“Don’t do this, Jack.” He felt her touch on his cheek, a feather light echo of what it had once been.
But he was already too far along the path to turn back. Hearing her, being so damn close to seeing her again brought it all to the surface again. “I shouldn’t have gone on the mission. I should have stayed home and helped with the boys. Helped you.”
Kathleen shook her head. “It was my time. You needed to save Brian.”
Jack grunted derisively. “Are you telling me that you weren’t needed? That’s why you were taken away? Goddamn it, Kathleen! I needed you. Your boys needed you.”
“There’s a reason for everything. Every life is a critical link in a chain of events that you can’t begin to comprehend.”
“You’re right, I don’t understand at all. Because it makes no fucking sense.”
“Death is a part of life, Jack. There is no getting around that.”
“No,” he reluctantly agreed, “but why you? Why not me?” He’d come close to death so many times, been in situations where death was more likely than survival, and yet he’d been spared.
“Because you weren’t finished with what you had to do. You and the boys became the men you were meant to be. Fine, honorable men who have touched innumerable lives.”
“And what?” he scoffed, rubbing his chest as the pressure continued to build. “You’re saying that wouldn’t have happened if you’d been here? Bullshite.”
Rather than be upset with him, she smiled at him, that same indulgent smile she had for him whenever he was being obstinate. “I have always been with you, you know that. Have faith, Jack. It will all make sense someday. And be patient.”
Be patient. He’d been patient long enough and he told her so. He was ready, so ready.
“Now is the perfect time. The boys are grown, with croies and children of their own. They no longer need me.”
“Aye, they do, even if they don’t realize it.”
“For what? They see me as an old man, someone who needs coddling.”
She laughed softly. “No, Jack, they don’t. Until recently, you’ve been invincible in their eyes. Realizing you’re not has been a wake-up call, and that’s a scary thing for them. They might be grown men, but you are, and always will be, their father.”
There was some logic to that, he supposed, but it didn’t change the way he felt. The pressure in his chest continued to build until he could no longer draw a full breath; rather than fight it, he welcomed it.
“I miss you, Kathleen. I want to be with you again.”
“You will be,” she promised. “But not yet.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
“Soon.” She brushed a kiss across his forehead and laid her hand upon his chest until the pain subsided into the familiar, empty ache. “I love you, mo croie beloved. And I’m waiting for you.”
“I love you, too.”
He exhaled, the oppressive weight on his chest now gone. It seemed he would be sticking around for a bit longer, after all. “Tell me, Kathleen. Will we be able to make love again?” he asked wistfully.
She gave him a wicked smile that put his healing heart to the test. “Why do you think they call it Heaven? Trust me, Jack. Only a little while longer, and then you and I will have the rest of eternity together.”
The rest of eternity sounded like a good start.
“Promise?”
“Yes, absolutely. And until then, I am always in your heart, as you are in mine.”
Kathleen’s image faded, but Jack didn’t feel quite as lonely as he had earlier. They’d had the same conversation so many times over the years, but this time was different. This time he had been so close...
But hell, he was a sixty-five year old man with a bum ticker. It couldn’t be too much longer. And for the chance to hold Kathleen in his arms again, he could withstand anything.
Jack made his way back down to the kitchen.
“You okay, Dad?” Taryn asked cautiously.
“Aye.” He was. He’d learned to be. But if he was going to be sticking around for a while longer, he preferred to do it where he felt closest to his wife.
“And I’m ready to come home.”
Taryn grinned and gave him an exuberant (yet gentle) hug. “It’s about fucking time,” she sniffed into his shirt, making him laugh.
––––––––
“Grandpa!” Riley exclaimed a few days later when she and Patrick, Ian’s oldest boy, blasted through the door like mini-tornadoes. She took one look at her uncles trying to navigate the heat/massage recliner up the narrow staircase (much to Michael’s disappointment). “Does this mean you’re moving back home now?”
Home. The Pub did feel like home. It had from the first night he’d brought his new bride here. So much had changed since then, but not that.
This was where he and Kathleen had raised seven sons. She might have moved on to the next phase of the journey, but she’d left huge parts of herself behind, too.
In Kane’s inner strength and his wizardry with finance.