Getting out, he decided there was no way to work through the last twenty minutes and come up with a rational answer, so instead he headed up to see his father. He found Allan Howard sleeping. Walking softly to the chair beside his bed, Dylan sat.

He’d visited yesterday and the shock still hadn’t eased. The changes in the man who raised him were significant. He looked smaller than Dylan remembered. In his hospital gown with his face bruised, he was old and vulnerable. Dylan had to swallow down the lump as he thought back to the man he’d once believed the biggest and strongest man he’d ever known.

He’d never been strong enough to stand up to his wife though. Allan Howard was soft on the inside, and always took the easy road. They’d had fun with him when they were little, riding about on his back and shoulders, playing outside in the yard, but as they grew up he’d taken a back seat in raising them.

“Dad,” he whispered, placing his hand over the one on the bed before him. “I’m sorry I never came back.”

The guilt that had been sitting on his shoulders since he’d returned intensified. He’d left this gentle man and never looked back. The one parent who had loved him unconditionally. Sure, he should have done more to protect his children from his wife, and taken their sides, but it was hard not to love Allan Howard. Weirdly, most of Ryker Falls did, even considering who he was married to.

“Son?”

“Hey, Dad.” Dylan sniffed loudly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like crying. “How you feeling today?”

“Better,” he lied.

“You don’t look it.”

Allan gave a painful huff of breath. “Okay, I didn’t realize you wanted the truth. I hurt like hell all over.”

“I’ll get the nurse to come.”

“No, having you here is all I need. It’s good to have you back, son.”

“I should have come sooner—”

“No, you’ve been busy, we understand that.”

His father was doing what he always did, being the peacemaker, the one who smoothed everything over.

“No, I should have found time, and now I will.’” Dylan gripped his father’s hand. Had he lost this man then the guilt would have been deep and heavy. This was a wake-up call. A reminder, that his family would not live forever, and could be taken from him at any time. He needed to make more of an effort to see them going forward.

“So what’s the deal with you and poetry? I don’t remember you reading us any at bedtime.”

His father snuffled because that was less painful than laughing.