Chapter 18
Seamus O’Grady made his way home after completing his last run of the day on the ferries, delivering another rowdy group of tourists seeking summer fun on Gansett Island.
Maybe he was getting old and cranky, but the crowds coming these days seemed especially young to him.
There’d been a time when drinking and carousing on Gansett would’ve been his idea of fun.
Now he had a whole new definition of fun, and it included watching Kyle and Jackson, the boys he and his wife, Carolina, were raising, play baseball.
Or do anything, for that matter. He was all in on whatever it was they wanted to do.
He’d been teaching them how to fish this summer, and they loved it.
They loved anything he suggested they do.
More than that, though, they loved having his undivided attention, so he gave it to them as often as he could.
Easy enough, since he adored every second he got to spend with them.
Quite some time ago, he’d more or less given up on the possibility of becoming a father, and then Kyle and Jackson came into their lives, first as their neighbors.
After their mother died tragically young, he and Carolina had stepped up for the boys.
The four of them had become a family that also included Carolina’s son, Joe, and his family, and Seamus’s cousin Shannon and his now-fiancée, Victoria.
He’d been thrilled to get that text from Shannon earlier, after helping his cousin pick out the ring that he’d given Vic.
She LOVED it, Shannon had reported.
That was great news. Seamus adored Vic and how she’d made his cousin smile again, which had once seemed like an impossible task.
After Shannon’s first love, Fiona, had been murdered back in Ireland, they’d worried that Shannon would never move on with his life—and he hadn’t.
Not really, anyway, until he came to Gansett to visit Seamus, met Victoria and found a new purpose.
In addition, Seamus loved having his first cousin living nearby and working with him on the ferries.
They’d been close at home but became more so after Seamus tragically lost his two brothers when they were younger.
Life could really kick you in the teeth, he thought as he let the warm breeze wash over his face, which was why you had to take the joy where you could find it.
His life had been all about the joy since he met Carolina and talked her into taking a chance on a smooth-talking Irishman sixteen years her junior. And since the boys had come into their lives and the grandchildren had arrived, the joy had only multiplied.
He wanted for absolutely nothing, except maybe for more time with the loved ones he’d left back in Ireland.
But they made do with FaceTime and Skype and emails and group texts and every other way they could think of to stay in close touch.
They made it work, and he was very much looking forward to the visit from Shannon’s parents and his own mam.
He was still trying to convince his father to come with them.
Seamus pulled into the driveway at home and was surprised to find the yard deserted.
Usually, the boys and their crazy dog, Burpy, were running around at this time of day, burning off their overabundance of energy.
The stillness had him on edge as he got out of his Gansett Island Ferry Company truck and went inside, carrying three bags of ice that he added to the cooler he’d set up earlier.
He’d dropped off six more bags at Charlie and Sarah’s on the way home.
Their party was in full swing, but he’d wanted to come home to see his own family.
When he walked in, the first thing he noticed was Carolina sitting at the table, looking shell-shocked.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, because there was no doubt in his mind that something was very wrong. “And where’re the boys?”
“They’re playing with Ethan this afternoon. Hope asked if they could come to keep him entertained, because I guess there’s something going on with Marion. She was fully lucid earlier.”
“Wow.”
“Hope said she’d bring them home after dinner.”
“Now tell me what’s wrong.” He couldn’t move or breathe or do anything but stand inside the door, waiting for her to drop the boot on him.
“We got a letter,” she said, swallowing hard. “From a lawyer in Providence.”
“What’s a lawyer in Providence want with us?”
“They represent the boys’ father, Jace Carson.”
Those words sucked all the oxygen out of his body and made his knees buckle. Grasping the countertop, he held on for dear life. “What does he want?”
“To see his sons.”
“Just like that? Out of the blue? Where’s he been all this time?”
“According to the letter, he didn’t know Lisa died. Do you want to read it?”
“No, I don’t want to read it.” He didn’t want to see anything that threatened their standing as the boys’ guardians. He was their father now, not some sperm donor who’d been nowhere to be found before now.
“Seamus, come here.”
“I don’t want to do that either.” He didn’t want to deal with a letter that could endanger their precious family. “If Lisa had wanted him in their lives, she would’ve asked him to take them after she passed.”
“I agree, and we do have options as their legal guardians.”
“He can make trouble for us, love. If he so desires… He’s their biological father. If he took us to court—” His head was suddenly pounding, probably because he was roasting and on the verge of having a stroke.
“Seamus. Stop. Come here and read the letter.”
He did not want to read that letter. If he never read it, he could pretend this wasn’t happening.
“Seamus.”
Carolina tipped her head and gestured for him to join her at the table, where she’d lit several candles to offset the waning daylight. Since he could deny her nothing, he went, even though he most definitely did not want to.
She handed the letter to him.
He forced himself to read the words, to make sense of the words. The boys’ father had only recently learned of Lisa’s death as well as the custody arrangement she had made for their minor children. “How is it possible he didn’t know? She’s been gone for months.”
“Which shows how out of touch he is with his children. That’s actually a good thing.”
“None of this is a good thing. We need to call Dan and get him over here.”
“I already did. He’s on his way. He and Kara just got back to the island today, so we got lucky.”
Seamus was relieved to hear that their highly skilled lawyer friend was coming to help them make sense of this situation.
He’d know what to do. He finished skimming the letter, the gist of which was now that he knew that the mother of his children was dead, Jace Carson was interested in knowing more about their living situation.
“She had sole custody,” Carolina said. “She chose the people she wanted to finish raising them. We have to believe she knew what she was doing, and this won’t change anything.”
“It’ll change everything.”
“How so?”
“They’ll know they have another father, for one thing.”
“Maybe not. Nothing says we have to let him see them.”
“What if we have no choice in the matter?”
“We have a choice. We’re their legal guardians.”
“He’s their biological father.”
“Let’s not spin in circles before we hear what Dan thinks.”
Under normal circumstances, Seamus was never more comfortable than he was with Carolina.
These were not normal circumstances, and he was as uncomfortable as he could recall being in a very long time.
In fact, he hadn’t felt this unsettled since he’d been quite certain that Carolina was going to break his heart. This felt almost as bad as that had.
Then her hand was on top of his, infusing him with her warmth when he needed it most. “I know you’re thinking the worst, but try not to go there. There’re a lot of miles between this letter and the worst-case scenario.”
She was right. He knew it and even agreed with her.
But the possibility of that worst-case scenario playing out was a nightmare to him.
Losing the boys he and Carolina had poured their hearts and souls into would break him.
Losing them would break her, too, even if she was trying to be brave for both of them.
It didn’t help anything that the house was hotter than the surface of the sun, which only added to the sick feeling churning in his gut.
A sharp knock on the door preceded Dan Torrington’s entrance. “I got here as fast as I could after I got your call, Carolina. Had to drop Kara at Sarah and Charlie’s.” He stopped short when he saw them sitting at the table, probably looking like two disaster survivors. “What’s going on?”
Carolina held out the letter to him, and he sat at the table to read it.
Watching his posture become more rigid as he read did nothing to help Seamus’s shattered nerves. “Well, that’s an interesting development.”
“Unsettling is a better word for it,” Seamus said.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Before Lisa died, she made you guys the boys’ legal guardians. She had sole custody, which made it completely her decision.”
“He’s their biological father.”
“Maybe so, but at some point, he either surrendered his rights or lost custody, which removed him from the equation when she was dying.”
“So he can’t come in now and upend the custody arrangement?” Seamus asked the only question that mattered.
“I can’t see how. Lisa was very clear and very specific. The custody agreement is airtight. I made sure of that.”
For the first time since he came home to this news, Seamus took a deep breath and no longer felt like he might be having a stroke. “You’re sure?”
“I wrote it,” Dan said with the big, cocky grin that was his trademark. “I’m very sure.”
Seamus dropped his head into his hands. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Carolina laughed. “How do you think I feel?”
Seamus reached for her hand. “You’re aging in reverse, my love.”
“Ha! I wish. Dan, what should we do about the letter?”