“If she won’t open up to you, do you think she’d talk to someone else?” Abby asked gently.
Mack frowned. “You mean a professional?”
Abby nodded, then gave his hand a sympathetic squeeze. “Look, I’m going to let you handle this. Me butting in beyond alerting you to the problem won’t help. I may be open-minded and rational about a lot of things, but when it comes to my kids, I’m going to stand up for them, no matter who gets hurt in the process. I know Susie doesn’t need me coming down on her. If there’s anything I can do, though, let me know. I know how hard this is and I feel for Susie. I really do. I’ll leave you all to figure out your next step.”
After she went, Mack sighed.
“This really does suck,” Jake said. “It doesn’t sound like there are any easy answers.”
“Certainly none Susie’s going to be happy about,” Mack agreed. “She doesn’t like asking for help, even when she recognizes how desperately she might need it. On top of that, she’s pretty private. I can’t see her talking to a stranger.”
“What about me?” Will asked. “We’ve always been close. She used to open up to me about her feelings for you, Mack. At least she did back in the day. I’d be happy to spend some time with her, though somebody completely impartial with no connection to the O’Briens at all might be better.”
It was the obvious next step, but Mack thought he knew how his wife would react. She’d think he was siding with the enemy in some way. “I can suggest it,” he said, resigned to a messy confrontation. “Something tells me, though, that it won’t go over well. I’m afraid it’s going to drive another wedge between us.”
“Try,” Will encouraged him. “It’s important, especially if you think her feelings could cause a real rift between her and Carrie. Abby’s right. That would have everybody in the family taking sides. O’Briens are used to sticking together. I’m not sure how well they’d handle something that’s bound to divide them, especially when it comes to something like this. And we sure don’t want to see Sam and that innocent nephew of his caught up in some messy family dispute.”
“Believe me, I get it,” Mack said. “None of us wants that. Keep in mind that Sam works for me. He’s a decent guy who’s doing the best he can in an already tough situation.” He shook his head wearily. “At the same time, I want my wife to be happy and to have everything she needs.”
Will regarded him with compassion. “If what she needs is a child right here and now, you might have to accept this one is beyond your control.”
“Could you, if Jess were this upset?”
Will leveled a look at him, then smiled ruefully. “Of course not. I’m just saying that none of us mere mortals, not even the all-powerful Mick, can make dreams come true on command every single time.”
“But Mick certainly has been the role model for trying,” Mack said.
The other two nodded.
“Oh, yeah,” Jake said.
The truth was that Mick O’Brien had set the bar impossibly high for all of them. And the women in their lives were used to success, not failure.
While Abby had offered a totally plausible explanation for Carrie’s abrupt departure from her grandfather’s—that she had paperwork for the day care due in the morning—Sam couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a lot more to it. Even though he barely knew Carrie’s mother, he thought he’d detected a real hint of worry in her eyes.
As he made the turn onto Willow Brook Road, he drove slowly by the house he’d determined was Carrie’s. He saw no signs of life, not a light on inside, no movement.
Of course she could be taking a nap or maybe she wasn’t even home, but he was struck once again by the sense that something wasn’t right.
He parked in his own driveway, hesitated just long enough to draw a puzzled look from Bobby, then said, “How about taking a walk before we go inside?”
“How come?” Bobby asked.
“I thought we might stop by to see Carrie.”
Bobby’s eyes brightened at once. “Okay. Maybe she’ll have more cookies.”
Sam laughed. “Didn’t you get enough to eat today?”
“Sure, but cookies are always good. Or they could go into my backpack for school tomorrow.”
“An interesting line of thought,” Sam agreed. “But you don’t ask for cookies. You can accept them if she offers you some, okay?”
Bobby shrugged. “Whatever.”
Carrie’s house still seemed uncommonly quiet to Sam as he and Bobby approached, then rang the bell. He heard no sounds coming from inside, so he rang the bell again. Then he decided to walk around back.