For the first time in a long while, Brody was able to smile at his father and mean it. “You do good work. For a plumber.”

“Didn’t have any problem firing me.”

“You pissed me off.”

“Hell, boy, you fire every man who pisses you off, how are you going to put a crew together? How’s the hand?”

Brody lifted it, flexed his fingers. “Good enough.”

“Since you’ve got no permanent damage, maybe you can use that hand to dial the phone. Call your ma and let her know we cleared the air some. She might not take my word on it, given her current state of mind.”

“I’ll do that. I know I was a disappointment to you.”

“Now, hold on—”

“I was,” Brody continued. “Maybe I was a disappointment to myself, too. But I think I made up for it. I did it for Connie, and for Jack. For myself, too. And I did it, partly anyway, for you. So I could show you I was worth something.”

“You showed me.” Bob wasn’t good at taking first steps, but he took this one. He crossed the room, held out his hand. “I guess I’m proud of how you turned out.”

“Thanks.” He took his father’s hand in a firm grip. “I’ve a kitchen remodel coming up. Needs some plumbing work. Interested?”

Bob’s lips twitched. “Could be.”

Chapter Twelve

While father and son were closing a gap, Kate strolled with the third generation of O’Connell male.

“I didn’t wheedle, right?”

“Wheedle?” She sent him a shocked stare. “Why Handsome Jack, Mama and I had to practically force that plane on you. We had to beg you to accept it.”

Jack grinned up at her. “You’ll tell Dad?”

“Of course. He’s going to want to play with it, you know. It’s a very cool plane.”

Jack swirled it through the air. “It’s like the one I got to fly on, all the way to New York and back again. It was fun. I told everybody thanks in the cards I sent. Did you like your card? I did it almost all by myself.”

“I loved my card.” Kate patted her pocket where the thank-you note, painstakingly printed, resided. “It was very polite and gentlemanly of you to write one to me, and to Freddie and Nick and to my grandparents.”

“They said I could come back. Papa Yuri said I could sometime spend the night at his house.”

“You’d like that?”

“Yeah. He can wiggle his ears.”

“I know.”

“Kate?”

“Hmm.” She bent to untangle Mike from his leash, then glanced up to see Jack studying her. So serious, she thought, so intent. Just like his father. “What is it, Handsome Jack?”

“Can we…can we sit on the wall so we can talk about stuff?”

“Sure.” Very serious, Kate realized as she boosted him up on the wall in front of the college. She passed Mike up to him, then hopped up beside them. “What kind of stuff?”

“I was wondering…” He trailed off again while Mike scrambled off to sniff at the grass behind them.