Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(99)

Apparently his sincerity got through to Ashton Lane, because he nodded. “She’s going to change schools to be closer to you. You know that, right?”

“She mentioned it.”

“Please don’t make her regret it. That’s all I’m asking.”

Bryan hesitated before replying. “Will it hurt her academically or hurt her future, if she makes this change?”

“No. When it comes to her education, she’ll be fine, but we both know that’s not the only thing behind this decision. She wants to figure out how you fit into her life.”

Bryan understood the other man’s concern and nodded. “We’ll figure that out together. I don’t want her to regret this decision any more than you do.”

Ashton stood then, looking reassured. “I’m glad I came. I think we understand each other.” He hesitated, then added, “We might not want to mention this visit to Dee, though. She’ll kill me for meddling.”

Bryan laughed. “Given that she’s already looking into ways to meddle in my life, I won’t give her a lot of sympathy on that point.”

For an instant Ashton looked startled, but then he chuckled. “Watch yourself. If she’s after something, she usually finds a way to get it.”

“Already noted,” Bryan said. “Thanks for coming. I appreciate that you’re looking after her. More, I appreciate the way you’ve cared for her all these years. She’s a lovely young woman, and that’s all because of you and Melody.”

“Thank you for saying that. You’d have every right to resent me.”

“I can’t say I don’t, just a little, but it’s because of all the years I lost, not because you were the father she needed, when I couldn’t be.”

“I imagine if Dee has her way, we’ll be seeing more of each other,” Ashton said.

“Definitely. She’s already mentioned it. I’ll look forward to it.” And very much to his astonishment, he found that he actually meant it.





Chapter 23



Bryan was oddly quiet and distracted as he drove Kiera to the pub after their late start.

“You’ve never said why you were running late this morning,” she said, hoping his reply would pave the way for a conversation about his mood.

“Unexpected company,” he said tersely.

“The car from Virginia that I saw in your driveway when my own unexpected company left?” she suggested.

He nodded.

“I’m guessing it must have had something to do with your daughter,” she said, putting the pieces of the puzzle together herself with very little help from him. “I’m also sensing that you don’t really want to talk about it.”

He gave her a wry look. “Yet that hasn’t stopped you from peppering me with questions.”

“Of course not,” she said, smiling. “I’ve learned that it’s better in the end to push until you get things off your chest, rather than waiting around until the thought occurs to you to unburden yourself to a friend.”

“Sometimes I forget just how well you’ve come to know me,” he said. “And, for the record, I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

“You’ll get used to it,” she said lightly, hoping for a smile, but none came. “This was about Deanna?” she prompted.

“Yes, it was Deanna’s stepfather or surrogate father or whatever the name would be for a man who never legally adopted her or even married her mother.”

Before Kiera could leap in with a comment, he added, “Through no fault of his own. It’s obvious that the man loved both of them and that he cared for Dee as if she were his own. I respect him for making the best of the awkward situation Melody put him in.”

“Then you do recognize that Deanna had a good life because of him,” Kiera said mildly.

“Well, of course I do. And I’m glad of it. It used to make me physically ill thinking about all the terrible things that might have befallen them or what circumstances they might be living in. Melody was a good person and loved our daughter, but I was very aware of her flaws. She could be reckless and impulsive. Do you know she took only a few hundred dollars from our bank account when she left? How long were they supposed to live on that? I’d have been more reassured if she’d taken everything we had. I suppose she was determined to send the message that they no longer needed me or the income I’d provided at such a high cost to our family. For years I kept an account set aside just in case she ever hinted that they needed help.”

“But she had already turned to another man,” Kiera said. “And this mood of yours this morning is because you’re just a wee bit jealous that it was him, not you in their lives all those years?”

He sighed. “I know it makes me look petty.”

She smiled at that. “No, it makes you human. Most men would have mixed emotions. And some would have written all of it off years ago and simply gone on with their lives without a moment’s regret or a thought about the woman and child who’d left. Sean certainly forgot all about us until his sons turned up to become his drinking buddies.”

Kiera heard the trace of bitterness in her voice and waved off the comment before Bryan could redirect the conversation to her past. “Why did Ashton Lane want to see you?”