“A couple of days a week. It’s nice to have something to keep you busy when your own flesh and blood seldom grace you with a visit.”
Carmen aimed her fork at Gwen. “Hey, I visit.”
“We know you do, Carmina,” Eddy cut in. He was a fading version of his son, still elegantly handsome despite the fact that he was getting on in age, and spoke with the faintest whisper of a dying accent. “Your brother, on the other hand.”
Dayton released a tired sigh, looking from his plate to his parents. “I know it’s been a long time. I have no excuse.”
Another sigh. He’d had no shortage of those since they arrived in Eugene. It seemed he had little patience for his family. She found his behavior around them rather amusing.
An intimidating doctor reduced to a little boy.
Gwen sipped her wine, muttering, “Too busy with your heathen science, I suppose.”
Kenna’s skin tightened beneath her sweater as his warning from the porch sank in. His parents rejected anything relating to mental health. No wonder his visits were scarce. It was, in fact, the same reason she hadn’t been home to see her own family; but they didn’t simply reject her career aspirations, they rejected the idea of post-secondary education altogether.
“What is it you do, Kenna?” Eddy asked. His expression was warm, welcoming. Eyes a golden brown. The twins had inherited their mother’s eyes.
Dark and cold.
She resolved to skirt around the precise answer as long as possible. “I’m in my first year of grad school.”
He prompted further. “What do you study?”
“Heathen science.”
“I wasn’t aware Ponderosa had a medical school.” Gwen frowned, nearly mirroring Dayton’s words the first time they met.
“They don’t. I’m a psychology major. Truthfully, I don’t think I have the stamina for med school.”
“Not everyone does,” she conceded. “The three of us made it, somehow.”
Carmen stared into her plate, her bare face unreadable. Kenna almost dropped her fork from the thought alone of sitting around a table with not one but three doctors, even if two of them were retired.
Dayton took a long pull from his glass of water. He was the only one not drinking wine. She thought he might have had a glass, given the acute stress he appeared to be under, but Gwen had prepared everyone’s drinks. Though his mother didn’t support his career, she at least seemed adamant about protecting his cardiovascular condition. Then again, Kenna couldn’t determine if that was a byproduct of being a loving mother or a doctor.
Carmen covered her mouth as she chewed around a bite of food. “So, where are you from, kid?”
“Don’t call her that,” Gwen chided. “She’s a grown woman.”
“It’s fine,” Kenna said.
And it was. While Dayton and Carmen’s voices were far from the same pitch, they sounded identical when they said the word. She focused only on Carmen’s face. It was open, inviting, as if she genuinely wanted to know Kenna, and it imbued her with the courage to drop details she hadn’t ever spared Dayton.
“New York. I grew up on a farm. An apple orchard, actually. My grandparents were first-generation immigrants. They passed the orchard down to my dad.”
“It sounds like you had an enriching childhood,” Eddy said. “Living off the land. Now, that’s the way to live. Instilled a good work ethic in you, too, I’d imagine.”
“My five sisters and I stayed busy.”
Dayton turned to her, face flush with pure astonishment. “You havefivesisters?”
Sipping her wine, Kenna shrugged.
“Six daughters. Bless your mother’s heart. I commend her, truly. I wouldn’t have survived such a tremendous feat.” Gwen laughed. “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, please correct me if I’m wrong, but, given your name, I assume that your grandparents immigrated from Ireland?”
She easily masked her offense. “Yes.”
“Were you raised Catholic, then?”