“Hear me out.” Julia hesitated as she seemed to search for the words she needed. “After everything we went through with he-who-shall-not-be-named, all I want for us is peace in our adult lives. I want every one of you to have what I do with Deacon, what Katie has with Shane, what Owen has with Laura and what Mom has with Charlie.”
“Who was also a convicted felon when Mom first met him,” Katie said softly.
Katie’s reminder of Charlie’s past seemed to take some of the wind out of Julia’s sails. “True, even if he didn’t do the crime he was accused of.”
“Right, but if we were to judge Charlie simply by the fact that he’d done time in prison, we’d be missing out on a pretty great guy who makes our mother happier than she’s ever been,” Katie added.
“Also true,” Julia said with a sigh. She glanced at Cindy. “You know that all I want for you is peace, love and happiness, right?”
“I do know that, Jules. And I hear what you were saying about how we grew up and what we deserve as adults.” It wasn’t like Cindy to be so emotional, but this was important. “I want to give him a chance.”
Katie and Julie exchanged glances.
“Tell her about Deacon,” Katie said to Julia. “About what happened to him right before you met.”
Cindy was immediately on alert for news she hadn’t heard yet.
“He spent a night in jail for getting into a fight with a guy hassling his ex-wife, who was a friend of Deacon’s. Blaine had to bail him out, and the cops cut him a break because Deacon used to be on the job in Boston. But they told Blaine to get him out of town. That’s how he ended up here. Blaine thought he was reverting to the old days when Deacon used to get into a lot of trouble, but it wasn’t like that at all.”
“I bet you’re glad you gave him a chance after you heard he’d been in jail.”
“Our situation is a little different than someone who went to prison for six years for something pretty serious,” Julia said.
“While in the throes of an addiction he’s since beaten,” Cindy reminded her. “People do all sorts of crazy stuff to feed an addiction.”
“That’s true,” Katie said. “I used to see it a lot in my old job. Addicts in all kinds of trouble with the law for what they did to score drugs and the money to pay for them. I cared for many a person who was handcuffed to a hospital bed while they went through withdrawal.”
“I hadn’t really thought of it that way.” Julia stroked Pupwell’s fur as she considered what Katie had said. “That people would break the law to get the money for more drugs.”
“They do things they’d never do outside the grip of their addiction,” Katie said.
“Jace said he didn’t know his brother had a gun, and the only reason he got caught was because he stayed with his brother after he was shot,” Cindy said.
“Of course he stayed,” Katie said. “I’m sure he could tell his brother was dying. Imagine witnessing that.”
“He lost everything—his wife, kids, brother, parents, sister, his freedom. He used the time in prison to turn his life around, get clean and learn a trade. He’s a plumber.” She’d read about his work-release program in a story in the Providence Journal.
“That’s amazing,” Katie said. “Good for him.”
“His kids… They’re here, the boys Seamus and Carolina took in.”
“Oh my God,” Katie said. “He’s Lisa’s ex-husband. Wow.”
“Yeah. He said he’s sick with guilt over what he put her and his kids through and wishes more than anything he could make amends to her somehow.”
“I hope he’s not going to cause trouble for Seamus and Caro,” Katie said. “They’ve been so good for the boys.”
“He said he only wants to be a friend to them.”
“This is all so complicated, Cin,” Julia said. “I hate that for you after, you know, everything else.”
“I know, but I like him. I’ve known him for weeks, and he’s never been anything but kind, friendly and sweet to me—and that was before he knew I had a room for rent. I’d like to think I can trust my own judgment about people, but…” She shrugged.
Her sisters could certainly understand the legacy they’d been left with from their violent childhood. After discovering early in life that they couldn’t trust their own father, knowing who they could trust had been a challenge.
“At some point, you have to take a chance,” Julia said, “like we did with Shane and Deacon. I just wish you were taking a chance with a less complicated man.”
“Who knows if he even likes me that way?”