Page 84 of Wanting a Family Man

“Oh.” Cloe covered the pang in her chest.

“Broke my heart, too,” Glenda agreed with a nod. “Reid had his reasons for being so withdrawn, but it lit a fire in me. All I wanted was to find that early harmony again so I refused to let them fight. If they were looking to throw fists, I asked Wilf to put them to work, usually on something heavy that they had to do together.”

“That’s diabolical,” Cloe said with a chuckle.

“I’m pretty sure that’s how the pyramids were built. A frustrated mother sent her boys outside to do something with their animosity that was both collective and constructive.”

“No doubt.”

“I think that’s the trick of life, though,” Glenda mused, offering her metal spoon for the plastic one that Storm dropped. “If you’ve tasted some kind of peace and joy, you’re willing to play dirty and fight through any hardship to get back to it. We found moments of it.” She nodded with distant satisfaction. “And had a healthy sense of humor about the rest.”

Cloe gave a slow nod as she absorbed the truth in Glenda’s words. She would forever chase this little bit of almost love and almost belonging that she had found here. She dropped her nose into Storm’s hair and breathed her in, programming her brain to find this again. Home. Love. The things that would satisfy the yearnings in her heart.

“Then Trystan finished school and left,” Glenda continued absently. “And I wondered why I was still here, trying to raise the boy I was married to.”

“Oh.” Cloe picked up her head, thinking how sad that sounded.

Glenda shrugged. “So you see? I never had all the answers. Would I make all those same choices given what I know about myself today? I don’t know. We can only make the best of where we are when we’re there. Even someone like Reid, who maps his life into cells on a spreadsheet, has to adjust for life’s little surprises.” She nodded at Storm.

“Oh God. There won’t be any little surprises here, if that’s what you’re asking,” Cloe said with sudden alarm, clutching Storm a little more firmly.

“You’ll hate me for saying I think that’s a pity.” Glenda’s mouth twitched with self-deprecation, then her expression turned more solemn. “Wilf thought he was a good father because he didn’t beat his boys with a belt. That’s what he came from, among other awful things.”

Cloe’s heart juddered to a stop in her chest. “That’s horrible.”

“It is. He had his failings, but he was a better father than his own, which gave these boys a chance to be better again. When I see them with her…” A tender smile spread across her lips. “I see the father Wilf almost was. They are capable of being really good fathers and that makes me so happy.” Glenda’s eyes grew damp. “So yes, I would love to see each of them happily married with their own children. Which is selfish, but…” She was unrepentant the way so many grandmothers were.

“I hope you get your wish.” Cloe swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn’t want to think of Trystan married and having children with anyone else. It made her jealous, but Glenda was right. If that’s what he chose to do, he’d be amazing at it. “That won’t happen with me, though.”

Glenda didn’t get a chance to argue. Fabiana came out to join them, bringing her neighbor Leah so the conversation shifted to introductions and friendly catch-ups.

*

Cloe seemed tobe making herself at home at Fabiana’s so Trystan brought Storm to Logan, so she could nap in the office cot while Trystan finished his pre-cruise chores for theStorm Ridge.

Ninety minutes later, he had finished stowing the last of the groceries and was coming up to return the truck when he noticed Cloe standing outside the coffee shop, slouching on her crutches. She was talking to Logan, who held Storm.

Trystan slammed the back of the SUV, brushed his palms, and strode across to them, arriving as the pair were midlaugh over something Logan had just said.

“Oh, hey,” Logan said in greeting. “I was just telling Cloe the eagle has landed and she should stick around to watch the reunion with you-know-who.” He gave Storm a little boost on his arm.

Cloe gave Trystan a vague nod of greeting, but was busy pretending Storm was the only person on the planet.

He bit back a sigh. He had wanted to get her to Fabiana’s, to be sure that arrangement would work, but he should have taken some time to talk with her first. About them. This force field she was using against him was really irritating.

“How did you get here?” he asked her, determined to make her look at him. “The golf cart?” He couldn’t see it.

“Fabiana forgot to plug it in. Which reminds me—” She lifted her gaze to meet Logan’s. “If you’re bringing Glenda to the wharf, Fabiana said please get her and her luggage, too.”

“Sure.”

“Youwalked?” Trystan’s already short temper sizzled down another inch.

“Do we call it walking?” Cloe joked, shifting the tip of one crutch.

“Why didn’t you call me to pick you up?”

“You said you had to get theStorm Ridgeready.”

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