Ben stood up and paced to the woodstove. He turned to Emma and his son. “It’s archaic to blame Mike for something they think I did. Does everyone else treat him like that?”

“No, just a few. Mostly those who were directly involved. Durham did for a while, but I set him straight years ago. He was Dad’s closest friend and the one who found him. It’s hard for some people to let go.”

“LeBlanc certainly changed his attitude when you showed up. Why?”

“John used to date Nem,” Mikey piped up.

Emma could see that Ben didn’t like that news, either.

“His kid’s your age, Mike. Which means …” He looked over at Emma. “That you were just a baby when you dated him.”

“Jasmine’s his stepdaughter,” Emma explained. “And I was nineteen at the time and he was twenty-six. Any other questions?”

“No. But I think you should know that you’re not dancing with anyone else tomorrow night.”

“You don’t really intend to go to that dance, do you?”

“Hell, yes. We have a date.”

Emma looked at Mikey, who was nodding agreement. No help from that quarter. “Someone’s bound to recognize you, Ben. There’s sure to be trouble.”

“I don’t intend to hide out here for two more months. And it’s probably time I cleared my name, don’t you think?” He looked at his son. “And Mike’s, too.”

“A local dance is not the place for public vindication. Especially not when liquor’s involved. Half the town will be drinking tomorrow night, and the other half will be carting them home and tucking them into bed.”

“I won’t start anything.”

“You won’t have to. Don’t you see? These are hardworking, uncomplicated people, and they have long memories when they’ve been wronged. If just one person recognizes you, there’s going to be trouble.”

“John LeBlanc didn’t recognize me.”

Emma walked over to stand in front of him. “Wayne Poulin probably will.”

He growled deep in his chest. “Is that bastard still around? I would have thought someone had killed him years ago.”

Emma remained silent.

He glanced at Michael, then back at her. “Who … who did Kelly run off with?” he asked in a suddenly subdued voice. “I thought she was in love with Poulin.” He darted another look in Michael’s direction. “That’s what she told me that … that day.”

Emma went back and started clearing the table. “We don’t know. According to Wayne, it was some guy she’d been seeing in Bangor.” Emma shrugged. “It’s possible. She went shopping there often enough.”

She took Mikey’s untouched pie from him. “Kelly and Wayne fought more than they loved. Wayne would get crazy jealous if Kelly even looked at another man. She probably got tired of the roller-coaster relationship and took off with the first man who offered her a way out.”

Michael pushed his chair back and stood up. “Be thankful, Dad,” he told Ben. “I could have been living with Wayne Poulin all these years if Kelly had married him.” The boy made a face and gave an exaggerated shiver. “But for the grace of God and my frightened mother, I could have been his stepson.”

Ben blew out a tired sigh. “What a mess.”

“Things have a way of working out for the best,” Michael said. “Don’t look back. Look at the present. And the future. I’ve had a good childhood; I’ve been loved, given security, and experienced life to the fullest so far.” He gave his father a great big grin. “And I’ve still got a lot of living ahead of me, and it’s going to be a wonderful adventure. Don’t regret anything. If you hadn’t come here sixteen years ago, I wouldn’t exist.”

With a gentle punch to his father’s arm, Michael walked out of the kitchen, giving Emma a wink.

The silence he left behind was thoughtful. Emma didn’t move. Neither did Ben.

“He’s right, Ben,” she said into the void. “I’ve been silently thanking you for Michael for the last fifteen years.”

“I wish … I’m sorry I missed those years,” he said, still not turning. “I would like to have known him.”

“You can now.”

Ben finally turned around, and Emma watched a play of emotions cross his face. Curiosity settled into place when he finally spoke again. “Where’s Kelly now? Has she ever contacted Mike?”

Emma shook her head and went back to clearing the table. “I had taken Mikey with me to Portland for the weekend,” she explained. “When we returned, all I found was a note from her saying she had to leave for a while. It also said she’d call once she got settled, and that she’d send for Mikey.” She looked at him. “She never did either one.”

Ben’s face was unreadable.

Emma carried the dishes to the sink before she turned to him again. “Wayne Poulin claims Kelly has written him two or three times over the years, but I don’t know if I believe him. He was always a loud braggart, especially when he was drinking. He continues to claim she’ll come back to him.” Emma shook her head. “He’s trying to save face, even after all these years. I actually feel sorry for him.”

“Why didn’t Kelly marry Wayne? She told me she intended to.” He snorted. “Apparently I was just someone to pass the time with, because her realboyfriend was spending the summer at some logging camp in Canada. When he came home, she ran right back to him. It took me a week to get her alone again, so I could ask her to come to New York with me. “

“I don’t think she was running backto Wayne as much as she was running awayfrom you.”

Ben stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“Kelly was afraid of you, Ben. You were so sophisticated and worldly, and so passionate about the dam not being built. I think Kelly was afraid that if she fell in love with you, you’d … you would overwhelm her.”

“She told you this?”

“More or less. I tried to get her to contact you several times during her pregnancy, but she was afraid you’d insist she and the baby move to New York. Or worse, that you’d fight for custody.” Emma walked over to him and touched his arm. “She was eighteen and scared, Ben. And we’d just lost our father. We were both scared. So we took the insurance money the lumber mill paid us for Dad’s death, bought Medicine Creek Camps, and we clung to each other.”

“She was nineteen and you were only fifteen.”

“Friends helped out a lot. And Kelly was old enough to get custody of me, mostly thanks to the people in town.”

“You still haven’t said why Kelly didn’t marry Poulin.”

“That was the one smart thing Kelly did. Wayne went ballistic when he found out she was pregnant, and she knew he’d never accept Michael.” She started washing the pots in the sink. “Wayne went to college that fall, and when he came back the next spring, Michael had been born. Kelly and Wayne got together and broke up at least a dozen times over the next five years. Until she suddenly vanished into thin air.”

She stopped talking and silence settled over the kitchen, but for the sound of clanking pots as she scrubbed them. Emma had gotten over her adolescent crush on Benjamin Sinclair the day Kelly had left, blaming him for the whole damn mess. Instead of staying and fighting for Kelly’s love, he had abandoned them all, and Kelly had only followed his example.

And on that long-ago night, Emma had decided the only person she could ultimately rely on was herself. She glanced at the man of her dreams—and her nightmares—and found him staring out the back door at nothing. It was then she suddenly realized she’d unknowingly been holding on to her hopes these past ten years. Ben had come for his son as soon as he’d known, and he’d grown into someone even more remarkable than her teenage mind could have imagined.

But it was too late for her. She had struggled too long and worked too hard to risk her heart.

“You should take Mikey down to Bangor tomorrow, to a hockey game at the university. He would probably like that.”

He turned, his eyes dark with some unidentifiable emotion. “Tomorrow night?”