Waiting On You (Blue Heron #3)(124)

Bryce gave a sad smile. “Yeah. It occurred to me. But you were gone and married and living the life, right? And Colleen and I were still in Manningsport, and the thing was, I always liked her, from high school on. I mean, I’m a straight guy. Straight guys love Colleen. Gay guys, too, probably.”

“So you had no problem taking her to bed.”

Bryce sat back in the leather chair and looked at him. “You ever wonder what it was like to be your cousin? You were the smart one. The cool one. You were from the South Side, and that was all my dad ever talked about, the good old days, life in Chicago. I was some spoiled kid from the ’burbs.”

“My life wasn’t really that great, Bryce. Mother dead, father in prison, remember?”

“And still you were better at everything. I don’t know if you remember that first day of school in Manningsport, walking into that classroom. And there was the prettiest girl in town, and she was staring at you like she’d been blind up until that second.”

Lucas remembered, all right.

“She was the one mistake you made, wasn’t she? Leaving her, marrying Ellen?”

He didn’t answer.

“So yeah,” Bryce said. “I hooked up with her, but to be honest, I have no idea why she hooked up with me. Even then, it was pretty obvious she was still hung up on you. She just looked so lonely that night.”

The thought made his chest hurt. Colleen, who was always so bright and smiling—lonely, even with her twin, her friends, her sister. Lonely, because he made her that way.

His eyes stung suddenly.

“I’m sorry I did it,” Bryce said, and his voice was gentle. “I took advantage of her being sad. I think I just wanted to see what it’d be like to be you, just for a little while. Obviously, it didn’t work.”

Lucas looked at him, the cousin who’d always looked up to him, who’d always wanted what he had.

The cousin who had risked his life to save him, that day on the tracks.

“Are we okay, Lucas?” Bryce asked.

Lucas got up from the couch and hugged him. “Yeah. We’re fine.”

“Good. Because there’s another reason I’m here.” He reached into his backpack, pulled out a small box and handed it to Lucas. “This is for you.”

Lucas opened it.

It was Joe’s silver pocket watch. The Civil War watch, handed from father to son for five generations now.

Warm and heavy in his hand, the watch’s curling design was faint but still legible. Lucas opened it. The numbers were elaborate and old-fashioned.

On the inside of the cover, the engraving read To My Cherished Son from Your Loving Father.

“This is your watch, Bryce,” Lucas said, clearing his throat. Could his cousin honestly not want this? “It’s been passed down from father to son since the 1860s.”

Bryce pulled a piece of paper from his knapsack and handed it over. “About halfway down.”

Lucas took the paper, the sight of Joe’s blocky handwriting giving him a pang.

Lucas won’t need anything, but take care of him anyway. I want him to have the Civil War watch, Bryce. I hope you don’t mind, but he deserves it. He’s always been such a good son to me, and a wonderful brother to you.

Make sure you stay close with him. I always missed my own brother so much. Picture me with your uncle Dan, okay, son?

There was more, but Lucas couldn’t see it, because suddenly his eyes were full of tears.

Maybe Joe hadn’t sent him out of the room because he hadn’t wanted him there. Maybe Bryce just needed to get his father’s final blessing, when Lucas had had it all along.

* * *

LUCAS AND STEPHANIE took Bryce out for breakfast the next day at Lula’s, then put him in a cab to the airport.

“I love that idiot,” Stephanie said. “Granted, I couldn’t spend more than a day with him, but he’s sweet. Gorgeous, too. Man! We have an amazing gene pool, us Campbells.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

His sister fixed him with an irritated stare. “What’s the matter? You look like the dog died, and you don’t even have a dog. This is about Colleen, isn’t it? So she screwed Bryce. Get over it.”

“It’s not just that.”

“Oh, God. You men. You irritate me. I’m so glad I’m a lesbian.”

“Are you?”

“I could be. By the way, I hate to tell you this, but I’m staying with Forbes. Frank doubled my salary and gave me a promotion. Sayonara, sonny.”

He threw up his hands. “Wow. Thanks, Steph. Family loyalty and all that.”

“Please. I’m a single mother.”

“Yes, I vaguely remember.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know how Frank is. The job offer includes college tuition for the girls and a month of vacation to start. I already have the Rolls Royce health benefits, that freaking amazing gym, and now a wardrobe allowance at Bergdorf. You can’t do that for me, youngster.”

“Mom and Dad would be extremely disappointed in you, you materialistic monster.”

“Talk to the hand. The face is planning to take the girls to St. Croix.” She folded her arms. “Besides, you don’t want me working for you. I’d take over in about half an hour.”

“True.”