Chapter 3
Three
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
A dream you dream together is reality.”
—John Lennon
Linc smiled as he remembered his arrival in Mississippi and the warm welcome he’d received from Joseph and Keisha, who were his and Molly’s good friends to this day.
They’d made a lot of good friends that summer, people they’d stayed close to in the ensuing years.
That summer had been all about heat, hard work, good food, great friends, life lessons and love.
Speaking of love, Molly came back to the kitchen with their grandson, Caden, in her arms. The little guy chirped with excitement at the sight of Linc, who reached for him.
Molly handed him over.
Linc snuggled the sweet-smelling baby and kissed the top of his head. “Where’s your daddy, pal?”
“In the shower,” Molly answered. “He said he’ll be down in a few minutes for the family meeting.”
Max had come home from work at midday to take Caden to an appointment, and so Molly could go into town for her weekly lunch with Linc and Elmer. Under normal circumstances, Max would be on his way back to work—either at the mountain with Colton or the tree farm with Landon.
But since Linc had received that bombshell phone call, nothing about this day was normal for any of them.
“Are you okay, Dad?” Hunter asked.
Linc glanced at his son. “I’m okay. Of course it’s upsetting, but it’s nothing to worry about.”
“That’s good,” Hunter said, visibly relieved.
It was astonishing, really, how much it still hurt, even after all this time.
As he held his grandson close, he tried to tell himself that the family he’d created with Molly had more than filled the void of the one he’d lost. But it hadn’t.
Not completely. How could you ever “replace” the people you’d grown up with?
He simply couldn’t imagine any of his children being estranged from him and Molly or one another.
When the kids were younger and squabbling the way siblings did, Linc was forever reminding them that the best friends they’d ever have in their lives were the people right in their home.
His children had heard that often enough that they’d taken it to heart and remained “thick as thieves,” as Elmer liked to say, as adults.
Lincoln counted that as one of the greatest achievements of his life, because he knew all too well that it didn’t always work out that way, that the bonds of family could be far more fragile than they appeared.
Over the next half hour, the kids trickled into the barn.
First Ella, then Landon, Colton and Will.
Hannah came with baby Callie, and Lucas showed up still wearing his fire department uniform.
He’d been so thankful to return to work after being sidelined for almost two months following the fire at the inn.
It was a relief to see him healthy, strong and in uniform.
Max came downstairs, fresh from the shower and immediately took note of Caden snuggled up with his dad. He was such a great dad to his little boy.
“What’s on the docket?” Charley asked, her cheeks red from the cold.
“I’ll tell you when Wade gets here.”
“I’m here,” Wade said, coming in with Elmer right behind him.
“That’s all of us, Dad,” Hunter said, always the leader of the pack.
“Let’s go in the family room,” Linc said, taking note of the unusual apprehension in his children’s expressions and posture.
He followed them into the large but cozy room they’d decorated with multiple sofas when everyone still lived at home. They’d spent a lot of time there together, watching movies and sports and playing games.
Caden snuggled into Linc’s embrace as if the little guy knew he needed some extra love just then.
Molly sat next to him, her hand on his leg. As she had from the very beginning of their journey, she was worth every sacrifice he’d made to be with her.
“Thanks for coming, everyone.”
“You’re kinda freaking us out, Dad,” Charley said in her typically blunt style.
“Sorry to worry you.” After a deep breath, he took the plunge.
“You know I never talk about my family. My original family, I should say. I’m sure you’ve wondered why we don’t see them or hear from them.
It’s not something I like to think about, let alone talk about, which is why I’ve steered clear of the subject.
My father… He’s a difficult, exacting man who likes to be in control of everything in his world, especially his children.
When my older brother, Hunter, was killed in an accident when he was twenty, we were shattered. ”
“God, Dad,” Hannah said. “I’m so sorry you lost him.”
“It was brutal, and my father… He became more unyielding than ever after we lost Hunter. As his eldest living son, it was understood, by him, that I’d take Hunter’s place, come into the family business like my brother was supposed to and take over for him when he was ready to retire.”
“What was the family business?” Will asked.
“Commercial real estate in Philadelphia.”
“What happened to your brother?” Wade said.
“He was hit in the head with a boom while sailing and was knocked overboard. The autopsy determined that he drowned.”
“I’m so sorry, Dad,” Ella said.
“It was an awful, shocking loss, especially since Hunt was such a skilled sailor.” Linc thought of his late brother and his other three siblings just about every day. He retrieved worn family photos from his wallet and handed the first one to Hunter. “That’s the uncle you were named for.”
Hunter studied the image. “I look like him.”
“Yes, you do. Here’s one of all of us.” He gave the second photo to Hannah. “My sister, Charlotte, and my other brothers, Will and Max, are in that one.”
“You named us after them,” Max said.
“We did, because I never stopped missing them.” The raw pain of their initial split had been replaced, over time, by a feeling of nostalgia for the years they’d spent together.
Back then, he’d been na?ve to think that nothing could ever come between them.
He’d found out otherwise in the most painful way possible.
“Since I didn’t really have a better plan for myself, I went along with my father’s plan for me after Hunter died.
I wanted to keep the peace and not upset anyone after what we’d already been through.
” Linc forced himself to continue the story, determined to get it over with once and for all.
“I mean, it’s not like he was trying to hand over a crappy business.
Quite the contrary. It was a thirty-million-dollar-a-year enterprise at that time, and from what I’ve seen and heard, it’s only grown in the ensuing years. ”
Hunter let out a low whistle.
“In the back of my mind, always, was this niggling feeling that I wasn’t meant for the commercial real estate business.
But as long as I did what was expected of me, I was in my father’s good graces.
I had one more year of school planned at Oxford, which I’d insisted on out of fear that I might never get to the UK if I didn’t make that happen, and then it would be time to go to work.
I was resigned, if not very excited about it. ”
He glanced at Molly and smiled. “And then I met your mother.”
At the end of his first full day working on the construction site, Lincoln was tired, dirty, sweaty and sore. He’d had a true comeuppance when it came to realizing how easy college and grad school had been compared to the work he was doing now.
“How you holding up, Yank?” Joseph asked with a good-natured grin.
“I’m wrecked.”
Joseph threw his head back and laughed. “You’ll get used to it. Eventually.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.” Lincoln stretched the kinks out of his back that’d come from hauling building supplies from the delivery point to houses in various stages of construction.
They were located around a wide swath of green space that would be used as a community gathering place once the development was completed.
Some of the houses were only framed, while others were much closer to completion. Joseph had told him that different teams worked on different houses, from framers to drywallers to finish carpenters, with plumbers and electricians coming and going as needed.
Lincoln could only imagine the coordination that went into the dizzying activity.
“Hey, Joseph,” one of the foremen called from a house a few hundred yards from where they were standing. “We’ve got a problem you need to see.”
“Ugh, it’s always something.” Joseph checked his watch. “Our last volunteer is arriving at five thirty. Would you mind taking my truck to pick her up at the bus station?”
Linc desperately wanted a shower, a change of clothes and something to eat, but he took the keys from Joseph, who had far more to contend with than Linc ever had. “Happy to.”
“Thanks a million. Bring her back here, and I’ll drop you both at the campground on the way home.”
“Will do.”
“Do you remember how to get there?”
“I think so.”
Joseph gave him verbal directions that Linc tried to commit to memory, hoping he wouldn’t get lost. “You’re looking for Molly Stillman.”
“I’ll find her.”
As Lincoln drove into town, he took in the sights along the way.
Families were gathered on spacious front porches, kids played in parks, and teenagers huddled together in groups.
He passed an antique store, a diner, the post office, an art gallery and a variety of other shops and restaurants.
Having never lived in a small town, he was fascinated by the slower pace, the sense of community and the obvious closeness of the town’s residents.
The farther he got from town, the more houses became dilapidated, overgrown, neglected.
Some bore obvious damage from the hurricane.
He felt good knowing he would help to make a difference for the families who’d benefit from their project, but the need was obviously much greater than a hundred and fifty houses.