Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold #12.5)(63)
“You mean what you say always. The Boylan men are put on this earth to serve.”
That phrase had been pounded into him from the time he was a kid. There’d never been a choice. Noelle had asked him what he would do instead and he had no way of answering that.
Norm leaned forward. He rested his forearms on his thighs and loosely laced his fingers together. “I deserve that,” he admitted. “I wanted—” He cleared his throat. “You know that damn dog of theirs is pretty smart. He likes to learn new commands and he’ll do about anything if he thinks he’s going to get to play catch at the end of the session.”
Gabriel frowned. They were talking about Webster?
“I’ve been working with him on basic commands. Sit, stay, that sort of thing. We’re working on some others. I want to get him off-leash trained. Carter and I have been talking about putting him through agility training. It would be good for the dog and for the boy. Plus, it gives him and me a good way to connect. Something for us to talk about.”
His father continued to stare at the ground as he spoke. “The thing is, if I yell at Webster, the session doesn’t go well. He tucks his tail and can’t look me in the eye. It’s like I break his spirit and he doesn’t trust me anymore. So I praise him when he does the right thing and stay calm when he doesn’t. He gets what ‘no’ means.”
His father straightened. There was pain in his eyes. Pain and maybe regret.
“You’re like that.”
“You’re comparing me to the dog?” Gabriel asked, wondering where on earth this ridiculous conversation was going. Anger built up inside of him. His father wanted something—as he always did.
“In a way. I treated you and Gideon the same, but you’re not the same. Gideon’s like me. He’d rather fight or leave than talk. When he was a kid, he solved problems with his fists. The army was the right place for him and he excelled. But you, you’re different.”
“You mean wrong.”
His father shook his head. “Your mother told me that’s what you thought. I guess because I’ve been telling you that you were wrong for as long as I can remember. I figured if I kept after you enough, you’d change.”
Gabriel hung on to his anger, because when he was pissed, it was easy to disconnect. He didn’t have to care about his father. He’d learned that lesson long ago. But it had been in the face of a vocal man who’d gone out of his way to make it clear his son was a disappointment. Norman Boylan didn’t apologize.
“You save people,” his father continued. “You save lives every day. You’re respected and honorable. Hell, a soldier like me can be found on every street corner, but not many people can do what you do. I never appreciated that before. I guess I couldn’t get past my expectations so I couldn’t see how proud I am of you, Gabriel.”
The anger faded and with it, his defenses. “Dad,” he began, only to stumble into unfamiliar territory. If his father wasn’t yelling at him about his piss-poor choices, what else was there?
His father straightened. “I’m not saying we’re going to always get on. We’re too different. But I want you to know that I have always loved you and I always will. I tell everyone about my son, the doctor.” He smiled slightly. “Then my friends all ask who your mom was sleeping with that night, because there’s no way some smart, successful doctor is my kid.”
Norm cleared his throat. “I won’t keep you. I know you’re still busy. I just wanted to stop by and say I’ve been watching Gideon with Carter. I raised you boys how I was raised, and how your grandfather was raised. Gideon’s doing it differently and I’m thinking maybe his way has some merit.”
With that his father rose and headed out the door. Gabriel sat in the chair, too stunned to absorb what had just happened. He told himself it didn’t mean anything, it didn’t change anything, but he had a feeling he was wrong.
Chapter 14
Noelle sat in Dellina’s living room. They were surrounded by three bowls of personalized wrapped chocolates and a stack of little cloth bags. Each bag got two of each of the chocolates as a wedding favor. Not an especially daunting task until Noelle thought about how many people were probably coming to the wedding. It would be a large portion of the town. Which meant lots and lots of bag filling.
Dellina had pulled her long hair back into a ponytail that sat on the top of her head. She had on jeans and a bright green holiday sweater.
“Thanks for helping me with this,” she said. “I know you’re busy at the store. It’s less than a week before Christmas.”
“No problem. We’re still closing at six.”
Gabriel had promised to spend some quality time with the cats before heading out to have dinner with his parents. He hadn’t said much but she’d noticed in the past couple of days he’d seemed more relaxed about them. She wondered if his work at the avalanche had made a difference. Something had, which was good.
She picked up two chocolates from each of the bowls, then dropped them into one bag and pulled the drawstring closed. After tying a little bow, she put the finished favor into a large white box and reached for more chocolates.
“How are the wedding plans coming?” she asked.
“We’re mostly there.” Dellina nodded toward the stack of papers on her kitchen table. “I’m at the going-crazy stage. A wedding is a lot to pull together, but this is all that times three, and it’s a secret. Plus, Mrs. Robson is threatening to retire.”