Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(31)

“And you thought I wouldn’t be proud of you?” Jed whispered.

What she learned after six hours with Jed was that he was neither the perfect fantasy father she had hoped nor the beast her mother had tried to prepare her for. Reverend Kincaid would no doubt be hearing a lot about this later. Jed Crane was an intellectual, a success in his field, but he was clearly not a social dynamo. Those parenting and relationship skills he now had were probably developed during the time he spent with his girlfriend, Susan. When Nora was a baby and preschooler he was a gentle and attentive parent without an angry bone in his body, but he didn’t have the skills to deal with someone like Therese. In fact, Therese might have seen in him a man she could manage. If so, that would explain her many years of anger that he would leave her.

He couldn’t protect Nora then. It was doubtful he could protect her now.

But he had good qualities. He was sincere, for one thing. And unless he was a truly gifted psychopath, he wasn’t very deep emotionally. Nor was he malicious. And the way he acted toward Nora and the little girls was sweet and precious.

He described his days; he could read for hours. He went to Germany or England or Poland for three months out of every year—he was a World War II scholar and had published two volumes and numerous papers on the war and the reconstruction after the war. He loved his field of study as much now as he had when he began his dissertation and had no desire to ever retire, however, his schedule was not strenuous, thanks to teaching assistants.

When they were saying goodbye after a successful first family visit he said, “I’d be willing to help you with the girls if you need a babysitter on weekends when you work.”

“With all due respect, I’ll need to know you better before that happens,” she returned.

“Completely understandable. I’d like to come back for another afternoon, as soon as you’ll allow it. I’d also like to bring Susan sometime.”

“Because she gives you credibility?” Nora asked.

“Well, no. She does, though. I’d like to introduce you. I’m not that great at presentation—something you no doubt have noticed. But Susan? She’s a natural. She’s so good around people that it makes you wonder what she sees in me. When you say it’s okay, I’ll bring her along—she wants to meet you.”

“You can bring her whenever you like,” Nora said. “But we’re sticking to just afternoons. Weekend afternoons.”

“I can’t wait to tell her,” he said. And then when he smiled, it was as if he’d transformed. All his shyness seemed gone, replaced with confidence and happiness. “Thank you for this,” he said. “It was one of the best days of my life.”

Chapter Seven

When Nora jumped in Tom’s truck early Monday morning, she was feeling pretty good about herself. And she realized before they were even out of town—she was humming.

“I get the impression the family reunion went well,” he said.

“You could say so. This Jed Crane—he seems to be a nice guy. He brought the girls lots of things—clothes, toys, supplies. Since I’ve been needing that stuff, it felt good. It didn’t get him any special privileges or anything, but I was grateful. This was the first time I’ve spent a whole afternoon with my father since I was a little girl. I can’t tell if he’s who I remember or a brand-new person.”

“Maybe he’s both,” Tom said.

“There are things about him I never knew because my mother was too mad at him to tell me anything good. He’s a Ph.D, for one thing. History.” She laughed a little. “When he starts talking about history, it’s almost as if he’s transported to another time and place—he’s fascinating. I can see how he can inspire his students to learn. And it would never have occurred to me to look in the academic or history book section of the bookstore or library, but he’s very accomplished. He loves World War II—it sounds like he’s an expert. Who knew?”

“Why didn’t your mom tell you?”

“I don’t think she wanted me to like anything about him, since he walked out on her and all. She needed it to be all his fault. And he didn’t exactly defend her, but he did suggest that maybe she just wasn’t capable of much more. That in leaving, he hurt her too much.” She shook her head. “It’s going to be a while before I get there—I’m still pretty angry with my mother. In fact, now that I know my father paid support and wanted to see me, I might be angrier. It wasn’t easy growing up hearing that half of my biology was no damn good, as my mother used to say.”

“She said that? Really?” Tom asked.

“Of course she did,” Nora said. “But I told you that already. That’s why I’m going to think of some positive things to tell the girls about their father when they start to ask.”

He gave a huff of laughter. “That should be interesting. The guy’s an addict in prison for dealing.”

“I know,” she said. “He’s a tragedy, when you think about it. Here was this guy with a dream—a gifted ballplayer who had it all for a little while—a scholarship, a league contract and looks, and then something happened to him. Did he get the idea that things could be a little easier and faster and maybe more fun if he had some pharmaceutical help? Did someone give him something and wham, he was hooked? I’ll never know. I guess he wouldn’t be the first pro athlete to go down that road. It’s an American tragedy, that’s what it is.”