Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Renn
On the Wind
After a long swim in the ocean, Renn headed back up to the Hart house.
He’d come by to talk with Mrs. Hart, but she’d encouraged him to take a walk on the property, saying a quarter of it was his birthright.
He walked through the grass out to the beach and wondered if that was what had been pulling him to this town.
But he still didn’t feel any closer to the answers he needed.
He may have a legal right to some of this land by blood, but it didn’t feel like his.
He was a poor kid who grew up in a loaned-out small cabin on the ranch where his mama worked, not a landowner.
Walking up to the front door of the Hart house, Renn couldn’t help but feel out of place, like he was a fraud.
Which could be a metaphor for his entire life the last few months.
This was his father’s house, a man he never knew but the same man who’d given him at least half of what made him who he was.
The same house where his brothers grew up, and where his grandmother lived.
The two-story southern country-estate-style home was huge, well maintained, and beautiful with large windows, a fresh coat of paint, and mature landscaping complete with a hundred-year-old weeping willow in the front yard blowing in the wind.
It stung a little to think that maybe he should have grown up in a house like this.
“Renn honey, you can always come on in through the kitchen door—you don’t need to ring the doorbell. This is your house too,” Mrs. Hart said, appearing on the side of the long wraparound front porch, wiping her hands with her half-apron tied around her small frame.
He removed his hat. “I really appreciate your hospitality, Mrs. Hart, but I don’t think I can just let myself in.”
“Sure you can, because I told you to. And you can call me Gran. There’s no denying I’m your paternal grandmother. So, you best just get used to it.”
Dalton appeared with a big grin. “You can fight her all you want but she always wins.”
Renn shook Dalton’s extended hand and was struck again by the jolt of energy he felt. Brothers.
“I was just stopping by on my way to the hospital for my shift to check on a few things. We’re expecting a big thunderstorm,” Dalton told him.
Renn looked out at the wind pushing all the greenery toward the beach and could smell the rain in the air. “I saw that.”
“This house is fifty years old and won’t be blown down by some rain, but your brothers like to remind me I’m too old to be living out here all alone.”
Renn didn’t know what to say and Dalton just laughed.
“Since you all planned to visit, I thought maybe we could count on you to keep an eye on things out here for us? I’ve got the generator over there in case the power goes out and Wes will swing by after his shift, but if the storm gets real bad it’s best if everyone just sits tight,” Dalton said.
“No problem. We can play cards or something until the storm passes,” Renn offered.
“Your brother is worried that a tree will fall on the house with me in it,” Gran said, pointing to a large, thick tree in the middle of the front driveway.
“These storms usually come in fast,” Dalton warned.
“Got it.” Renn felt a little put on the spot, but if his half-brother was asking him for a favor, he had to think that was a good sign.
“I wish I could stay to get to know you more, but I’m off this weekend if you’re free?” Dalton asked.
“Great—I’d like that.”
Dalton nodded and started to head toward his truck but then turned back. “I swear the second I saw you I knew you were my brother,” Dalton said with a seriousness that left Renn with no doubt his brother would never turn his back on him.
“Like some strange invisible string connecting us,” Renn said, as the swell of emotion threatened to cloud his eyes.
“Yup.” Dalton nodded. “Alright then, call me at the hospital if you all need me,” Dalton called as he headed to his truck and the first raindrops started to fall.
Gran stood with a big smile and her hands on her hips. “Oh relax—I’m not going to give you the third degree. You don’t have to tell me why it took sixteen years for you to decide to find your family.”
Renn let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Let’s get inside and have some pie.”
He followed his grandmother into what could only be described as a warm and welcoming family kitchen. The smell of sugar and coffee greeted him, and he was surprised to find a bunch of kids’ art hanging on the fridge with several pictures of a young boy.
“I didn’t even think to ask if any of them have kids.”
“That’s Dalton’s stepson Max’s artwork, and I expect he and Brooke will be giving me more grandbabies soon enough. Come on over and have a seat.”
Renn sat at the kitchen table where she already had two place settings with what looked like a fresh homemade pie set between them.
“Coffee?”
“Yes please.”
“Now you can ask me anything you want. I imagine you thought the worst of us all these years. Considering my son didn’t make much of an effort to be in your life.”
“I’m not aware of him making any effort at all, ma’am,” Renn said, not wanting to be disrespectful.
She just shook her head and started to cut two healthy slices of pie. “I learned to make this peach pie from my mother, your great-grandmother. And I will tell you now, she was heavy-handed with the sugar but was as mean as she was sweet.”
“I never had grandparents growing up.”
She frowned as she shook her head again. “I won’t lie to you, Renn, your father was a good man in so many ways, but when it came to you, I think fear ruled him.”
She set the plate down in front of him and then finally sat down. But she was quiet a minute as she smoothed out the blue and white checkered tablecloth beneath her weathered hand.
“We don’t have to talk about it, if it’s too painful. It won’t change anything now,” he offered.
“No, it won’t, and having lost your mom you know a lot about the pain I’ve carried since Michael died. But I think you should know what he told me.”
“He told you about me?”
“In a letter I found after he died.”
“That must have been a shock.”
“It was, but it also gave me another grandson. When I reached out to your mother, she said she didn’t want to complicate your life and preferred we wait until you were an adult.
I felt I had to respect her wishes and keep my distance.
But I am sorry we didn’t get a chance to know each other sooner. ”
“My mom asked you to stay away?”
“She did in a not so blunt way. I think she thought when you were older and asked more questions she would let you know about us.”
Renn gulped the hot coffee. “So, what did the letter say? Why was my father afraid to be in my life?”
“I think he was terrified. He’d built this life with my daughter-in-law, a woman he’d known and loved his entire life. But he’d broken so many promises to her by having an affair and he was scared if she found out she would leave him. I think he knew he couldn’t live without her.”
“So, he pretended I didn’t exist.”
“In his letter he said he begged your mother to let him see you. He wanted to spend time with you. But she wanted the three of you to be a proper family. She didn’t want him to sneak off to spend time with the two of you. She was in love with him.”
“She wanted to be a real family, and he couldn’t leave the one he already had.”
Gran nodded. “I don’t blame her one bit. She wanted the best for you. Every mom would.”
“But?”
“But Michael could never leave Grace or the boys. He’d created an impossible situation for himself. Even if he did love you and your mother.”
“So, you think my mom kept him away?”
“I think he took the easy way out and didn’t want to risk Grace finding out, so he didn’t pursue his legal rights.”
“Do you think he made the right decision?”
With obvious pain in her eyes, his grandmother reached out and placed her warm hand on his. “I do not. And I think Grace found out anyway. All those lies and missed memories because he was too scared to own up to what he’d done. He hurt all of us.”
“I could see why a man would be real hard pressed to leave the woman he’d sworn to love and his children. Especially when he realized he’d made a mistake,” Renn offered.
“I’d never say you and all the love and joy you gave your mama was a mistake. You’re not. And you do have family. If you want us in your life, it won’t make up for the lost time, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t all be a family now. If that’s what you want?”
“No pressure.”
Gran squeezed his hand and smiled. “Something you seem to handle pretty well as of late. I saw your last season, Let it Rip Renn Walker.”
Renn smiled at the nickname he’d earned after a fifty-eight-yard pass he’d thrown in a game that sent his team to the play-offs last year after the starting quarterback got injured.
“You watch football?”
“I have watched every televised game you have ever played in, since college.”
Renn gulped the instant swell of emotion. “The thing is I don’t know how to be in a family any more than I know how to lead an NFL football team. I’m completely out of my depth in every aspect of my life right now.”
“I see. You’re afraid to have everything you want?” Gran smiled again and sipped her coffee.
But before he could respond there was a loud roll of thunder, and then a crack of lightning lit up the room from outside.
“Woo, looks like that storm rolled in while we were talking,” he said standing to look out the window at how dark it was for the afternoon. Then another crack and the power went out.
“Whelp, what better way to get to know your grandson than in a big storm with no electricity.”
Renn pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. “I’ll go turn on the generator Dalton mentioned. You just sit tight.” Renn stepped out front to hit the switch on the generator Dalton had shown him earlier and the kitchen lights turned back on.
“See you’re already like your brothers, bossy.”