother’s state of mind. He seemed a bit off-kilter. And unusually subdued. He wondered if things were going smoothly with his high school sweetheart.
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Jason interjected. “We can’t judge them when we haven’t walked in their shoes.”
“Fair? I’m not sure it’s fair to be invited to a family dinner only to be blindsided by this devastating news,” Micah said, his voice laced with anger. “Something tells me it didn’t just happen overnight. Am I right?”
“Enough!” Parker said in a raised voice. “Stop acting like two-year old’s having a tantrum.” Everyone stared at him with wide eyes. He lowered his voice. “We haven’t even heard them out or tried to empathize with their situation. That’s not the Donahue way. Our family has always come first, and we owe it to our parents to listen and show compassion. It may be too early for understanding, but we’re going to do our best to try.”
His father nodded in his direction. “Thank you, Parker. This isn’t easy for us. We’ve been struggling with this issue for years. Somehow in raising the eight of you children, we lost sight of who we were as a couple.”
“We lost us,” Penelope said, gazing down the table at her husband. Looking at the two of them caused a wealth of feeling to rise up inside Parker. Although he knew that it was important for him to stay strong for his younger siblings, a big part of him wanted to crack wide open. This was all he’d ever known. This abiding love. These two people who had endured hardships in order to raise their brood of children and give them the best of everything. How had things fallen apart so disastrously when none of them had been paying attention?
“We lost sight of each other as a couple,” Jude said, running his hand across his face. His father looked weary, Parker realized. As if he’d been fighting a fierce battle. And maybe he had been. Perhaps his parents had both been fighting to keep their marriage alive. Now, the stress and strain of it all was rising to the surface. All he knew was he didn’t want either of them to live in pain. Not after all they’d given their children.
“What about the Silver Spoon?” Heath asked, his brows furrowed with worry.
“We’re still going to run the diner as we always have, no matter where the future takes us,” Jude said in a calm voice.
No matter where the future takes us. Parker winced at the statement. He knew it was a subtle reference to the worst part of a separation—the very real possibility of divorce.
“We’ll still be a family,” Penelope assured them. “Please don’t worry.”
“What about the house? Will you both still be living here?” Daniel asked. Leave it to Daniel to ask a practical question, Parker thought. He was all about the bottom line, sometimes to the detriment of his emotions and feelings. Parker knew his brother cared deeply, but his delivery was sometimes off.
Shayla broke down in tears, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed. Parker felt as if his heart was breaking at the sight of her. The one thing he couldn’t bear were Shayla’s tears. He’d felt this way since she was a newborn. A sad, teary Shayla was his Kryptonite. Parker stood up from his chair and moved toward his sister’s seat. By the time he’d gotten there, his father had beat him to it. Jude Donahue was cradling his daughter as if she was a little baby. Parker stood back watching with his heart lodged in his throat. Shayla had a habit of making little hiccupping sounds when she was very upset and crying.
Caleb had moved over toward their mother’s seat. He was rubbing her shoulder and talking to her in a low tone. Penelope was dabbing at her eyes with her napkin.
“I guess I ruined dinner,” Penelope said. “I should have waited until after we’d eaten, but…it’s been weighing heavily on my heart.”
