Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 36: Siblings

Burke family cabin, Catskills. Thursday morning. March 4, 2004.

Several times on the way back to cabin, Neal looked at Henry, almost asked something, and then changed his mind. As they approached the porch, Henry lagged behind. Peter and Satchmo went inside, while Henry dropped into an Adirondack chair and said, "Here's your chance. Whatever it is, say it." Henry made a show of pulling off his snow boots and knocking off the snow, in case anyone looked out the windows to wonder what they were up to.

Neal sat on a matching chair and pulled off his boots. "What do you remember about my mom?"

"I was only five years old the last time I saw her."

"Nearly six. I can't ask Noelle, not now. She's too upset about what I said last night. If I ask for her perspective, she'll probably want to defend Mom. I just... I want to know what she was like before WITSEC, before she started drinking."

Henry took a deep breath. "I remember being confused when people couldn't tell our moms apart. I always knew which one was my mom, and they seemed different to me. They both sang and played the piano. All the Caffreys did that. But different things made them sing. My mom would wake me up or say hello with a song, and she chose pop songs. Your mom sang when she was cooking or planning a meal, and she went for stuff in other languages. They spent a lot of time overseas as kids, you know, when the Ambassador was moving up in the diplomatic corps. They learned languages on their travels, but your mom picked them up the fastest. From what I've heard, I think she and David had more wanderlust. At the times I met her, I wasn't all that interested in Meredith. I was aware of her as your mom, someone on the periphery when we were playing. The main thing I remember was the food. My mom can cook, but yours turned it into an art. Any time we went to your house, there would be lots of food to pick from. Those visits were among the few times at that age when I was willing to try new foods without making a big fuss." Henry gazed into the distance, delving into old memories.

"Anything else?"

"Not about your mom. I remember our dads had a lot to talk about, both being cops at the time, but looking back I can see they weren't exactly friendly."

"Any idea why they didn't get along?" Neal asked.

Henry looked embarrassed, which was rare in Neal's experience. "It's not important. Maybe we should go back inside."

"You know I'm not going to give up. I'll pry it out of you eventually. You might as well tell me."

Henry closed his eyes. "Money. The Winslows were loaded, and the Bennetts weren't. We had a big house especially considering Dad was bringing in a cop's salary, and your folks had a tiny place by comparison. Over the years I realized my parents accepted money from my Winslow grandparents, mostly under the guise of dividends from family ownership of Win-Win. Your parents wouldn't accept money from our Caffrey grandparents." He faced Neal. "Your dad was jealous, and mine wasn't exactly gracious."

Neal hadn't expected that. "D'you think, if we hadn't gone into WITSEC, I would have been jealous of you?"

Henry stood up and offered his hand, pulling Neal to his feet. "C'mon. I'm older, wiser and better looking. If you aren't jealous of me already, why would money have made a difference?"

Conversation remained lighthearted through lunch. They joked about Peter taking them by surprise with the sleds, and laughed about the snowball fight. El talked about Peter playing hockey and being a great ice skater, while she could barely stay upright in skates. Noelle mentioned that she loved to ski. The talk of winter activities led to a challenge to build the best snowman, with the competition taking place behind the cabin right after lunch.