“You have nothing to be sorry about, but really, Linc… You should go back in there by yourself and try to work this out.”
“It won’t matter. He’s made up his mind, and I’ve made up mine. Let’s go home.”
“Wait.”
He stopped, turned to her and looked down at her sweet face as she took a minute to decide what she wanted to say.
“I love you, Linc. You know I do. And I love the way you’ve changed your entire plan to make your life fit with mine, but this…” She glanced at the imposing red brick house with the black shutters and white pillars where he’d spent his childhood. “This is too much. You shouldn’t have to give up everyone else you love to be with me.”
Linc framed her face with his hands, compelling her to look at him with eyes that swam with tears he deeply resented. His father had made her cry. He’d never forgive him for that. “I need you to really hear me when I tell you there is nothing or no one that I want or need more than I want and need you. If I have you, I’ll have everything. He forced me to choose, but there was never any choice to make. I choose you. Every day for the rest of my life. I choose you, Molly.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to resent me for all the things you had to give up to have me.”
“I never will. I swear to you, I’ll never have a second of regret.”
He put his arms around her and held her close, fully aware they were probably being watched from inside the house. Good, he thought. Let them see how much I love her. “Let’s go home, sweetheart.”
Chapter Eight
“The more I see, the less I know for sure.”
—John Lennon
“And you never spoke to any of them ever again?” Hunter asked, incredulous.
“Nope,” Linc said. “You have to remember those were different times. There were no cell phones or email or social media. I wrote to my mother and siblings every month, but they never once replied to me. I found out my mother died a few years ago when I got a letter from my father’s attorney.”
“Daddy,” Ella said, tearful as she moved to hug him. “I’m so sorry they did that to you.”
He held her close. “Thank you, love, but I’ve never been sorry that I chose your mom and our life here. Like I told Mom that day, I haven’t had a single second of regret, even if I missed them. Of course I did.”
“Have you tried to contact your siblings separate of your parents?” Will asked.
“I have,” Linc said as he released Ella. “And never heard back. Until today.”
“What happened today?” Hannah asked.
Linc could see from the haunted way his children looked at him that his story had touched them deeply, which didn’t surprise him. They couldn’t imagine losing each other the way he’d lost his family. “My sister, Charlotte, called to tell me my father is dying and wants to see me.”
“No way,” Colton said fiercely. “No fucking way are you doing that.”
His son’s strong reaction didn't surprise Linc. He felt the same way himself. To a point. “I understand why you’d say that, son, but I haven’t decided either way yet. I wanted to talk to you kids about it before I made up my mind.”
“How do you feel, Dad?” Hannah gave Colton a quelling look. “What do you want to do?”
“Part of me feels the way Colton does, but the other part, the part that’s missed my original family so much over the years, is thinking about going.”
“You know you don’t have to, right?” Lucas asked. “If you decide not to go, you’d have no reason to feel guilty or anything like that. Tell me you know that.”
“I do, son. I don’t feel like I owe any of them anything. After all, they’ve known where I was all this time. They could’ve sought me out, but they chose not to for whatever reason. That’s on them, not me.”
“Do you want to go, Dad?” Wade asked.
“Part of me is curious about why my father wants to see me, and the chance to see Charlotte and my brothers is tempting. I can’t deny that.”
“If you go,” Hunter said with a fierce edge to his voice, “we’ll all go with you. Let them see what came of this choice they forced you to make.”
“You don’t have to do that. It’s four days before Christmas. You’re all busy at the store and with your own families.”
“Try to stop us,” Will said with the same fierceness his older brother had displayed.
“We’d never let you do this without us,” Hannah said. “If you go, we all go.”
The others nodded in agreement that brought tears to Linc’s eyes. “If you wonder why I’ve never regretted my choices, it’s because of you guys. All of you. I’m so proud of this family your mom and I built and the people you’ve grown up to be.”
“I’m going, too,” Elmer said. “I want them to see you had a father after yours turned his back on you.”
Linc smiled at his father-in-law, touched by his support. “Thank you.”
“Did you know what’d happened with Dad’s family, Gramps?” Landon asked.
“I did know, and it was horrifying to me. I can’t for the life of me imagine asking my kids to choose between me and the ones they loved.”
“Even if you gave the man I love a run for his money at first,” Molly said with a grin for her father. “And threatened him with a hunting rifle.”
“I couldn’t make it too easy on him,” Elmer said.
“Mission accomplished,” Linc said.
“This is why,” Hunter said, “you made us all work somewhere else when we were in high school and college before we could come into the business. Isn’t it?”
“It is,” Linc said. “I wanted to make sure the choice to work for the family business was entirely yours and not something that felt like an obligation.”
“He was very insistent on that,” Elmer said.
“And we never knew why until now,” Will said.
“I wanted everything about your lives to be your choice, not mine,” Linc said. “That all of you choose to be involved in the family business is a thrill to me, your mother and your grandfather.”
“It sure is,” Elmer said. “My parents would be tickled pink to see what you all have done with their modest little store.”
“I think we should go to Philly,” Ella said, “and, like Hunter said, show them what became of your life with Mom.”
“It’s four days before Christmas,” Charley said.
Thanks to the catalog, they were enjoying the busiest holiday season in the store’s history. And sure enough, women from all over had come looking for the “models” who’d made the catalog such a hit. Linc’s sons, sons-in-law and nephew had had to keep a low profile lately.
“My sister said my father doesn’t have much time,” Linc said. “And I don’t expect you guys to come. I know how busy this time of year is for all of us—at work and at home.”