Seana Kelly - Welcome Home, Katie Gallagher

“I’m on my way.” He hung up.

I placed the receiver in its cradle and tried to pull myself together. I picked up the glass, walked back through the house, detouring through the dining room. I yanked repeatedly at the French doors leading to the side porch before they screeched in protest, giving way. Mr. Cavanaugh was right where I’d left him. I handed him the water, and he appeared surprised all over again at my appearance.

“Sorry. You look so much like Nellie, it’s a bit of a shock. Everything, except the hair. I thought you had curly hair, too. I must be misremembering.” He studied me, unsmiling. “I’m seventy-four now. Sometimes my memory fails me.”

“No, it’s not your memory. You’re right. My hair was curly. I straighten it now.” What was it with Cavanaugh men and my hair?

He grimaced and looked away. “Denying the gifts you were given. Make a habit of that, don’t you?”

Right. I had abandoned Gran. “My husband hated it.”

“What kind of an idiot did you go and marry?” He watched me, waiting.

“The controlling kind.”

He shook his head, as though it was no more than he expected. “Did you leave him, too?”

My stomach dropped, thinking of Justin’s betrayal, the women he’d leer at and how he’d wonder aloud why I couldn’t look more like that one, behave more like this one.

I nodded. Yes, I’d left him. Years too late, I’d realized.

He grunted a response.

His color was back, and the tremors seemed to have subsided, thank God.

“Visiting one week a year.” He shook his head, disgusted. “Phone calls and emails aren’t the same thing. You didn’t even come to her funeral. You think I don’t know why she was so sad when she talked about you? She kept asking for you at the end, and you couldn’t be bothered to fly back and let her see you. Hold your hand.”

“You’re right. I let Gran down. She was nothing but loving and supportive to me, and I...” I held my tears in check. Barely. “Doesn’t matter now.”

“It matters to me.” Anger threaded through his voice, but his eyes held nothing but pain.

I pulled at the wrist of my sweater. “It was hard.” I didn’t want her to see who I’d become. “My husband needed me.” To cook and clean and throw dinner parties while he cheated on me.

“But you left him?” He shook his head and took a sip of water.

I let out a gust of breath, an almost laugh. “Don’t worry. He has lots of women to console him.”

He pinned me with his gaze. “She didn’t think he was the right man for you, but she never blamed you for choosing to marry him.” He took another sip of water, watching me over the glass. “Your mother wasn’t the attentive, responsible type. Nellie knew that. After your father died, well, it worried her the way your mother neglected you.”

“No, not neglect. I was provided for. Dad’s loss hit her hard. She couldn’t deal with people and emotions after that. Impersonal academics, she could handle.” I caught his eye, not wanting him to think poorly of her. “She’s a brilliant professor. In her personal life...” I shrugged. “She was emotionally absent, I suppose.” Truth was she didn’t know what to do with me. She became flighty and forgetful, so I started doing the shopping and cooking, the bill paying and the cleaning.

He looked away again. “Call it what you want.”

“About the other thing...I didn’t know Gran had passed until after the funeral.”

A car raced up the drive. Oh, right. “Sorry, Mr. Cavanaugh. I was worried about you and called your grandson.” I stood to meet Aiden.

“You gave me a start is all, Katie. I’m fine,” he grumbled as I made my way down the porch.

Heavy footfalls sounded on the front stairs. “We’re over here,” I called. “He’s all right now.”

Aiden came around the corner, concern etched on his face. “Where?”

I stepped out of the way so he could see his grandfather.

“Pops, are you okay?” He strode forward and sat in the seat I’d vacated. “Katie said you were having some trouble.” He leaned forward, studying his grandfather.

“I’m fine. She startled me, looking every inch like her grandmother.” He gave me a disgusted look. “Except for the hair. I thought I was dead. Took me a minute to settle. I’m fine.”

Aiden stood. “How about I take you home now?”

“I don’t need any help getting home.” He spoke grudgingly to me. “I live right through those woods there, over the ridge. I come by most days to tend Nellie’s garden. I don’t go inside, but I take care of her garden. She thought you might be coming soon and wanted it to look nice. That was important to her.” To Aiden he added, “I’ve still got wood to split in the back.”

“Katie can cut her own wood.” At his grandfather’s glare, he added, “Fine. I’ll come back and split the wood myself if you let me take you home now.” Aiden stood in front of his grandfather, blocking my view.

Something must have been communicated silently between the two men, because a moment later Mr. Cavanaugh relented. “All right, I’ll let you see me home.” He stared at me, as though weighing his words. “Nellie would be glad to have you back.” He nodded, apparently feeling as though he’d said what he needed to. “I’m glad you have that dog with you. He doesn’t seem like much of a guard dog, but his size should scare off most thieves.”

Mr. Cavanaugh stood, and Aiden stepped over to take an arm. “What are you doing, boy? I can walk fine on my own.” He stopped, looking at me closely while speaking over his shoulder. “Aiden, what do you think of Katie’s hair?”

If Aiden was surprised by the question, he didn’t show it. I felt his gaze move over me. “It’s beautiful, although I liked it better curly.”

Mr. Cavanaugh nodded. “Just so.”

CHAPTER SIX

Aiden

GETTING POPS IN the car proved more difficult than I’d expected. And not because he was ill. He kept trying to get me to go back, finish splitting the wood. Instead, I drove us down the narrow, graveled road. “Leave it. I’m taking you home.”

There was a disgruntled tsk, and then Pops smacked his fist against his thigh. “I’m done pussyfooting around this. Every time I try to bring it up, you change the subject or leave the room. No more, Aiden.” He paused to gather his thoughts, and I wished I hadn’t offered to drive him home. “You’ve changed. You’re harder, meaner. You told a tiny woman, Nellie’s granddaughter, to chop her own wood. It’s not you, and I don’t like it. Son, I know Alice’s leaving was difficult, but isn’t it better that she did it before you were married?”

“Yeah, Pops. She was nothing if not kind and considerate. I’ll be paying off that not-a-wedding for many years to come. I’m reminded every month as I transfer funds for the altered designer dress, the out-of-season flowers that needed to be flown in, the gourmet food, the banquet room at the Bar Harbor Inn... At least I got to keep the cases of wine. Too bad I don’t particularly like wine. I think she vetoed beer at the reception, so I wouldn’t be left with anything I actually liked.”

Pops tsk-tsked again.

“And, yes, I will return the ring soon.” I squirmed at the thought of everyone in the jewelry store carefully not looking at me as I return a $10,000 ring for the woman who took off a year ago, the day before our wedding. She left me an empty apartment and a note.

“Sorry, Aiden. I just can’t” was all the explanation I’d been given. Sorry, I just can’t marry you? Sorry, I just can’t love you? Sorry, I just can’t stand the sound of your breathing? What the fuck was it that she just couldn’t?

“You’ve been saying that for almost a year, but I can still see that damn box in your pocket.” His fingers tapped on his thigh. “I told you I’d help you pay off that debt—”