Ryan nodded, gave Faith a smile and one last squeeze of her petal-soft shoulder, and stood. Mari looked puzzled and a little worried about Ryan’s request to talk to Marc in private. He felt guilty about that and tried to give her a reassuring smile. His sister had put up with his unresolved issues with Marc Kavanaugh for too long, now.
He and Marc walked for a ways in silence, finally pausing when they reached a low, circular stone wall that served as a lookout to the lake. They stood gazing out at the rippling, sun-dappled water.
“I’ve been reading in the papers that the polls have you far ahead of your opponent for the senate race,” Ryan began. “It looks like we’re going to have a U.S. Senator in the family.”
Marc made a doubtful noise. “Anything can change between now and November.”
“It won’t,” Ryan said, sitting on the stone wall. “Remember when we were in high school, and I used to say you’d probably be president some day?”
Marc gave a wry smile. “And you were going to be my Air Force One pilot.”
“I still will be, if the need should ever arise,” Ryan said, grinning swiftly.
“It won’t. I would never put Mari through that mess. This campaign has been hard enough on the family. I’ll go back to being a prosecutor after I serve my term,” Marc said.
Marc spoke amiably enough, but Ryan noticed his slightly puzzled expression. He couldn’t understand why Ryan had called him out here for this little discussion.
“I have something that I want to...confess, I guess,” Ryan said after a pause.
“Okay,” Marc said slowly, his brows bunching together in consternation.
He exhaled and looked out at the dancing water. “When Mari first told me she was pregnant with Riley, when I took her back to San Francisco with me, there were a few times that I encouraged her not to tell you she was going to have your baby.”
Only the waves crashing on the beach broke the stony silence that followed.
“She never agreed, of course. I know now that I was wrong to tell her that,” Ryan said. “I’m sorry.”
“And you realize that because of your experience with Faith?” Marc asked. “You wouldn’t want to be cut out of the picture any more than I would have, would you?”
“No,” Ryan said, meeting his onetime friend’s stare. Anger sparked in Marc’s blue eyes. “And in answer to your question about Faith, yes. That was part of why I wanted to bring up the topic to you today. But there’s more.”
“Go on,” Marc said after a tense moment.
“The accident happened a long, long time ago. In a different lifetime. I won’t lie that I’ve been angry and resentful about losing my parents. I took out a lot of my anger on you, but I know you didn’t deserve it. It hasn’t been fair, to you, or to Mari or to Riley.” He looked at Marc. “We used to be friends once. Good friends.”
“The best,” Marc said grimly.
He watched a wave break on a rock, sending up a tall spray.
“You’ve made Mari so happy. More happy than she’s ever been in her life. I’ve considered Riley as my family, but not you,” Ryan stated baldly. He looked at Marc. “I want that to change. I want you to be a real uncle to my child, just like I am to Riley. I want us to be brothers. If you can see your way to forgive all my misplaced anger over the years, that is.”
“Of course I forgive you. If you can forgive me in the same way,” Marc said.
He stood and held out his hand. Marc shook it.
“What’s family for, if not to forgive our worst faults?” Ryan asked with a small smile.
“Exactly,” Marc agreed. He slapped Ryan’s upper arm. “Now, let’s get
you back to your bride.”
* * *
“Ryan? Why did you want to talk to Marc earlier? You guys looked so serious when you left. And when you got back, you both seemed...relieved.”
Ryan opened the front door for her. The house felt a little stuffy, so Faith flipped the air-conditioning on low. She turned to face Ryan.
“I was saying something to him that I should have said a long time ago,” Ryan said, removing his coat. “I guess you could say that the specialness of the day sort of...popped it out of me.”