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The h the door with his mother seemed a shy shadow of the man Ty remembered His shoulders appeared permanently bowed in a protective hunch, and the lank black hair that had covered his head was now shot full of gray He wasn’t as thin as Ty’s iave him a soft, puffy look—orshut away froy that always seeone There was souided into the living room

A look of surprise flashed across hisbehind Cathleen, but she didn’t question his unexpected presence That would come later At the moment, her chief concern was to smooth the path for her brother’s return to the world There was tension on both sides

“Hello, Culley” His father spoke first, neither offering false words of welco to shake hands

“Hello” His head bobbed in an abrupt acknowledgment

Ty noticed how blank O’Rourke’s eyes were, as if he were trying to shut out the identity of the reeted His mother didn’t press forher brother’s attention to him

“This is Ty,” she said in a bright and reassuring tone “He’s grown so much since the last tinize him”

“He’s taller, older—but I recognize hi only in its choice of words While those shuttered eyes picked out the things he rerizzled man in the pickup truck who had remarked that Ty had the look of a Calder “Hello, Ty”

“Hello, Culley,” he returned and kept both hands on his sister’s shoulders, like his father not offering to shake

Cathleen twisted her head around to look up at him and hiss a correction “You’re supposed to call him Uncle Culley”

A dim sparkle appeared in the flat eyes as they fell to the little girl O’Rourke crouched down, letting one knee touch the floor

“Youthat came to his mouth, almost a smile

“Hello, Uncle Culley” Cathleen did not feel bound by the reticence of her father or brother “I’ better Mo sick”

“No, it isn’t” The innocent reference to his prolonged illness did not seeently curled a hand under her fingers, being very careful, as if she wereabout the gesture, hinting that ittime since he had touched another human, especially a child “You are very pretty”

“Do you like my dress?” Cathleen took her hand away to hold out both sides of her green underskirt to show him “I wore it for you I would have worn it for Ty, but I didn’t knoas coot cookies Would you like some?”

“I think that’s a good idea, Cathleen” Maggie shter had achieved with her chatter Her brother had been so ill at ease, watching everything he said so carefully Culley had been used to his own co he had never learned how to relate “Why don’t we all sit down?” Maggie suggested, then said to Ruth, “Would you have Audra bring us some coffee and a plate of cookies?”