Page 114 of One and Only

I nodded.

“Sit,” she said, gesturing to the chairs on the front porch. It was the same place we’d sat when I asked their permission to marry Greer. My stomach was in a thousand knots when I sat in them again.

“Thank you for having us out today,” I told her. “Olive and I didn’t get much of this before Greer.”

“Your daughter is a precious little thing. I hope you don’t mind everyone doting on her. We can’t help ourselves.”

I smiled. “She likes it here. That’s a big deal.”

“Good parents will do just about anything for their kids, won’t they?” she asked.

If only she knew.

She smiled knowingly. “Greer’s told you about how Tim and I met, right?”

I nodded. “A little. Parker did too, when he first transferred to Portland.”

Sheila hummed. “We managed to create a lot of good out of the pain that comes with life. I’ve had more than my share, and so has Tim.” She glanced back at the house. “Despite his health, we’re in a sweet phase of life right now. It’s nice.”

“Tim lost his first wife, didn’t he?” I asked.

Her smile was soft as she nodded. “Cancer. Quick and mean and there wasn’t much they could do to stop it by the time she saw her doctor.” She sighed. “He had three boys under the age of ten who’d just lost their mom, all looking at him on how to navigate this big ugly thing.”

I didn’t ask Sheila about Greer’s father because I knew she didn’t have the same type of sad story. Her spouse left voluntarily.

He had the beautiful wife. He had the son and two daughters, and when Greer wasn’t all that far from Olive’s age, he walked out.

Sheila must have understood the clear evasion of the next natural question because she smiled. “He was always better at handling these things than I was.”

“Tim?”

She nodded. “The grief. The loss. How their little brains hardly knew what to do with it for so many years. He always managed to talk through things when I was still stuck in feeling them. Even now, we have to help them through it when they don’t handle it well.” Her eyes misted over. “I don’t want to lose my husband, any more than I want my kids to lose their father. But he’s always better at just listening to what’s behind their hurt, what’s behind the things they do because of it.”

I thought about Parker’s avoidance. And I thought about Greer’s frantic need to act.

“He’ll come around,” I said quietly. “Parker.”

She nodded. “Oh, I know he will. He loves his dad too much not to. The wedding was a start,” she said pointedly. “For a lot of things.”

There was some meaning hidden in her words, and I studied her face as she said them.

“But I’m not too worried about Parker right now if you can believe it.” She shook her head. “Nothing about our life—then or now—was perfect or convenient. And definitely not like we planned it. And some of that is watching how our children have to move through the hard. The things they’ll do, the lengths they’ll go to avoid feeling it.”

After a pointed glance at my wedding ring, her eyes met mine knowingly, and I felt a quick jolt of realization.

She knew.

“Sheila,” I said quietly, “I don’t know what to say—”

But she held up a hand. “You don’t owe me any explanations, Beckett. I know your own reasons for doing this. And I think they’re noble. I had my suspicions, even if I didn’t find it necessary to voice them to my daughter.”

I sat forward, my elbows braced on my thighs, and I hung my head down while I processed through what this might mean.

“I’m so sorry,” I said quietly. “I feel terrible lying to you and Tim.”

She didn’t reply for a long moment.

“I know you do,” she said finally. Her voice was slightly unsteady. “Greer has always been my fierce heart. She jumps in—headfirst and eyes blazing, especially when it comes to her family. I had a feeling she heard Tim say what he did that day, just because of how she was acting.”

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