Where the Forest Meets the Stars(65)

“He keeps that private,” Jo said. “I’d only heard rumors that his wife was sick.”
His hands were still on his eyes. “Guess what he asked me?”
“What?”
“He wants to marry my mother when Lynne dies. He asked my permission.”
Jo hadn’t expected that. She supposed that was why Kinney had been so forceful about making Gabe talk. “What did you say?”
He took his hands off his eyes and looked at her. “Did you take me past his office hoping this would happen?”
“No! I didn’t even know that was his office. I’ve only talked to him twice—both times in the main office.”
“He said he moved into the smaller space two years ago. He had to retire earlier than he wanted to take care of Lynne.”
“Two years ago I was getting cancer treatment. When I left, his office was still in the entomology department.”
Gabe nodded, conceding that Jo hadn’t steered the meeting.
“Does he know your mother has Parkinson’s?” she asked.
“He does, and he still wants to marry her.” He sat up and looked at her. “Are you crying?”
“I’m trying not to.”
“Why?”
“I think this story is beautiful. But really sad, too. Maybe Lynne knew George didn’t love her. Maybe that was why she started to drink.”
“That’s why there’s nothing beautiful about it. Their selfishness wrecked people’s lives.”
Their love had changed lives. That mattered to Jo.
“He told me how it all happened,” Gabe said. “He’d been going down to the Shawnee Forest with his biology classes, and he turned my dad on to the area. One weekend in their senior year, George and Lynne and Arthur and Katherine did a couples campout. Bet you can’t guess what happened . . .”
“George and Katherine fell for each other.”
“Yeah, but they didn’t do anything about it. George and Arthur stayed close while they were in different graduate programs—best man in each other’s weddings and all that. And even after their families started hanging out, George and Katherine still hadn’t touched each other—or so George says.”
“Why would he lie when it eventually happened?”
“True.”
“When did they get together?”
“After my dad bought the property in Southern Illinois. He was still working on the cabin when the property next door went up for sale. He considered buying it, but my mother suggested they ask George and Lynne if they were interested. That way they could get together when they were vacationing down there.”
“I sense an ulterior motive.”
“Do you?” he said sarcastically.
“When did Arthur find out about their affair?”
“When my mother got pregnant. He knew it wasn’t his because they hadn’t had sex for years. When my mother was four months pregnant with me, she made Arthur and George sit down with her and talk about what they were going to do.”
“Okay, I like Katherine even more now. That was a cool thing to do.”
“They decided against a divorce. And agreed Lynne couldn’t know because her alcoholism made her fragile. To this day George has never told his wife or two daughters.”
“They didn’t notice how much you two look alike?”
“I guess Lynne was too wrapped up in her own misery, and the Kinney girls rarely saw me. They were Lacey’s age when I was born.”
“Apparently, they decided not to tell you either.”
“That was one of Arthur’s two stipulations: I would be raised as his son, and George and Katherine weren’t allowed to make love on his property.”
“Which is why they met in the woods.”
“Right. The graveyard is on Kinney’s property—just a few feet from the Nash boundary. No doubt that was part of the joke of meeting there.”
“Do you really think it was a joke?” she said. “Your mother is a compassionate person—I can tell from her poetry. She had to know how much Arthur was hurting.”
“Yeah, no doubt she knew,” he said bitterly, “but, hey, he got the consolation prize, right? He got me.”
Jo caressed his arm. “Yes, he got you.”
He ripped out a divot of grass and threw it on the ground. “You know what George said? He said he wants to be a real father to me.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, because it’s bullshit. He says his daughters can never know. How real would that be?”
“Why do you hate him so much now that you know the whole story? George and your mother obviously stayed with people they didn’t love to make their partners happy. Maybe they realized they shouldn’t have done that, but by then, they had children who would be hurt by a divorce. When they finally got together, they tried to do it in a way that hurt as few people as possible. Can’t you see the beauty in their sacrifices? And in a power of love that withstands so many years?”
“If it was your parents, you’d understand,” he said.
“I would. If I could have my parents back, I’d let them love anyone they wanted to love.”
He plucked more grass and rolled it in his palms.
“We have to go soon,” she said. “We’ve left Ursa with Tabby too long.”
He was too absorbed in his thoughts to hear her. “When I was leaving, George said it was like some strange providence that I walked past his door today. He said right before we went by, he was thinking about me.” He brushed the grass out of his hands and looked at her. “You know what I was thinking? I was thinking of Ursa’s quarks. There’s something really odd about what’s been happening since that girl showed up.”