Closest To My Heart

Chapter Twenty

Maggie paused with her fingers on the handle of the sliding glass door that looked out over the back yard. Tag sat in a chair beside a stone fire pit with his head in his hands as Nana Mae stood beside him, her hand resting gently on his shoulder. Clearly, he was upset about something—which explained his behavior in the front yard—and Mae was attempting to comfort him. Feeling shamefully voyeuristic, Maggie backed silently away from the door.

Returning to the living room, she crossed the floor to study a multitude of framed photographs that lined the far wall. A faded eight-by-ten portrait in a brass frame featured a much younger Nana Mae with a man that was obviously her husband, although the house showed no apparent signs of male occupancy.

She must be a widow, Maggie thought sympathetically as she moved on to the other photographs.

Nana Mae's husband was featured in several more photos, often in the presence of two young boys that Maggie assumed to be their sons... or maybe grandsons? Maggie peered closely at the dark-haired boy in one of the pictures, smiling as she recognized Tag's familiar lopsided grin.

But who is the other boy? she wondered. A brother? Or maybe a cousin?

Maggie's eyes skimmed over the rest of the photos, until one in particular caught her eye. She leaned in for a closer look and realized that she had seen the same picture once before, on Tag's computer.

"That's my son, Christopher," Nana Mae said, startling Maggie with her sudden appearance at her side. "Well, grandson, technically, but my late husband and I raised him since he was seven years old." She handed Maggie a glass of iced tea. "My daughter, suffice it to say, wasn't cut out for motherhood, but at least she knew enough to admit it before any real damage was done. She signed Christopher over to us without a fight, and he's been our son ever since."

"I see," Maggie said solemnly, not quite sure what to say. "I'm sorry. For your loss, I mean."

"Ah, so Tag did tell you," Nana Mae surmised. "You two must be very close, then. He's never been one to open up to just anyone."

"Well, he didn't really say much," Maggie was quick to say. "Just that Chris was his best friend, and that he'd passed away."

Nana Mae nodded knowingly. "I think Tag took it hardest of all," she said, a smile touching her lips as she pointed to a photo on the wall. "Those two were thick as thieves from the moment they met. What one couldn't think of, the other would. Not that they were troublemakers, mind you—just energetic little boys."

Maggie smiled as she looked at the photo of a young Tag and his friend, covered in mud and grinning from ear-to-ear, each with an arm slung over the other's shoulder.

"That was the summer they tried to dig a swimming pool in the backyard," Nana Mae chuckled at the memory. "Lou and I tried so hard to be angry with them, but we couldn't help but laugh. They were such sweet boys, and we loved them both like they were our own."

Maggie marveled at the amount of love and pride the older woman had for two boys that were—technically—not her own, wishing that her own mother could feel the same way about her and Sean.

But at least I still have Sean, Maggie reminded herself, feeling a sudden surge of empathy for Tag. I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose my brother.

"Was it recent?" she asked softly.

"When Chris died?" Nana Mae guessed correctly. "It'll be seventeen months next week."