by Marie Force
She poured him a cup of coffee and pushed the cream his way. “How’re you doing?”
“Remarkably well, all things considered. Molly and the kids have been propping me up.”
“I hope you know… I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say we think it’s just outrageous that it happened in the first place.”
“Thank you, honey. I appreciate that, but it was a long time ago. It has no bearing on my wonderful life or family.”
“What do you feel like eating?”
“Is Butch here yet?” Linc asked, peering around her to see if the cook was in.
“He’s due any minute.”
“I’ll wait for him. I don’t want you cooking for me.”
She rested her hand on top of his. “It would be my pleasure to make your usual for you, Linc.”
He realized she wanted to do something for him. He turned his hand up to squeeze hers. “Then I gratefully accept. Thank you.”
“Coming right up.”
She turned the TV on to CNBC, handed him the morning’s Wall Street Journal and refilled his coffee cup before heading to the kitchen to make his breakfast. How blessed he was, he thought, to be surrounded by so many people who loved him every day, but especially today when he was feeling so raw.
Linc flipped through the financial news in the paper, gave the market ticker on the TV a cursory glance and tried to keep his mind on all the things that usually framed his days—Molly, their family, friends, the various businesses the family ran, their community, the upcoming holiday—so he wouldn’t be dragged into a rabbit hole of emotions.
If he tried to tell himself it was just another day, then he’d be okay. The silver lining, if there was such a thing to be found in this situation, was a night away with Molly and all their kids. Other than the trip to Boston earlier in the year for Wade’s wedding, it’d been a while since they’d traveled anywhere together as a group. They’d done a lot of camping when their family was young, mostly because that was the only thing they could afford for their family of twelve, not to mention the various pets who’d tagged along on their adventures.
In recent years, they’d added a number of daughters- and sons-in-law, as well as significant others, fiancés and grandchildren that had taken the original twelve to…
Taking the pen Megan had left on the counter, he made a list on a napkin:
Hunter, Megan
Hannah, Nolan, Callie
Will, Cameron, Chase
Ella, Gavin
Charley, Tyler
Wade, Mia
Colton, Lucy
Lucas, Dani, Savannah
Landon, Amanda, Stella
Max, Caden
A total of twenty-seven, counting him, Molly and Elmer, with four more on the way. He was glad he’d done that math. It was a number he looked forward to sharing with his father after he introduced him to the ten grandchildren he’d never know thanks to the ultimatum that had come between the two of them.
Having been a grandfather for a year now, he actually pitied his father for what his stubborn rigidness had caused him to miss with Linc’s kids. The whole thing was unbearably sad. One of the questions he’d frequently pondered over the years was how things might’ve been different for him—for all of them—if his brother Hunter hadn’t died. That’d been the start of their downward spiral as a family with the scene in his father’s study their rock bottom.
The bells on the door jingled, jarring Linc from his thoughts about the past. He glanced over his shoulder to see his father-in-law come in, shivering from the cold.
“You’re up early,” Linc said.
Elmer slid onto the stool next to Linc. “Could say the same to you.”
“I’m not sure I actually slept more than an hour or two last night.”
“Got a lot on your mind, son.”
“Indeed.”
“I was thinking last night about that day when the two of you came home from Philly, shell-shocked.”
“And Molly… She just took care of it, didn’t she?”
Elmer smiled. “She sure did.”
“Tell me the truth. Did you want to say no when she asked you to marry us that night?” They’d never talked about it again, and only the four of them had ever known it had happened.
Elmer got up, went behind the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee and then topped off Linc’s mug. “Truth?”
“Nothing but.”
“It never occurred to me to say no to her. By then, I knew for certain you were what she wanted, and you’d shown me at work that you weren’t faking your interest in her family business. And when I heard your father had given you that awful ultimatum and you’d walked away from everything else that mattered to you so you could marry my Molly…” He shrugged. “Suffice to say I was honored to preside over both your weddings.”
“Wait,” Megan said as she came from the kitchen with Linc’s breakfast. “You had two weddings?”
Elmer grimaced at Linc. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. The only reason we never talked about the first one with the kids was that we’d have to tell them what else had happened that day, and I didn’t want them to know.”
Megan put the plate in front of Linc and automatically put a bottle of the hot sauce he sometimes liked on eggs on the counter. He loved how she did those things without even thinking, tending to the likes and dislikes of her many customers automatically.
“Thank you, honey. And yes, Molly and I had two weddings, but no one really knows that except the two of us and her parents.”
“Oh,” she said with a gleeful grin, “so I know something none of the kids know?”
“Yes, you do,” Linc said, amused by her delight in having a scoop. “The day my father issued the ultimatum?”
Megan nodded.
“We came home to Vermont, and Molly asked her dad to marry us right away. It was like she knew I needed that after what’d occurred earlier. She was amazing that night. So determined to do whatever she could to show me I still had a family.”
“I love that,” Megan said, sighing. “So romantic.”
“It was pretty awesome,” Linc said, smiling as he remembered that night and the incident with the air mattress. That was something that belonged only to him and Molly.
“Will you tell the others about that now that they know the rest?”
“I suppose maybe we should so they can hear just how incredible their mom was and is.”
“They already know that,” Megan said. “This’ll just elevate her to cult status.”
“Where she belongs,” Elmer said.
Linc nodded. “Couldn’t agree more.” When he stood to leave the diner a short time later, Megan came around the counter to hug him.
“I hope it goes as well as possible, and please know that those of us who aren’t there will be back here wishing you the best. We all love you, Linc.”
Linc returned her hug. “Thank you, honey. Love you, too. Hold down the fort for us around here while we’re gone.”
“Will do.”
“And don’t tell Butch I said so, but your eggs are better than his.”
“Oh my God! I’m so telling him that!”
Laughing, Linc left the diner, crossed the street and headed up the stairs to the office, where Emma greeted him with a worried look. “Morning, and yes, I’m okay.”
“Glad to hear it. I was sorry to hear what you’re going through, but I’m glad your family has rallied around you, not that it surprises me.”
“I’m a very lucky man, and nothing that happens in the next twenty-four hours can change that.”
“I wish you the best of luck on the trip. I hope you know that.”
“I do, and I appreciate it very much. I’m going to see if I can get something done before we leave.”
“Sounds good.”
Seeing that none of the kids were in yet, Linc went into his office and shut the door, wanting to make a call before everyone else arrived. No doubt they�
�d be sticking close to him that day, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
As he dialed the numbers, he was angry with himself for being nervous, but it was only the second time in forty years he’d called his sister. It was only natural to be nervous. The phone rang three times before a man’s voice answered.
“Hello, this is Lincoln Abbott calling for Charlotte. Is she available?”
After a long pause, the man said, “One moment, please.” In the background, he heard the man say, “Char, for you. Your brother. Lincoln.”
Char. Hearing the familiar nickname gave him a pang. That’s what he’d called her growing up.
“Lincoln? Are you there?”
“I’m here.”
“I’m so glad you called. I was hoping you would.”
“I wanted to let you know I’ll be there to see Father tomorrow morning around ten, if that’s all right.”
“That should be fine. He’s better in the mornings.”
“Will I see you, too?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Safe travels, Linc.”
He put down the phone and sat for a long time, letting his mind wander to a childhood filled with good times with his mother, siblings, cousins and grandparents. His father had worked—a lot—so they hadn’t seen as much of him, especially during the summers when they decamped to his grandparents’ place on the shore.
Those had been idyllic days until they lost Hunter and everything had changed for all of them, and particularly for him, who’d suddenly become the heir apparent to the family business his brother had been groomed to lead. After Hunter died, it became clear to Linc that his father expected him to take his brother’s place in the company. They’d never actually discussed it. Rather, it’d been understood, one more thing that changed amid the shock and grief of his brother’s sudden death.
A knock sounded on the door he rarely closed. “Dad?”
“Come in.”
His late brother’s namesake came in, tall, dark, handsome and smarter than Linc would ever be. “Morning, son.”
“How’re you doing?”
“I’m all right. You?”
“Same.” Hunter took a seat on the other side of his father’s desk. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, but thank you for asking.” He looked at his firstborn, who definitely bore a familial resemblance to his late uncle. “I was just thinking about my brother, the one you were named for.”
“I was curious about him after you mentioned him.”
Linc nodded. “Losing him was the worst thing to ever happen. He was an expert sailor. No one could explain how it was possible that something like that could happen to him. It’s one of those things we’ll just never know.”
“I’m so sorry you lost him that way.”
“Thank you. He was supposed to run the company. And after we lost him…”
“Your father turned to you.”
“Yes. Only, Hunter wanted it, and I didn’t.”
“Did your father know that?”
“He did, but that didn’t matter. His father had started the company, handed it down to him, and it was coming my way whether I wanted it or not.”
“That’s a heavy thing to put on someone so young.”
“It was, and sometimes I felt like an ungrateful jerk for wanting something different, even if I didn't know yet what that different thing was. More than anything, I didn’t want my entire life decided for me before I was twenty-five.”
“I can certainly understand that. What was it about this place that interested you when that didn’t?”
“The potential,” Linc said. “That was the first thing I saw when I came here, that it could be so much more than it already was. Gramps would tell you he was guilty of doing things a certain way because that was the way they’d always been done. I tried to show him another way, and for a while, he fought me. He’s not big on change.”
“He and I have that in common.”
Linc cracked up. “That’s a fact. I like that we sell a way of life here, a simpler way, and people connect with that. We’re all nostalgic for simpler times in our lives, and in our fast-paced world, we give our customers something different. I’ve said from the beginning that the potential here is limited only by our own imaginations.”
“You got the new P&L, right?”
“I did.”
“I guess it’s safe to say you were right about the catalog and the intimate line.”
Linc smiled. “Had a feeling I would be. I’ve been wanting to do the catalog for twenty years. Just took a while for all the pieces to come together.”
“The business is on the verge of exploding, Dad. Like exploding to a level we never saw coming. Or I should say, a level the rest of us never saw coming.”
“That’s a very good problem to have.”
“Indeed, but one we’re going to have to manage.”
“Let’s talk about that after the holidays.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I believe time wounds all heels.”
—John Lennon
Molly waited until nine o’clock, when she was sure her sister would be up and at work as the Butler town clerk. Her office was attached to her home, and Molly often stopped by for coffee and a chat while Hannah was working.
When she pulled into Hannah’s driveway, she was surprised to see the closed sign on the door to the clerk’s office and Ray Mulvaney’s SUV parked in the driveway. Well, well, well, Molly thought. Good for them. Her sister had been alone for years after Mike left her, and no one was more thrilled for her and Ray than Molly.
The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt anything, but damn it, she needed her sister, one of the few people in the world who knew most of what’d gone on during that memorable week forty years ago. She went up the stairs to the mudroom door and knocked. When Hannah didn’t answer, she rang the doorbell.
A few minutes later, Hannah came to the door, wearing a bathrobe and attempting to straighten her hair. “Hey.” She opened the door for Molly. “Come in.”
“You’re not working today?”
“Later. I had a council meeting that went until midnight.”
“I woke you up. I’m sorry. Go back to bed.”
“It’s okay. I was awake.” Hannah got busy making coffee. “What’s got you out so early?”
“You won’t believe it if I told you.”
Hannah glanced at Molly over her shoulder. “Is everyone all right?”
“Yes, but apparently, we’re going to Philadelphia today.”
“You and Linc?”
“And the kids.”
“All of them?”
“All of them.” Molly took off her coat and sat at the kitchen table. “Where’s Ray?”
“In the shower, I think.”
“It’s progressed to sleepovers and showers, has it?”
“A while ago, actually.”
“I should go. You guys were having a morning, and I interrupted.”
“It’s fine. I wanted to talk to you anyway, but you first.” She brought mugs of steaming coffee to the table, along with cream and sugar. “Tell me about Philly.”
Molly stirred cream into her coffee and told Hannah about Linc’s sister calling.
“Holy shit,” Hannah said, wide-eyed. “She called to tell him their father is dying and wants to see him. And now you’re going there.”
“We’re going there.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Three days before Christmas?”
“His sister said their father doesn’t have much time.”
“Damn.”
“I’m so angry, Han. That they can call him after forty years and ask this of him. I’m trying to be supportive of him, but all I feel is the anger.”
“Can’t say I blame you. What they did was monstrous.”
“I want to kidnap him and drive him north to Canada
or somewhere they can’t get to him until that craven old man is gone and can’t hurt him anymore.”
“You know you could do that if you were so inclined. Tell him you want to show him something, get in the car and head north.”
Molly dropped her head into her hands. “I’m sorely tempted.” She looked up at Hannah. “What right do they have to do this to him after forty years?”
“They have no right at all.”
Ray came into the kitchen and stopped short when he saw Molly there, glancing at Hannah as if he wasn’t sure what to do.
Hannah reached out her hand to him. “It’s okay. She knows you sleep over.”
“Oh, um… Well…”
Molly laughed at his befuddled response and the way his handsome face turned bright red. “Sorry to interrupt your morning.”
“You didn’t,” Ray said. “Can I make you ladies some breakfast?”
“And he cooks, too,” Hannah said with a smug grin. To Ray, she said, “That’d be lovely. Thank you.”
“Coming right up.”
When Ray was occupied with cooking, Molly leaned in to whisper to her sister, “Go, girl.”
“Right?” Hannah lowered her voice even further. “I’m thinking about asking him to move in.”
“Is that right?”
Hannah shrugged. “He’s here every night anyway.”
Ray poured himself a cup of coffee. “I can hear you two talking about me.”
“We’re not talking about you,” Hannah said. “We’re talking about my other boyfriend, the one you don’t know about.”
“Sure you are. That’s all right. I’ll still make you breakfast even if you’re talking about me.”
“We’re actually talking about how Linc’s family contacted him for the first time in forty years and asked him to come to his father’s deathbed so the father can make himself feel better about cutting him off before he dies.” She glanced at Molly. “Did I get that right?”
“Spot-on.”
“That’s extremely screwed up,” Ray said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Hannah replied.
“What’s he going to do?” Ray asked.
“I guess we’re going there so his father can clear his conscience before he dies,” Molly said.