Page 274 of Chaos has a Name
“First, I’m sorry your cancer is back. You’ll never know how deeply that news damaged me, since you don’t think of yourself as my father. Clearly.”
Jesus.
That hurt Wyler.
He did think of himself as her father. Wyler would keep saying this to the end of his days. There were no in-laws in his world.
Elizabeth was his daughter, and that she felt she wasn’t…that was not exactly a fun thing to hear.
Then again, he’d done them all dirty.
She continued.
“Next, you hurt all of us. To find out you have cancer from Caryn, only after you flaked on seeing your grandson born, is sogoddamn hurtful. I know you are upset, scared, and devastated, but we didn’t deserve to pay for that. We’re Blackhawks, and Timothy wanted us to stay intact and have each other’s backs. You’re damn lucky he’s dead, Wyler. If he wasn’t, he’d be kicking your ass.”
He said nothing.
Why?
She was right.
“The least you could have done was call us. Hell! A text was better than a phone call from Caryn on what was supposed to be a joyous day. It was hella selfish, Wyler. It crushed all of us for so many reasons.”
He was seeing that now.
It hurt his heart.
“Then, to hear you’d tucked yourself away here, not caring about the fallout was atrocious. We all get you’re scared, but so are we. I have to figure out a way to tell CJ and EJ, your grandsons, that you’re not going to be here for Christmas. I have to tell them that this is the last summer they will ever get with you. How am I supposed to do that, Wyler? How am I supposed to tell them to say goodbye?”
There was so much emotion in her voice that it made his heart hurt. It was clear she was carrying the weight of this, and that hadn’t been fair to dump on her.
Timothy had been right.
“I’m going to have to explain to the girls that their granddad wasn’t going to be here anymore and that when we pack up and head home, they’ll have to say goodbye. I’m going to have to sign it to TJ that his father was dead now too. Then, tell him he’d been shuffled off onto his uncle.”
She had tears in her eyes.
All that rage bubbled up that she couldn’t save him. Oh, she could save herself from a killer, and get justice for the dead, but she couldn’t make the parents they all loved stay.
Not Catherine, her mother.
Not Charlie, her father.
Not Sam, the man who put her back together again.
Not Timothy, who raised his grandsons.
Not Wyler, the man who bailed a few too many times.
“How shitty is it to first find out your father is dying, and then, that you’re being bequeathed to your uncle like some consolation prize? TJ is old enough to understand, Wyler, and it’s fucking selfish, and I’m so goddamn angry with you.”
He didn’t try to talk.
Instead, he let her get it off of her chest.
Oh, he knew an Elizabeth storm when he saw one. Normally, it was one of his sons at the other end—not him.
“If that’s not bad enough, we uproot everyone. I’m talking the whole family, and get on jets to get here. When we arrive, you’re not even here. You’re off playing Native son in the woods.”
