Page 6 of A Family Affair: The Cabin
Those blue eyes filled with confusion, uncertainty, and a tiny bit of hope. Nate wanted to help her find peace, but her father hadn’t made it easy, not with six letters and too many unanswered questions. “People do things for all kinds of reasons. For all we know, writing the letters could have been a way to unburden himself, like going to confession and asking for absolution.”
She nodded as though considering this possibility. “I guess.” Her gaze landed on the stack of letters. “I’m not sure what to do with them. Would it be better or worse for your mother to know he wanted to marry her and planned to get a divorce? Think of that, Nate. She’d accepted their situation, but can you imagine learning he’d finally found the courage to do what was in his heart and then he died?” Her voice drifted, spilled over him. “I’m not sure I could take learning that about the man I loved.”
“Ifhe planned to mail them.”
“You’ve got a jaded view of my father, so it makes sense you wouldn’t think he’d change. But why couldn’t your mother believe he’d gone to the cabin right before he died, wrote the letters, and planned to return the next week to deliver them?”
Was this a trick question? He was a literal guy, so he’d give her a literal answer. “Because it might not be the truth?”
“But we don’t know that.”
“No, we don’t. So, you’re saying we should let everyone create their own story with their own ending?”
A tiny nod. “How else will we be able to move on?”
He rubbed his jaw, not liking where this was going. “I’ve never believed in fairy tales or closing your eyes and pretending something didn’t happen. I tend to look at the odds and someone’s history, but that’s just me. Before you hand out these letters, think about what could happen, positive and negative. If there’s more negative, don’t do it. Take Harry’s letter, deliver it, and you’ll destroy the guy. You need to shred the damn thing and be done with it.”
“You don’t think he’d want to know that my father didn’t think of him as a failure, that he believed in him?”
“Hell no!” How could his wife not see the destruction inside the letter? “If Harry reads that, then he’ll also read the part about the affair and how your father needed to confide in him. Come on, do you think your uncle will recover from that? It would take him down so fast, there’d be nothing left of the poor guy. Do not tell him. Destroy the damn thing.”
She gathered up the letters, her voice all business, as though they were discussing a balance sheet. “I have to think about it.”
“Fine.” When she pulled away like this, it was best to leave her alone for a while. “Now how about we pack up that ashtray you’ve been toting around and get the list going for Pete so we can get out of here?”
“Nate? It’s not that I don’t trust your judgment; I just need time to think about everything.” She placed a hand on his forearm, worked up a smile. “I’d never do anything to hurt Uncle Harry. You’ve got to trust me on this.”
“I do trust you, but a lot of people have been hurt by others trying to do the ‘right’ thing. Who can say what’s right and wrong? I sure as hell can’t, and neither can you. All I do know is that I won’t stand by and watch Harry’s world collapse on top of him.”
“I would never wish that on him.”
He didn’t miss the displeasure in her voice. “I know you’d never intend to hurt him, but do you know how many people say that right before they destroy the other person? Don’t be that person, Christine, or you could blow up a whole lot more than your uncle’s happiness.”
