Margaret frowned. “I hoped you’d come to your senses by now.”

He held her sharp gaze. “I hope you don’t come to regret treating her the way you have and not getting to know who she really is. Because the more I learn about her and her life with Sean, it’s clear, you don’t know either one of them.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“That Sean didn’t tell you the truth about her, their marriage, or their life together.”

“Of course she made Sean out to be the bad guy and blamed him for everything. You can’t believe her. You knew him.” Her gaze pleaded with him to side with her.

He couldn’t. Not when he knew and loved Sarah the way he did. “I thought I knew Sean. But we were teenagers the last time I saw him. Even then, he always took the easy way and used others to get what he wanted. He did it with a smile and charm, but that didn’t mean he didn’t leave several disgruntled people in his wake.”

Sarah was one of them and clearly deserved her ire, because Sean had been a son of a bitch to her.

“Back then, I liked hanging out with Sean. He was fun. The life of the party. But he could be jealous and competitive and push others out of his way to get what he wanted.”

“Being competitive got him to MIT. It’s how he created such a successful business.” She defended Sean, but he saw the uncertainty in her eyes.

“Yeah, well, he used Sarah. He hurt her just to get what he wanted.”

“He ended up dead because of her.”

“Do you actually know what happened?” He had the facts from the accident, but he’d planned to ask Sarah about the details when the time was right, because she’d taught him not everything you thought you knew was the truth.

“I know he died unhappy.” Pain etched lines in Margaret’s forehead and filled her eyes.

It had to be hard to know your child died before they reached their full potential and found their happiness.

But Sean had made his choices, and most of them hurt Sarah, Jack, Nick, and others. Margaret included.

Poor Sarah. She’d been dealing with a lot of unwarranted hostility.

Margaret was beyond listening to anything that didn’t fit into her perception of who she thought Sarah was and Luke refused to waste time trying to convince her Sarah was nothing like Margaret thought. He needed to get back to Sarah and make sure she was all right.

“Call me if you need help with the boys.” He turned and walked down the porch steps.

“She’ll ruin you,” Margaret called after him.

He turned and faced her. “Be careful you don’t ruin your chance to keep the boys in your life.” He may have known Margaret longer, but he was on Sarah’s side and she didn’t deserve to be subjected to this kind of hostility and hate when she’d done nothing wrong.