“But you didn’t.”

“I made excuses at first. Just one more night. Then I admitted that I was letting her stay because I wanted to keep you there. If I found her a job, helped her get an apartment, worked with her to put her life back together, I could keep you close. I’d never had—you were the . . .”

She ordered herself to take one cleansing breath and just say it. “You loved me. You were the first person who ever did. I didn’t want to lose that. And when I did, I pulled myself back, right back to where I’d been before you came. I was thinking much more of myself than of you. I’d like to make up for that, a little, by thinking of you now.”

He looked away from her, down at the feet he was kicking back and forth over the water. “Phil said how she called and you told her to kiss ass.”

“Not precisely in those words.”

“But that’s what you meant, right?”

“I guess it was.” She nearly smiled. “Yes.”

“You guys got the same mother, right, but, like, different fathers?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Do you know who my father was?”

“I never met him, no.”

“No, I mean do you know who he was? She was always making up different guys and names and shit. And stuff,” he corrected. “I just wondered, that’s all.”

“I only know his name was Jeremy DeLauter. They weren’t married long, and—”

“Married?” His gaze flew back to hers. “She never got married. She was just BS-ing you.”

“No, I saw the marriage license. She had it with her when she came to New York. She thought I could help her track him down and sue him for child support.”

He considered a moment, absorbing the possibility. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter. I figured she just took the name from some guy she lived with sometime. If he got hooked up with her, he must’ve been a loser.”

“I could arrange for a search. I’m sure we could locate him. It would take some time.”

“I don’t want that.” There wasn’t any panic in his voice, just disinterest. “I was just wondering if you knew him, that’s all. I got a family now.” He lifted his arm as Foolish nosed into his armpit, and wrapped it around the dog’s neck.

“Yes, you do.” Aching a little, she started to rise. She hesitated, her eye drawn toward a flash of white. She saw the heron soar, gliding over the water just at the edge of the trees. Then it was gone, around the bend, leaving barely a ripple on the air.

A lovely thing, she thought. A lovely spot. A harbor for troubled souls, for young boys who only needed a chance to become men. Perhaps she couldn’t thank Ray and Stella Quinn for what they’d done here, but she could show her gratitude by stepping aside now and letting their sons finish the job with Seth.