“I can certainly understand that. What was it about this place that interested you when that didn’t?”
“The potential,” Linc said. “That was the first thing I saw when I came here, that it could be so much more than it already was. Gramps would tell you he was guilty of doing things a certain way because that was the way they’d always been done. I tried to show him another way, and for a while, he fought me. He’s not big on change.”
“He and I have that in common.”
Linc cracked up. “That’s a fact. I like that we sell a way of life here, a simpler way, and people connect with that. We’re all nostalgic for simpler times in our lives, and in our fast-paced world, we give our customers something different. I’ve said from the beginning that the potential here is limited only by our own imaginations.”
“You got the new P&L, right?”
“I did.”
“I guess it’s safe to say you were right about the catalog and the intimate line.”
Linc smiled. “Had a feeling I would be. I’ve been wanting to do the catalog for twenty years. Just took a while for all the pieces to come together.”
“The business is on the verge of exploding, Dad. Like exploding to a level we never saw coming. Or I should say, a level the rest of us never saw coming.”
“That’s a very good problem to have.”
“Indeed, but one we’re going to have to manage.”
“Let’s talk about that after the holidays.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I believe time wounds all heels.”
—John Lennon
Molly waited until nine o’clock, when she was sure her sister would be up and at work as the Butler town clerk. Her office was attached to her home, and Molly often stopped by for coffee and a chat while Hannah was working.
When she pulled into Hannah’s driveway, she was surprised to see the closed sign on the door to the clerk’s office and Ray Mulvaney’s SUV parked in the driveway. Well, well, well, Molly thought. Good for them. Her sister had been alone for years after Mike left her, and no one was more thrilled for her and Ray than Molly.
The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt anything, but damn it, she needed her sister, one of the few people in the world who knew most of what’d gone on during that memorable week forty years ago. She went up the stairs to the mudroom door and knocked. When Hannah didn’t answer, she rang the doorbell.
A few minutes later, Hannah came to the door, wearing a bathrobe and attempting to straighten her hair. “Hey.” She opened the door for Molly. “Come in.”
“You’re not working today?”
“Later. I had a council meeting that went until midnight.”
“I woke you up. I’m sorry. Go back to bed.”
“It’s okay. I was awake.” Hannah got busy making coffee. “What’s got you out so early?”
“You won’t believe it if I told you.”
Hannah glanced at Molly over her shoulder. “Is everyone all right?”
“Yes, but apparently, we’re going to Philadelphia today.”
“You and Linc?”
“And the kids.”
“All of them?”
“All of them.” Molly took off her coat and sat at the kitchen table. “Where’s Ray?”
“In the shower, I think.”
“It’s progressed to sleepovers and showers, has it?”
“A while ago, actually.”
“I should go. You guys were having a morning, and I interrupted.”
“It’s fine. I wanted to talk to you anyway, but you first.” She brought mugs of steaming coffee to the table, along with cream and sugar. “Tell me about Philly.”
Molly stirred cream into her coffee and told Hannah about Linc’s sister calling.
“Holy shit,” Hannah said, wide-eyed. “She called to tell him their father is dying and wants to see him. And now you’re going there.”
“We’re going there.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Three days before Christmas?”
“His sister said their father doesn’t have much time.”
“Damn.”
“I’m so angry, Han. That they can call him after forty years and ask this of him. I’m trying to be supportive of him, but all I feel is the anger.”
“Can’t say I blame you. What they did was monstrous.”
“I want to kidnap him and drive him north to Canada or somewhere they can’t get to him until that craven old man is gone and can’t hurt him anymore.”
“You know you could do that if you were so inclined. Tell him you want to show him something, get in the car and head north.”
Molly dropped her head into her hands. “I’m sorely tempted.” She looked up at Hannah. “What right do they have to do this to him after forty years?”
“They have no right at all.”
Ray came into the kitchen and stopped short when he saw Molly there, glancing at Hannah as if he wasn’t sure what to do.
Hannah reached out her hand to him. “It’s okay. She knows you sleep over.”
“Oh, um… Well…”
Molly laughed at his befuddled response and the way his handsome face turned bright red. “Sorry to interrupt your morning.”
“You didn’t,” Ray said. “Can I make you ladies some breakfast?”
“And he cooks, too,” Hannah said with a smug grin. To Ray, she said, “That’d be lovely. Thank you.”
“Coming right up.”
When Ray was occupied with cooking, Molly leaned in to whisper to her sister, “Go, girl.”
“Right?” Hannah lowered her voice even further. “I’m thinking about asking him to move in.”
“Is that right?”
Hannah shrugged. “He’s here every night anyway.”
Ray poured himself a cup of coffee. “I can hear you two talking about me.”
“We’re not talking about you,” Hannah said. “We’re talking about my other boyfriend, the one you don’t know about.”
“Sure you are. That’s all right. I’ll still make you breakfast even if you’re talking about me.”
“We’re actually talking about how Linc’s family contacted him for the first time in forty years and asked him to come to his father’s deathbed so the father can make himself feel better about cutting him off before he dies.” She glanced at Molly. “Did I get that right?”
“Spot-on.”
“That’s extremely screwed up,” Ray said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Hannah replied.
“What’s he going to do?” Ray asked.
“I guess we’re going there so his father can clear his conscience before he dies,” Molly said.
“And three days before Christmas, no less,” Hannah said. “I’m sorry you guys have to deal with this, Mols. Are you going to drive or fly?”
“We’re driving. The kids want to be there to support their father and, as Hunter put it so perfectly, to let their grandfather see what came of this marriage and life he was so opposed to.”