Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35372 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35372 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
She glanced at me, puzzled. “Um, thanks, Patrick.”
He sat back and looked at me. “Sorry, Sebastian. I know you’re confused. It’s just…the situation. The irony. Karma is indeed a bitch at times.”
“You’re right, Patrick, I am confused. What situation?”
“What do you know of your family?”
“There isn’t much to know. My parents were only children. My grandparents are deceased. My mother passed when I was younger. I have no siblings or any other family. That I know of, anyway.”
He shook his head. “You do have family, Sebastian.” He leaned forward, earnest, his elbows on the table. “You have me.”
I gaped at him.
“I’m your uncle—well, half uncle, I suppose.”
“What did you just say?”
“Let me explain.”
“I wish you would,” I huffed. “I don’t know how you can be my uncle when my parents were only children.”
“Your mother was, but your father had a half brother, Sebastian. Me. Your grandfather was my father.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My full name is Patrick Anthony Ruggers.”
“But you’re…”
“Too young? Your father is fifty-eight, and I’m forty-two. I assure you, it’s true.”
“Why didn’t I know this?”
“Why are you in Riverstoke?” he countered.
“Because I couldn’t live the life my father insisted I lead.”
“Your father didn’t approve of me either—I was the result of his father’s second marriage. He didn’t approve of his father’s new, younger wife, or me. He made that apparent my whole life, and when I was old enough to understand, he made sure I knew I wasn’t welcome in his life.” Patrick chuckled. “Not only was I a tainted blip on his perfect family, I was rather, ah, wild. I liked to live life to the fullest in my younger days. He made sure I knew I would never amount to anything and I was certainly not fit to carry the Ruggers name.”
“I knew my grandmother died young, but I didn’t know my grandfather had remarried. My father never mentioned that.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He pretended we didn’t exist and, no doubt, chose to leave out a lot of family history that didn’t suit his superior attitude. When your father found out my mother was pregnant, apparently the news was not well received. He refused to have anything but the barest involvement with my parents after they married. In fact, he made their life so miserable, my father let him go to a private school, and he stayed in residence. Once I was born, he stopped visiting at all. He went to university in BC, and contact was sporadic at best. After my father died, we moved to Alberta. I saw your father a couple times when I was older, but he refused to even try to have a relationship.” Patrick rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “He was very…”
“…inflexible,” I finished for him. “Once he makes up his mind, there is no swaying him. He won’t forgive me for coming here and not giving in to his demands.”
“I’m sorry he did that to you,” Patrick offered kindly, then grinned. “But can you see the humor? He didn’t want me anywhere near him or his family. And now his son, my nephew, is living across the street and having dinner with me.” He shook his head. “What are the odds?”
I sat back, completely blown away. My father had lied to me all my life. I thought he was all the family I had. “Did you ever meet my mom?”
“Yes. Once. She was a lovely woman, Sebastian. You remind me of her a great deal.”
“Your dad died before I was born. I never met him.”
Patrick looked sad for a moment. “He was older, but he was a good dad. He loved books and learning. He adored my mother and she him. They had a good marriage. It always bothered her that your father wouldn’t even try to get to know her. She tried, but he refused all her efforts.”
“Is she, ah…?”
He nodded. “She’s alive. She’s in a fifty-five–plus place in Calgary. She is going to be amazed to hear this, and I know she’ll want to meet you.” He paused. “If you want that, of course.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I would, Patrick. I’d like to get to know you, too. My father always refused to talk about his father much. He spoke of my grandmother on occasion, and I assumed he had the same sort of relationship with his father that I had with him. I always thought I had no other family.”
Patrick smiled. “Well, you do. Eleanor and I are your family. My mother is a step-grandmother to you, and I assure you, once you know her, you’ll love her.”
Eleanor chuckled. “Connie is a hoot. She and I are great friends. When she finds out she has someone new to spoil, she’ll go crazy. And wait until she meets your girl.”
I looked over at Maggie, who had been silent this whole time. Reaching for her hand, I held it tight, not sure what to say. She smiled at me, squeezing my fingers, and I knew she understood. We’d talk this all out when we went home.