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She set oatmeal in front of everyone, then put down bowls with Genny’s canned apple slices, which had been preserved with brown sugar and cinnamon. You could pour it into a pie crust and pop it into the oven, and have a delicious pie. But the O’Connell men liked it right out of the bowl.
Jake dumped his into his oatmeal and stirred it around, then took a sip of coffee. “So, shall we address the elephant in the room?”
Jacob laughed. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no elephant. I think it’s great and overdue,actually. I like Ember.”
Jake looked at J.T., who held up a spoonful of oatmeal. “You know how I feel. I’m with Granddad.”
Sawyer smiled. “Now that it’s sunk in a little and I’m over the shock, I say Ember is welcome to the family.”
Sage set her spoon down hard. “How is everyone okay with this?” She looked at Jake. “I’m sorry, Dad, but you’ve only known her for five months. Five months when you had amnesia. That’s hardly a perfect scenario to build a relationship on.”
He smiled at her. “As you once told me when you were madly in love with Tommy Shields, you can’t help who you fall in love with.”
“And how did that turn out?”
“You both ended up in the principal's office after you pushed him off the swing when he told you he didn’t feel the same way.” He looked at her for a moment. “I know you feel like I’m betraying your mother. But I’m not. I got the opportunity to discover that the human heart is capable of holding on to a lost love while finding a new one. I’m a lucky son of a bitch to have two great women love me.”
Sage nodded, then looked at her bowl of oatmeal. “I’m sorry about the oatmeal.”
Jake laughed. “It’s not too bad with the apples mixed in.”
“I can make you something else.”
“It’s fine.” He took a bite of oatmeal along with a slice of apple. “Ember is going to start eating dinner with us. It’ll give you all an opportunity to get to know her better.”
Sawyer grinned. “What about breakfast?”
Jake looked at him. “We’ll start with dinner.” He took a sip of coffee. “I am going to be spending time with her at the other house. Until we figure out how to make this all work. Eventually, of course, she’ll move in here.”
The conversation turned away from Ember, but Sage remained quiet for the rest of the meal. When she finished eating, she stood and put her bowls in the sink, then she left through the back door.
Jake watched her go, then looked at Jacob. “What can I do about this?”
“Let the child figure it out. She’ll come around.”
Sawyer leaned back in his chair. “I have a confession to make.” They all looked at him. “Sage didn’t push Tommy out of the swing. I did.”
Jake grinned. “No shit.”
“Yeah. But she never told anyone. She took the blame and the two-day suspension that came with it.”
“Of my three children, my daughter is the only one to get suspended. And in the fourth grade. Your mother and I figured we were in for a rough few years.”
“Well, now you know. It was me. I’m the onewho should’ve been suspended.”
J.T. looked at him. “Why didn’t you confess? At least to Mom and Dad.”
“Sage told me she’d… Actually, you probably don’t want to know what she said. But it made me keep my mouth shut.”
J.T. leaned in and whispered in Sawyer’s ear. Sawyer nodded and J.T. laughed. “She told me that a time or two, as well.”
Jake shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.”
Jacob set his coffee cup down hard. “Well, I do.”
Sawyer laughed. “No, Granddad, you really don’t.”
Sawyer found Sage in the barn giving oats to her horse, Shadow. She glanced at him, then turned back to the horse.
