Ending Chapters Discussion: Intentions

[Stephanie]

Why did Anthony Cosgrove intentionally disappear on his wife and daughter? Do you think he did the right thing, or was he simply taking the easy way out?

This section is appropriate for those who have read the entire book. Please be forewarned, there will be spoilers in this thread.

[KathyS]

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Stephanie wrote:
Why did Anthony Cosgrove intentionally disappear on his wife and daughter? Do you think he did the right thing, or was he simply taking the easy way out?

This section is appropriate for those who have read the entire book. Please be forewarned, there will be spoilers in this thread.

---

To have found this out - I wasn't prepared. I was left speechless.
I'm going to try to respond, and look at it from all sides. I'll have more questions than answers, I'm sure.

Why did he intentionally disappear?

I guess he felt he had to...for love.......whatever that was worth to him, to choose between his family who loved him, and someone else he loved more? How much did he love his family?
That's my first question.

The 80's was mentioned. I don't know what that era had to do with it, unless it was a period in time where gay relationships were not tollerated.

Religious issues:
He did not believe in divorce or suicide. But what did he believe in? Gay relationships?
He obviously didn't believe in his marriage vows, which are seemingly as sacred in his church.
A mutual agreement between his wife and himself? Must have been.
How fair was that to his daughter? Not.
Again, maybe he thought he couldn't divulge his sexual orientation/position at this time. So what? Was his wife already involved with *the another man*, and had he to be out of the picture, for her to move on? Fraud?

Okay, insurance money = Fraud = jail time.

What is his daughter's love worth to him then.....and now?
He thinks only about his daughter having to pay the insurance money back, now, if he returned. And he can't pay it back for her?

Again, insurance money = Fraud = jail time.

Beau said, "For DeAnn Cosgrove I know, there's no question how she'd choose."
Beau seems to think DeAnn would be tickled pink!

How would I view my father's return, after all of those agonizing years of missing him?......
If I were the daughter, how would I react? I'd be madder than H! I'd probably ask him, "what do you want?"
Not forgiving enough?
What would you do?

[Stephanie]

If I were DeAnn - a girl who had always believed her father wasn't killed, who loved him still, I might be able to forgive him. Of course, paying back that insurance money in her current situation would be more than a bit difficult. The fraud charges would be brought against Tony, and DeAnn, not having known anything about it, probably wouldn't be made to pay back a dime. Her mother is dead, and she was the other party to the fraud, not DeAnn. The devout Catholic who didn't believe in suicide or divorce, but thought the Church would overlook his homosexuality? Hmmm...

[kiakar]

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KathyS wrote:

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Stephanie wrote:
Why did Anthony Cosgrove intentionally disappear on his wife and daughter? Do you think he did the right thing, or was he simply taking the easy way out?

This section is appropriate for those who have read the entire book. Please be forewarned, there will be spoilers in this thread.

---

To have found this out - I wasn't prepared. I was left speechless.
I'm going to try to respond, and look at it from all sides. I'll have more questions than answers, I'm sure.

Why did he intentionally disappear?

I guess he felt he had to...for love.......whatever that was worth to him, to choose between his family who loved him, and someone else he loved more? How much did he love his family?
That's my first question.

The 80's was mentioned. I don't know what that era had to do with it, unless it was a period in time where gay relationships were not tollerated.

Religious issues:
He did not believe in divorce or suicide. But what did he believe in? Gay relationships?
He obviously didn't believe in his marriage vows, which are seemingly as sacred in his church.
A mutual agreement between his wife and himself? Must have been.
How fair was that to his daughter? Not.
Again, maybe he thought he couldn't divulge his sexual orientation/position at this time. So what? Was his wife already involved with *the another man*, and had he to be out of the picture, for her to move on? Fraud?

Okay, insurance money = Fraud = jail time.

What is his daughter's love worth to him then.....and now?
He thinks only about his daughter having to pay the insurance money back, now, if he returned. And he can't pay it back for her?

Again, insurance money = Fraud = jail time.

Beau said, "For DeAnn Cosgrove I know, there's no question how she'd choose."
Beau seems to think DeAnn would be tickled pink!

How would I view my father's return, after all of those agonizing years of missing him?......
If I were the daughter, how would I react? I'd be madder than H! I'd probably ask him, "what do you want?"
Not forgiving enough?
What would you do?

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I think I would be literally afraid of a man who deliberately left and pretended to be dead all that time. If he is capable of that kind of deception, what else is he capable of. He couldnt have loved his daughter to have done this.

[KathyS]

Linda, this ending was certainly a ringer, wasn't it? I was wondering if his wife was already involved in her own relationship, because she knew of his relationship with the other man. There are always reasons why people stray, or leave their marriages. In books, we don't always know the reasons.

I guess he thought his daughter would be better off not knowing of his homosexuality. I think that should have been her choice. If he was afraid she would hate him because of it, then he did take the easy way out. At least, then, she could have put closure on her relationship with him, if that were her choice. I don't think he knew exactly what his x-wife's husband was like, either.

I expected his disappearance to be part of a total conspiracy around the airlines. I wasn't expecting the tale of revenge among women who had been involved in sexual abuse. The plot twisted, becoming two......and the Rev. Mark, et al, totally were wiped out of the picture.

There were two open-ended scenarios....One for Toni Cosgrove, to make a decision about returning; and one for LaShawn's girlfriend, of many years ago, to acknowledge to his grandmother, a great-grandchild. Beau presented them with choices, didn't he?

I think DeAnn was caught up in her own fairytale. I would like to think that her father did return to her, and they lived happily ever after. Never mind my own opinions on how I would feel and deal with him.

Kathy S.

[kiakar]

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KathyS wrote:
Linda, this ending was certainly a ringer, wasn't it? I was wondering if his wife was already involved in her own relationship, because she knew of his relationship with the other man. There are always reasons why people stray, or leave their marriages. In books, we don't always know the reasons.

I guess he thought his daughter would be better off not knowing of his homosexuality. I think that should have been her choice. If he was afraid she would hate him because of it, then he did take the easy way out. At least, then, she could have put closure on her relationship with him, if that were her choice. I don't think he knew exactly what his x-wife's husband was like, either.

I expected his disappearance to be part of a total conspiracy around the airlines. I wasn't expecting the tale of revenge among women who had been involved in sexual abuse. The plot twisted, becoming two......and the Rev. Mark, et al, totally were wiped out of the picture.

There were two open-ended scenarios....One for Toni Cosgrove, to make a decision about returning; and one for LaShawn's girlfriend, of many years ago, to acknowledge to his grandmother, a great-grandchild. Beau presented them with choices, didn't he?

I think DeAnn was caught up in her own fairytale. I would like to think that her father did return to her, and they lived happily ever after. Never mind my own opinions on how I would feel and deal with him.

Kathy

S.

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He probably left again and went to a foreign country to get away from the law. I really do not think he would ever come back to his daughter. There had to be love missing from him to have disappeared like that anyway. A child will always love their father no matter what.

[Stephanie]

I'm not sure what DeAnn will do when she sees her father - something in between love and anger at first, I'd guess.

Strange what people will do, isn't it?

[KathyS]

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Stephanie wrote:
I'm not sure what DeAnn will do when she sees her father - something in between love and anger at first, I'd guess.

Strange what people will do, isn't it?

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Stranger than fiction.

[kiakar]

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Stephanie wrote:
I'm not sure what DeAnn will do when she sees her father - something in between love and anger at first, I'd guess.

Strange what people will do, isn't it?

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Life is like that! huh?