“And what about Jessie? How much would it have cost you to give her my phone number? How much money would it have cost to pay her doctor bills? How much would it have cost to call in a specialist for Hope? How much would you have been willing to spend to save your grandchild?
“I’ll tell you what your granddaughter was worth to you. Nothing. You threw away any chance I had of seeing her. All because you look down your nose at a girl born into a family you find beneath you. You were on the school board and head of the PTA. You knew that man was hurting her and you did nothing. Your indifference and position in the community led the way for everyone to turn a blind eye.”
He brushed a hand over Jessie’s hair. “The pretty girl I fell in love with turned into a beautiful woman, who runs her own business. Two, actually. She’s successful. She put herself through school. She’s been on her own since she was fifteen. Fifteen.” He shook his head, unable to imagine what it must have been like to have everyone you wanted to love you leave you or treat you like you weren’t worth a penny. He never meant to be one of those people. “What would someone have to do to be acceptable to you?”
“You left her. You didn’t want her. It was just a phase.”
“I don’t call falling in love with someone a phase. You either love them, or you don’t. I loved her then and I love her even more now. I left to get away from you and Dad. You were so busy pressuring me to go to college and be him that I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think about what I wanted. Jessie made everything clear and simple. I wanted her. I wanted to help people like her.”
“That’s just it. People like her. People who are poor and get drunk and break the law. Those are the people you help. You could be so much more.”
“I’m enough. I’m a good father, who loves his son unconditionally. I help people who need help because someone hurts them. Do you know how it kills me to think that all those years we were friends she was being abused, and I never saw it? She wanted to be with me because she needed a safe place. I was her safe place. And when she needed me the most, I wasn’t there. When our daughter died in her arms, I wasn’t there.” He hadn’t meant to yell at her, but his frustration got the better of him.
“It can’t be changed. It’s time to move on and be a father to Will,” his mother coaxed, like it was that easy to forget what she’d done and all he’d lost.
“I don’t care what you think, or what you want. It’s my life. Jessie is my life. She’s my future. I don’t want you here. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want you near my son. How did you get Will, by the way?”
“We told Lorena we were coming here to see you. We assured her you wouldn’t mind our spending time with our grandson,” his father said, unhappy with how this turned out. Dylan stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his mouth set in a firm line, letting his father know he truly meant to keep them away from him and Will.
“Dylan, I don’t want to see the family fractured because of what happened years ago and can’t be changed.”
“Like the way she convinced you what Brody and Owen went through with your brother was none of your concern. You had your perfect family. No need to muck up your life by interfering in theirs. Not your responsibility to step in and help them when their own father couldn’t help himself. If he squandered his money on booze and left Brody and Owen hungry, not your fault. If no one cared whether they did their homework, or went to bed at a decent time, so be it. If your brother went too far and smacked them around because they got out of line, they deserved it, right? Unruly. No discipline. No drive to be the best.” Dylan shook his head. “No one to care and love them.” He glared at his mother. “No one to step in and give them a better life. But hell, they’re family and that’s how we treat family we don’t want. The way you treated my cousins. My daughter. We only care about the McBrides standing in this room. Everyone else, including Brody, Owen, Jessie, and Hope, can go to hell before you step in and offer the help they desperately need.”
His father’s eyes narrowed. Dylan had his attention. The thing with Jessie and Hope wasn’t the first time his mother turned her nose up at someone she thought beneath them. She’d persuaded his father to dismiss his brother’s drinking problems and the neglect and abuse inflicted on Brody and Owen.
Like with Hope, too late to do anything about it now.
“I won’t change my mind. Not about this. I guess I wasn’t clear with Lorena that grandparents or not, you are not to take Will.”