Page 74 of Operation: Unify

Someone knocked on the front door and Teddy turned around to open it. On the other side, three slight variations of Connor stood next to three women. They came inside and shrugged off their coats. Gloria made a beeline for the kitchen with her cake.

Lacy was torn. Should she follow Gloria or stand by Connor’s side? The brother with the most flecks of white in his dark hair came forward and wrapped a meaty arm around Connor.

“Paul,” Connor said. “Good to see you.”

“Same,” he replied.

He hesitated ever so slightly, then did the same with Teddy. Lacy held back tears as the other two brothers did the same. Paul waited until Kevin and Hunter had finished, then he introduced the wives.

“This is my wife, Laura.” He indicated which woman was his wife. She waved slightly, but stayed back by the door like she wanted to escape. “This is Kevin’s wife, Maggie.” He moved his hand slightly over to introduce her. “And this is Hunter’s wife, Regina.”

“Good to meet all of you,” Lacy said and welcomed them in to sit down.

Teddy waited a moment. “I’d also like to introduce you to my daughter, Ferd, and my wife, Gloria.” He nodded at each of them.

Gloria came over to stand at his side, though she, too, looked like she wanted to bolt.

None of the three brothers said anything, but each nodded. Connor wasn’t much of a talker when he didn’t have to, so she wasn’t all that surprised at them. “Did you have a good Christmas with your other side of the family?” Lacy asked.

Each of the women looked at each other as if they weren’t sure who should go first. Finally, Laura spoke up. “My family is fine. Look, we’re only here because we were asked to be. We all agreed on the way here that this meeting wasn’t part of our Christmas plan, it was part of theirs.” She pointed at the brothers.

Connor tugged on his collar and looked around. Lacy tried to think of something the women would be interested in doing while the men did their talking. Maybe this was exactly why Connor had felt he needed her there.

“Would you like to go out and see the horses?” she offered.

All three again looked back and forth at each other, then Regina answered for the group. “Sure. That sounds great. Hunter, send a text when you’re finished.” She shrugged her coat back on.

Connor reached for her for a moment and mouthed,thank you, silently to her. She smiled back and put on her coatto lead the ladies to the barn. She didn’t want them to be uncomfortable, but she couldn’t imagine why they’d agreed to come if they didn’t want to.

“So, I can tell you didn’t want to come. I mean, you said as much, so why did you?” Holding her tongue was never a strong part of her character.

Regina laughed. “I like you. We don’t have to worry about what you’re thinking. Honestly, we came because our husbands asked us to. Since Paul said you’re in the same boat, I feel like you’d understand. All of us would love to figure out where we went wrong. It seemed like our relationships were good for a while, then they all fizzled.” She shrugged. “I get it that the spark goes out after a while, but I can’t figure out what happened.”

Lacy swallowed back her immediate desire to admit she and Connor were fine now, better than fine. That’s not what these ladies needed to hear. “If they’re like Connor, they probably feel like their dad cheated them out of part of their lives.”

“Connor feels that way? About his mom, I suppose,” Regina said.

Laura piped up, “I’d wondered if it had something to do with family stuff. He’s always complaining that my family likes to do things. His family doesn’t. It’s like he can’t fathom that some people still like to get together with their parents.”

“I wonder if this meeting will help or hurt the situation?” Lacy almost hated to speculate.

“I don’t know,” Maggie finally chimed in. “All I know is that Kevin and Hunter didn’t want to be here, but Paul asked them to come. Their mother convinced them for years that Teddy had done her dirty and had an affair. She was sure Connor knew about it the whole time because he was so close to his father.” She shrugged. “Unless something pretty significant happens. I doubt it will matter at this point. I’ve tried suggesting therapy and all sorts of things. I’m ready to give up.”

Lacy took a deep breath and tried very hard not to put her own life story on these ladies. They hadn’t lived what she had. “I’m praying that all of you find peace with your husbands and I’m so sorry that this hasn’t been easier for any of you.”

Sin truly did reach through time and destroy when it wasn’t dealt with. Twenty years of hiding what had gone wrong had only made the problem multiply.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“I’m going with you.” Melinda’s words were exactly what Lacy hadn’t wanted to hear.

“But . . .”

“No. He’s my husband and this has to stop. He can’t kill all of us. Randy stood up for me when I needed him. He chased down my husband in the dark and Cal threw him in a back yard to get annihilated by a dog. I will not let him deal with this alone.” She shrugged on her coat. “Are you going to try to stop me?”

She wouldn’t, but Connor might. He’d already told Lacy he didn’t want her there and she’d pushed the issue. “It’s not up to me.”

“I’ll grab a set of keys and follow you if I have to.” She didn’t blink as she stared at Lacy. Strength infused her stature.

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