Chapter 21: The Dock Again

Lydia's POV

Daniel asked his mother to come to the dock at seven on Saturday morning.

She came.

I stood at the top of the lawn with June in the carrier on my chest.

Kate stood beside me with a thermos of coffee.

We watched Judith's car turn in at the end of the gravel road.

"She'll turn around," Kate said. "She'll get to the gate and turn around."

"She won't."

Judith parked next to Rory's pickup and sat behind the wheel for a long time.

Then she got out in a plain gray coat, with no pearls, and walked down the dock with her purse held in front of her in both hands.

Rory stood at the end, by the overturned bucket.

Daniel stood a little way off from him.

I couldn't hear the first part. The wind was off the water, and Judith's voice was low.

But I saw her stop three feet from Rory, and I saw her put down her purse on the planks, which I had never seen her do in public.

Then she lifted her head, and the wind turned, and I heard her.

"I told you we had lost our baby."

Rory didn't move.

"I told you in July, and it was a lie. I carried him to term in another man's house, and I gave him another man's name."

"And I let you read the paper for a year."

"Judy," Rory said.

"I let you wait. I'm not asking you to say it's all right."

"It isn't," he said.

His voice was rough, but steady.

"It isn't all right. I want you to hear me say it. I'm sixty years old and I missed my son's whole life."

"I know."

"I'd have been a bad father at twenty-six. Maybe. I'd have learned." He drew a breath. "You didn't give me the chance to be a bad one."