Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
You just never know.
If we all think back we might be able to define that one moment in
time, that one coincidence that played a role in how our lives
evolved. We might be able to answer a lot of questions about
ourselves if we can pinpoint that one thing.
For Francis Gleeson
and Brian Stanhope if might have been the day they were paired as
partners in the NYPD. Francis was already on the force, Brian just
beginning. They weren’t together long but their conversations
about their dreams led them to buy houses next door to each other in
Gillam. It was here that Francis’s daughter Kate and Brian’s son
Peter are born six months apart and bond deeply. When one inhaled
the other exhaled.
But what goes on
behind closed doors can be very different from what people see when
those doors are opened and the people let out. Peter’s life was
spent trying not to be noticed, to be perfect, to not make any
ripples, let alone waves. He was hiding from everyone but Kate and
even she didn’t really know. They were just children, after all.
When Peter was
fourteen he and Kate made a plan to escape their lives and everything
goes wrong. The Stanhopes move away and Kate is forbidden to see
Peter. But two people who were so bonded don’t stay away from each
other forever and when they do find each other again, it isn’t
easy. Baggage can be heavy and though time sifts through the events
of their childhood and presents the horrible events of one night in a
different light each of them still must confront those memories and
test their devotion to each other.
This is a beautiful
story of love.
