The expression on her face was not fear.
It was not anger.
It was something he had not prepared for.
Sorrow.
He sat.
His hand came out of his coat.
Empty.
Whatever he carried remained inside.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
The monitor beeped.
Eli breathed.
"Tank," Maggie said quietly.
"I know."
The large man on the other side of the bed became perfectly still.
"I know about Vega."
"I know about the cash."
"I know about the cut."
"I know about the overpass."
"I know enough, Tank."
"So please don't insult either of us by pretending this is something else."
Tank opened his mouth.
Closed it.
"Maggie..."
"Tank, listen to me."
"I'm not going to tell you I understand."
"I'm not going to tell you I forgive you."
"Those aren't words you've earned."
"And they're not words I'm ready to give."
"What I'm going to tell you is this."
"I had a son."
"His name was Daniel."
"He was 14 when I lost him."
"There has not been one day in 15 years when I haven't woken up and remembered, in the half second before I'm all the way awake, that he's gone."
"And then I've had to remember it again."
"Every morning."
"For 15 years."
Tank's face changed.
He looked away.
"You lost Mason three years ago," Maggie continued.
"And every morning since then, you've woken up and remembered in that same half second that he's gone."
"And then you've had to remember again."
"You blamed my husband."
"I know you did."
"You carried it three years."
"You smiled at us at Christmas."
"You hugged me at Fourth of July picnics."
"And underneath all of it, you carried this."
"Eventually you decided the only way to stop hurting was to make Beau hurt the same way."
"To take from him what was taken from you."
Tank put his face in his hands.
"Tank, look at me."
He did not move.
"Roland."
He looked up.
His eyes were wet.
"Roland, you and I have known each other 25 years."
"You held my son when he was three days old."
"You sang to him at his christening."
"Do you remember what you sang?"
Tank nodded.
He could not speak.
"That boy in this bed is 14 years old."
"He's the same age my son was."
"He was the same age Mason was when you taught him to ride."
"He gave me his coat in 20-below weather, Roland."
"He didn't know who I was."
"He didn't know who you were."