“I don’t want to speak to you,” Ryan said in a cold, hard voice.
Faith placed a hand on the knee beside hers, and his hand landed on top, then gripped her fingers hard.
“Hello—Faith, is it? Millicent told me who you were. I’m Jacob Robertson.” He held out a hand, and Faith shook it with her free one. “I’m Ryan and Hope’s father.”
The muscles in the thigh her hand was flattened on tensed.
“Would you give me a few minutes, Ryan? I just want to talk to you.”
He was a big man like his son. His dark hair was liberally peppered with gray, his eyes the same color as his son’s. He wore casual clothes: chinos, a sweater, and leather boots. A man comfortable in clothes, she thought, wondering what he was like as a person. But then she wasn’t inclined to like him, considering he’d walked away from his children and Millicent.
He was a lawyer; she’d met him briefly when he’d come to Lake Howling to help Hope.
“I don’t want to talk to you. I’m not sure what went on between you and Hope, but that’s between you. I want no part of it or your family.”
“You have brothers and sisters,” Jacob said.
“And they want to know their big brother now he’s famous?”
“No, they have known about you from the beginning.” The man didn’t flinch at the insult. Just kept his eyes steady on his son. “I just want to talk. Explain a few things to you about the circumstances of my departure.”
“Look, I needed a father when I was younger. Now I don’t.”
“Just hear him out, Ryan.”
“You’re actually buying into this?” Ryan shot his mother a surprised look. “Why? He left you to raise two children alone. You never talked about him, only to say he wanted contact with us when we hit our teens, and you’d done all the hard work by then.”
Ryan’s fingers tightened around Faith’s.
“He is your father,” Millicent said. “What is between him and me is in the past, and perhaps I was to blame for him staying out of your life for so long. But—”
“There is no but. I have a sister and a mother who have looked after me my entire life. He is nothing to me and never will be.”
“Ryan, I just want a few minutes to talk.”
“I had to be the man of my family because you wouldn’t be. I did the jobs and things you couldn’t, and now you want back in?” He scoffed.
Jacob Robertson’s face was etched in sadness. “I’m sorry you suffered—”
“I never mentioned the word ‘suffer,’” Ryan gritted out. “I had a good life, but you weren’t part of it, and I don’t intend on changing that.”
He stood suddenly, dragging Faith to her feet.
“I need to walk. Call me, Mom, if there are any developments.”
Darkness settled around them as they left The Yelp, taking a path that headed in the direction of the nursing home her mother was in. They walked in silence for a while, and Faith gave him that time to calm down.
“She can’t seriously expect me to say all is forgiven. What did they think I’d do, say ‘Hi, Daddy,’ and throw myself into his arms?”
“No, I should imagine he knew you’d react as you did. And that it was justified,” she added as he went to speak.
“I don’t want any part of that man. Maybe he helped Hope, and maybe she’s more forgiving than me and wants him in her life. I don’t.”
“And I totally understand that. Hell, I would feel no different if I was in your shoes. But don’t hate your siblings, Ryan. This is not their fault.”
“They’re in their late teens, early twenties, Faith. They don’t need me in their lives now, and I don’t want to be there. He gave them everything we didn’t get. That kinda stinks in my book.”
“You don’t have to have them in your life, Ryan. That’s your decision and Hope needs to respect that.”