Read The Unfinished Gift for Free Online

might that rain down upon him? As he talked, Collins drifted back to the last conversation he’d had with Shawn.
    It, too, had been about issues of faith. Shawn was even sitting in the same seat as Father O’Malley. Shawn had been trying to persuade Collins into considering how much more God had in mind for his life, what real faith in God looked like. Went on talking about how Elizabeth had helped him understand so much more about the gospel. Imagine the nerve, a son talking like that to his father.
    “Dad,” Shawn pleaded, “please just listen to what I’m trying to say, just for once.” Then came this look of frustration, or was it disgust. “Who am I kidding? You’ve never listened to me, have you? It’s always been about me doing things your way. Well, it won’t happen this time, it can’t happen. The stakes are too high.”
    “What kind of nonsense is that?” Collins shot back. “Always doing things my way,” he repeated. “As I recall, you’re not following me into the shop every day, even though this whole business could be yours in a few years. Got your way on that. Joined this new Army Air Force instead of the infantry like every other Collins who’s ever fought for his country. Got your way on that. And now you’ve up and married a woman who’s not even Irish and talks about religion all the time, totally against my wishes. So, maybe you can help me see how it’s always got to be about my way.”
    Shawn stood up, a full four inches taller than his father, and paced in front of the coffee table. When he spoke again, he seemed a little more in control. “Okay, Dad, you’re right. I did get my way on those things. But you’re missing the point. I’m not a child. I shouldn’t have to fight for my way on things like that anymore. Each of those decisions was mine to make, not yours. Did you make it easy for me to make any of those choices? Did you even try to understand a single one? No, you did everything in your power to shut me down before you even heard me out.”
    Collins didn’t reply.
    “You seem to think every time I disagree with you, I do so out of spite,” Shawn said.
    “I say black, you say white,” said the elder Collins. “I say up, you say down.”
    “That’s not the way it is.”
    “It’s exactly the way it is,” Collins shouted. “At least for the last two years. Ever since you met—”
    “It is not. Look . . . I have to live my own life, whether you allow me to or not. I’m grateful for all the times you were there to guide me when I needed you, but I’m not that little boy anymore. I don’t know why you can’t see that. God help me if I ever treat my own son this way.”
    “God help you see how bullheaded and stubborn you’ve become. And how foolish.”
    “I’m bullheaded? I’m stubborn?” Shawn let out a long, frustrated sigh.
    “That’s right. In my day, a man did what he was told, respected his father. Sacrificed if he had to. Gave up what he wanted for what was right.”
    “And did you like that arrangement?”
    “It’s not a question of did I like it. It’s a question of duty and respect. Things you know little of.”
    “As I recall, all I ever heard is you complaining about how miserable you had it growing up with Grandpop. Is that how it works in this family? You have a miserable childhood, a tyrannical father whom you despise, stay under his control until you’re liberated by his death, then it’s your duty to pass the same thing on to your children? If that’s the Collins legacy, it dies here with me. I will never treat my son that way.”
    “Why, you ungrateful little—” Collins shouted, rising to his feet. “How dare you talk to me in my house that way. How dare you talk about your grandfather that way. Get out.” His whole arm pointed toward the front door.
    “Is that really what you want?”
    “It’s what I demand,” Collins said, still shouting. “Unless you’re prepared to take back everything you’ve just