Robbie was a little apprehensive as his uncle and aunt ushered him into the den and waved him onto the couch, after making sure the girls really were gone; they had a talent for eavesdropping and snooping bordering on genius, and it would never do for them to hear any of this. Once they were satisfied the coast was clear, they both sat down, Frank in his favorite recliner, Kat on the couch next to him, his hand in hers.
“So, Robbie, Joey tells me you’ve got something on your mind. You want to tell me about it, son?” asked Frank.
Robbie looked nervously at Kat, she smiled and nodded.
“Go ahead baby, there’s only us here, and nothing you say will ever go outside this room, I promise. Tell us what’s troubling you, baby, we only want to help!”
Robbie slid his hand out of Kat’s, nervously lacing his fingers together and looking at the floor as he gathered his thoughts, looking for a place to begin. Kat smoothed his hair back out of his eyes, something she’d done a million times before, and the familiarity of the gesture calmed him, reminded him of where he was and who he was with.
“Uncle Frank, Aunt Kat, you know… I… Casey and me… we… we…”
“Calm down, Robbie, take your time, we have as much time as you need, just tell us what’s bothering you,” smiled Frank, that and the sudden smile from Kat stilling him and letting him once more gather his thoughts.
“Uncle Frank, Aunt Kat, you know Casey and me, we… we want to get married, I asked her to a long time ago, I know she wants to marry me, but… what if I get it wrong? I know who I am, I know who my father is, what if I’m like him, you know, inside, what if all that stuff about the apple not falling far from the tree is true, supposing I …?”
Frank cut across him at that.
“OK Robbie, that’s enough! Listen to me, son, no,” as Robbie tried to interject, “hear me out first, Robbie, please!”
Robbie subsided, his face flushed, and Kat leaned closer, suddenly concerned; he looked almost… frightened, yes, frightened, scared; suddenly the confident young man she knew and loved so much was gone, and in his place was the lonely, traumatized outcast he’d been his whole life. Her heart went out to him, and it took a real effort of will to not just gather him in and mother him, hold him close and make the fear go away.
Frank also leaned closer, sitting almost close enough for their knees to touch.
“Robbie, you’re not like Steve Dolan, not in any way; I know him, I know him better than you think, and I see nothing of him in you, not one of the things that make him who he is! I know what he did, I know how he treated you, but he also did you the biggest service possible; he made sure you were never going to be like him! Your mom watched over you, she and Joey taught you things, almost without meaning to, about how to be a good person, how to be a kind person, how to be the man you are today; that’s who you are! All this stuff about the apple and the tree, that’s nonsense, I don’t know where you got that from, so just think on this; sometimes old wives tales only exist because old wives had nothing better to do with their time than sit around, spread malicious gossip, and stick pins in people!”
Robbie looked at him in astonishment; he’d never heard that tone or seen that expression before, and he suddenly realised Frank was deadly serious.
“Robbie, you’re like my own son; I really wish you were, and I’d never lie to you, so what I’m telling you now is the truth; you can never be like the man your father is, it’s not your nature; there’s nothing of the Dolan clan in you, and I know that because I know what went into you to make you who you are. Did you ever meet your grandmother, your father’s mother?”
Robbie looked completely lost at that question, at the sudden change of subject; why would his grandmother have anything to do with this conversation? He let his puzzlement show in his voice.
“No, Uncle Frank, all I know is she lives back East, in New York State, Albany or Oneonta or somewhere like that. I’ve never met her.”
Frank leaned back slightly, his expression suddenly less serious, and a quick grin quirking the corner of his mouth.
“Oneonta, eh? “Go Outlaws!” Perhaps you should meet her; it would certainly make a lot of things clearer to you.”
Now Robbie was really confused.
“Aunt Kat…?”
Kat looked at Frank and saw the small nod, telling her to tell him.
“Two things Robbie, but before I say anything I want your solemn promise you won’t say anything, to anyone, ever; do I have your word?”
Robbie had a pretty good idea what she was going to tell him, but decided to keep shut; he wasn’t supposed to know, after all, so he nodded agreement.
“I promise, Aunt Kat, not a word, ever.”
Kat sighed, her hands in her lap, slowly rubbing them together, obviously far out of her comfort zone.
“Baby, your Uncle Frank and me, we… we know what you’re going through, you and Casey; we know because we went though it as well. Baby, we went through it because Frank is… Frank is my big brother, or rather, half-brother. We never intended for any of our kids to find out, the girls don’t know, only you, please, please don’t tell them, God knows what it would do to them!”
Robbie slid over to his aunt, taking her hand in his and putting his arm around her shoulder.
“Please, Aunt Kat, it’s okay, really, I won’t tell anyone, I promised!”
Kat lifted her head to look into his eyes, her eyes suddenly widening a little as she realized something.
“You already knew!” she whispered, and Robbie, abashed, his eyes downcast, nodded.
“Mom… sort of let it slip the day she told Joey who his father was, that Casey and me were his brother and sister. She didn’t mean to, honest!” he blurted out at the look in her eyes. Frank nodded to himself, suppressing a small grin at Robbie’s complete inability to prevaricate or dodge the truth.
“Joey pressed her after she told Casey and me how difficult it was going to be for us, he worried at her about how she knew so much about it, and she told us how much it hurt her to let you both go, how she had to watch the family break up to keep it safe, how she had to lose both of you, we could see she was still hurting, even after all that time… I’m sorry Aunt Kat, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I knew, but I promised mom I’d keep my mouth shut, and I did…”
Kat reached up and cupped his chin.
“Yes you did, baby, thank you. How about Joey, and Karen, how do they feel about… Frank and me, all this?”
Robbie grinned.
“Aunt Kat, they’ve been here like a million times since, Karen leaves the baby with you when she takes the girls mall-hopping in Oakland, and she and Casey sit huddled together watching chick-flicks and crying in stereo, if she had a problem with any of this, I think you’d have heard about it by now!”
Kat smiled, a happy, relieved smile, and Robbie noted once again just how beautiful his aunt was.
“Thank you baby, you always know the right thing to say! Now there’s that other thing. Remember Frank asked you about your grandmother? We have a very good reason for asking. Your grandmother is Roisian Shelagh Caitlin Dolan, but her maiden name was Moran. My father was Michael Moran; he and Roisian were brother and sister.”
Robbie looked at her in wide-eyed surprise.
“So you’re… you’re…”
Kat nodded.
“Even before you came to us, you were my family; I’m your cousin, the girls may be your sisters now, but before that they were your cousins, so you see, you were always surrounded by family, even if you didn’t know it! I don’t think your mom knows, we couldn’t tell her, not after what your father… what Steve… did to her, so this has always been my secret, mine and Frank’s.”
Frank stirred once again, leaning forward to speak.
“I met her once, Robbie, she was a beautiful lady, she and your aunt could be mother and daughter, they look so much alike. My reason for bringing her up was because of the kind of lady she is, and she is a lady, make no mistake; she left because she couldn’t stomach Steve and his wife, and you’ve inherited her strength, her courage, and most of all, her character; what makes your aunt Kat who she is, you have in large measure as well, and that’s why you are going to be a good husband and father, a good provider, and a gentle and caring man, you come from the right stock for it! Your aunt’s father was my stepdad, but you’d never have known it; for all my life he was just my dad, and he and his sister were two of a kind, quality people, so never forget, you may have had the Dolan name, but you have the Moran blood in you, you and Joey, and it shows!”
Robbie looked at Kat, and she took his face in her hands once again.
“Baby, everything your uncle says is true; you come from good stock, some of the very best. Daddy was one of the best loved men in Springfield; most of the town came to his funeral, because of who he was; he made it easy for people to love him, and so many people did; you’re his sister Rosie’s grandson, and he would have been so proud of you, he would have seen his own father in you, and that alone is going to make you 10 times the man your father could ever be. Casey is a very lucky girl!”