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apprehensive as Payne and I went downstairs, hand in hand, I wasn’t terrified the way I had been during my teenage years when facing an encounter with my always unhappy and disapproving father. I was an adult now. A successful and happy adult with a career I loved, a husband I adored. Nothing my father did or said had the power to change that. I kept all of that firmly in mind as Payne and I reached the kitchen, to find my mother standing by the sink, looking tense, and my father sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him.

    He looked relatively sober and clean. His eyes were red, and he was somewhat pale, but at least he didn’t look as if he were coming off a two-day bender.

    For a moment, the four of us—me, Payne, my mother, and my father—lingered in a silence that wasn’t exactly comfortable. I noted that Mrs. Sutherland wasn’t in the room. She had obviously decided we needed time alone, and honestly, I envied the freedom she’d had to escape the undeniable tension. I need you now, Ava, I thought . God, but you were the only one who knew how to break the tension when we were all stuck together like this . I could almost hear Ava answer back, telling me to suck it up, damn it, and I squeezed Payne’s hand to assure him that I was okay and ready to face whatever it was Russ Truman had come here to say.

    The sound of my father clearing his throat shattered the silence, and I looked at him directly. “I would like a moment alone with Jamie, if that’s possible.”

    “No chance in hell.” Payne growled.

    “It’s okay.” I glanced at my husband, and I could see the worry in his beautiful eyes.

    “Jamie….”

    “For God’s sake, I want to speak to my son!” my father snapped in clear annoyance, and the sound of him raising his voice made me jump a little, which Payne noticed.

    “Your son? Your son? Now he’s your son?” I had expected Payne to erupt, but instead, my usually calm mother was suddenly shouting and glaring at my father. “You son-of-a-bitch! You selfish, drunken, son-of-a-bitch! How dare you? How dare you came in here and act like you have a right to speak to my son? My son! You long ago lost the right to call Jamie your son, and… you never treated him like he was a son, and I admit, I allowed you to get away with a lot of shit, Russ, but I won’t allow you to ever hurt my son again.”

    She was trembling in anger, and I went to her side quickly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder while casting a glance at Payne, who looked just as shocked as I felt by my mother’s fury-filled outburst. It was so unlike her. I had never heard her curse before, and at any other time, it might have amused me, but at the moment, we were all emotionally raw and on edge. I knew I needed to get her someplace where she could calm down, and I needed to deal with whatever my father felt he needed to say to me after years of silence.

    “Payne, please take my mom upstairs.” I looked at him, aware he didn’t want to leave me alone with my father, but my eyes begged him, and he finally sighed.

    “Come on, Emma, let’s go upstairs and look in on Aubrey.” He took my mother’s hand, and she glanced at me, clearly as uncertain as Payne was about leaving me to face dear ol’ dad on my own.

    “It’s okay, Mom. Really. Go with Payne. I bet Aubrey’s waking up from her nap, and she’ll want some cuddles.”

    Still hesitant, she allowed Payne to guide her from the room, but before disappearing up the stairs with my mother, Payne glared at Russ, and then he looked at me and mouthed “love you,” and that was enough to reassure me.

    When they were gone, I turned to my father, who was still seated at the table.

    “He loves you.” It was a statement, rather than a question, but I was surprised to hear my father—bigot extraordinaire—make such an observation. “And it’s damn obvious you love him.” A hint of a smile danced over his face. “You look at him the