Lilly heard the sounds of Kevin’s footsteps rustling in the pine needles strewn over the path. At least he was following her. Three decades of guilt began to snuff out the temper that had finally given her the courage to force this confrontation. She was so sick of that guilt. All it had done was paralyze her, and she couldn’t stand it any longer. Liam tormented her by appearing every morning for a breakfast she never felt like eating but couldn’t seem to avoid. Molly wouldn’t fit into the pigeonhole Lilly had assigned her. Kevin looked at her as if she were his worst enemy. It was too much.

In the distance ahead, the trees gave way to the lake. She marched toward it, silently daring him not to follow. When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she turned to confront him, not knowing until she spoke what she was going to say.

“I won’t apologize for giving you up!”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Sneer all you want, but have you once asked yourself where you’d be today if I’d kept you? What chance do you think you’d have had living in a roach-infested apartment with an immature teenager who had big dreams and no idea how to make them come true?”

“No chance at all,” he said stonily. “You did the right thing.”

“You’re damn right I did. I made sure you had two parents who doted on you from the day you were born. I made sure you lived in a nice house where there was plenty to eat and a backyard to play in.”

He gazed out at the lake, looking bored. “I’m not arguing. Are you about done with this, because I have things to do?”

“Don’t you understand? I couldn’t come to see you!”

“It’s not important.”

She started to move closer, then stopped herself. “Yes, it is. And I know that’s why you hate me so much. Not because I gave you away, but because I never answered your letters begging me to come to see you.”

“I hardly remember. I was—what—six years old? You think something like that is still bothering me?” His air of studied indifference developed a bitter edge. “I don’t hate you, Lilly. I don’t care that much.”

“I still have those letters. Every one you wrote. And they’re soaked with more tears than you can imagine.”

“You’re breakin’ my heart.”

“Don’t you understand? There was nothing I wanted to do more, but it wasn’t allowed.”

“This I’ve got to hear.”

She finally had his attention. He came closer and stopped near the base of an old gnarled oak.