Seamus looked down at the sheaf of papers. “Son, you didn’t have to—”
“Read them,” Tasha said from her chair beside her husband.
“Out loud, if you please.” That came from Declan, Jennifer’s professor.
With his son standing expectantly in front of him, Seamus didn’t really have another choice. “Dirty pool,” he muttered.
“What’s that?” Thoreau called out. “A little louder for the people in the back.”
“The first one’s from Jeremy.”
Jake,
The best advice your dad ever gave me happened one morning on my dock. Something pretty bad had just gone down and I was sure life as I knew it was over. Then every member of the family—over eighteen, so I’m not including you—showed up on my doorstep, made breakfast and told me in every way they knew how that I was a Finn.
I didn’t think I deserved it, and it wasn’t until I talked to your father that it started to sink in. He told me to stop moping like Van Gogh and then he talked about you kids. He said if you were in the same situation, he’d tell you—I’m quoting now—“Secrets rarely stay secret for long, so you might as well be honest from the start. And love is a blessing, no matter what form it takes.”
He was right, but then he usually is.
Hope that helped,
Jeremy
“I sounded like I knew what I was talking about, didn’t I?” Seamus said ruefully, his chest tight. But even back then, he’d been keeping Presley a secret from his family. He was never that good at taking his own advice.
Love is a blessing, no matter what form it takes. He’d been thinking about his children then, but he believed it now more than he ever had. Bellamy had been a blessing. He hadn’t realized how much he was missing until the man followed him home.
“I’m sorry I gave you shit. I was worried.” Owen said from somewhere behind him. “But I was wrong, Seamus. About all of it.”
“It’s okay, Owen. We’re good.”
“Read mine. We need to keep this love train moving.” Tasha sounded impatient.
“Have somewhere to be? An end-of-summer thing, maybe?”
“How did you know?”
Seamus sighed and picked up her email.
Jake,
I’ve known your father most of my life and he’s helped me more times than I can remember. This would be a novel if I listed every word of wisdom I ever got from him—longer if I told you about all the times I regretted not listening—but I think it was when I was pregnant with the twins and leaving town that he gave me the best advice. It was after he yelled at me for breaking his brother’s heart. You know how protective he can be.
Seamus cringed. If he’d known she was pregnant, he would have… No, the only thing he would have done differently was carry her over to his brother’s house instead of walking away.
He told me that Stephen needed me and that I couldn’t run from my life. And I’m so glad I didn’t let my fear of not fitting into his world stand in the way of taking what I wanted, because it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. That’s because of your dad.
He gripped the paper, not trusting himself to speak as he looked over his shoulder at her. Do not make me cry, evil woman.
She sat up straighter and ran a discreet finger under her eyes. “I’m giving that advice back, Seamus. From what I understand, it’s exactly what you need to hear.” She rolled her eyes and started muttering. “A hot stick of dynamite like that offering you the world and you just run from it? Have I taught you nothing?”
Seamus set down the emails and dragged his hands down his face. “Jake, I appreciate it, I really do, but it’s just making me feel like an idiot for not taking any of my own advice.” He pushed his empty cup toward Fiona and accepted a fresh one. “None of it matters now, anyway. It’s too late.” He’s gone.
“Are you a Finn?”
Seamus blinked as Brady’s voice boomed through the mostly empty bar, sounding every bit the Marine that he was.
“Don’t start.” Seamus pointed at him, his voice rising. “I know what you’re going to say, Brady Finn, and don’t even start or I’ll slip rum into every container of liquid I can find and you’ll never see it coming.”
Everyone laughed when Brady paled. Everyone except Jake.
“Dad.”
When Seamus looked back at his son, Jake was smiling at him as if he knew the answers to the universe. “We’re Finns, Dad. We go all in or not at all.”
As soon as he’d seen him, Seamus knew. “This was your idea? Just yours?”
Jake nodded, his ears turning red. “Mostly. Fiona helped and…we were worried about you.”
“I know you were and I’m so sorry, Jake. You shouldn’t have to worry about things like this. This my job.”