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After the confrontation with Bill and Paula, they fought while I took a shower and got dressed. I rushed down the stairs and out the front door. My world was literally crashing down around me with each second I waited to go to Cadence. I was almost to my truck when I heard the front door slam behind me.
“Connor, can I speak with you a moment before you go?” Bill yelled.
“What?” I yelled back, irritated that I’d not gotten away faster. “What is it you need?” I asked, turning around to face him.
“I’d like to have a word with you for a moment if I could,” Bill said, stepping down off the porch.
I let out a breath and looked my father-in-law in the eyes. “What?” I didn’t mean to be short, but I knew time was slipping away. I knew Cadence and her irrational thought pattern. She’d already been gone long enough to pack her stuff and already be heading for the Midwest.
“I’m sure you probably heard Paula and I yelling earlier. We have been having this disagreement for months.”
“I see.” I said, crossing my arms.
“It was her idea to bring Olivia. Not mine. I want you to know that. I told her it would be better if she asked first, but she insisted. She kept telling me there was no way you were seeing anyone.”
“Okay.” I really wasn’t sure what it was he was trying to say, but I could tell from the seriousness of his tone and the look in his eyes that it was important for him to say it.
“Paula felt, and has felt, for a long time that you were just going to go out as quickly as you could and replace Ella. I told her she was being ridiculous.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Why would she think that? When had I ever alluded to me not loving my wife in the years I was with her? I just stood there, kept quiet and listened. I was tired of arguing, and I still had one battle to fight. It was one I knew would take up a lot of my energy and focus.
“I always stood up for you. I’d ask her why she felt that way, but she could never answer me. The last couple of times on the phone with you, she was so horrible, so I finally started throwing her own words back at her. She’d always say she loved you like a son, but yet here she was saying all these horrible things.”
“I appreciate you standing up for me.”
Bill nodded. “I want you to be happy. We want you to be happy. I mean, hell, I’ve lived my life. It’s only fair you live yours.”
“Yet Paula doesn’t agree?”
“Now she does. It’s not a secret that she has been having a really hard time with all this. She was looking for anyone to blame, anyone at all that may give her a reason she lost her daughter. Is it right? No, but that is what she has done.”
“I appreciate you being honest with me.”
Bill nodded, then looked me in the eye. “We want nothing more than for you to be happy. So, for what it is worth, we want you to know that you have our blessing. We both love Cadence like a daughter, and I think it shocked Paula and I both to see you with her.”
I nodded. “Thank you. Now, I’ve got to go.”
* * *
I was almost to the end of my driveway when my cell phone rang. Praying it was Cadence, I came to a stop and answered.
“Hello, Cadence, please tell me it’s you.”
“Connor? Connor, it’s Gabe. Where are you?”
“Gabe?” I asked, placing my phone down on the seat beside me, turning my truck out onto the road. I couldn’t waste any more time. I’d messed things up enough, now I needed to make it right.
“Yeah, I just, I wanted to call you. See what the hell is going on back there. I spoke with Cadence. She’s really upset, man. I’m scared she is going to do something irrational.”
I frowned, feeling the weight of what had happened on my shoulders. I knew I’d gone about everything wrong. I should have thrown them out. I should have treated Cadence a lot differently than I did when she’d appeared in the doorway of my kitchen. I should have protected her from them. At least from the daggers they threw at her, but I’d barked. I’d been a complete ass to the woman I’d wanted for years, instead of showing her the respect she deserved.
“Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
“Afraid of what? Would someone please tell me what the fuck is going on back there?” he barked. “I’ve listened to Cadence speak in code, without really telling me what is going on. Don’t you start on me also.”
“God, Gabe. Don’t hate me. I…”
I kept my focus on the road ahead. I knew I needed to man up and tell my best friend what happened, and I had to do it now.
