“They go away and never come back.”
Charlie mumbled the words, but they were still loud enough to hear.
“Who—?”
“Had you gotten into trouble the morning of the car accident?” Meg asked.
Cole now understood where she was headed and he didn’t like it one bit. The question made it sound as if she thought the child had some culpability.
“I left my toys out and Mommy tripped and fell.” Charlie’s chin trembled. “She cried. Daddy was mad at me.”
“What did he do?” Meg’s expression held no condemnation, only curiosity.
“He hugged Mommy until she stopped crying then told me I couldn’t play with my dinosaurs the rest of the week.” The boy chewed on his lower lip. “Daddy and I picked up the toys so no one else would get hurt. But they did. They both got hurt.”
“Your parents were killed in a car accident, son. It didn’t have anything to do with the toys on the floor. They didn’t want to leave you,” Cole said. “Your mommy and daddy loved you very much.”
Charlie glanced at Meg.
“Uncle Cole is right,” she said. “Do you remember what happened that day?”
The child slowly nodded. “A big truck hit our car.”
“That’s right.” Meg gently pushed a stray strand of hair back from his face. “The driver of the truck had been drinking alcohol and he weaved into your daddy’s lane. There was no time for your car to get out of the way.”
“I want Mommy. I want Daddy.” Tears ran down Charlie’s cheeks and he popped the thumb back into his mouth.
“I know you do.” Meg’s eyes filled with tears and this time she let them fall. “You loved them and they loved you very, very much. Every time I came to visit, that’s what they both told me.”
“But Mommy fell down,” Charlie insisted. “She cried.”
“I bet when she got into the car she wasn’t crying,” Meg said, her lips curving up, a smile of remembrance in her eyes. “Your mommy loved car rides.”
“She was happy,” Charlie said. “We were singing when…”
His small voice trailed off.
Cole thought back to those days he and Janae had spent together in Austin. He’d almost forgotten how she liked to sing along with the radio while they were driving down the road. Tears stung the backs of his lids.
Janae would be so distressed that Charlie, her beloved son, carried around guilt over something that was outside of his control.
For the first time Cole understood how different it was to have a parent die suddenly. At least with his father’s death, they’d had time to prepare and no words had been left unsaid. “If your mom was sitting with us now, what do you think she’d say to you?”
Perhaps it wasn’t the right thing to ask, but he was flying blind here.
The boy thought for a moment then sat up straight.
“She’d say, ‘Charlie, why are you crying?’” His tone mimicked his mother’s perfectly. “And I’d say, ‘Because I miss you, Mommy.’”
Meg’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’d tell her,” Charlie continued, “that I want her and Daddy back here with me.”
“You know they’d be here if they could,” Cole said. “My dad didn’t want to die and leave my brother and me. Aunt Meg’s mom and dad died on that same road where your parents had their accident. They didn’t want to leave her, either.”
Charlie thought for a moment. “I bet they’re happy now.”
Meg cocked her head.
“’Cause they can see us eating popcorn and playing games. They know we’re not alone anymore.”
Out of the mouth of babes…
Cole swallowed the lump that rose to his throat. On his deathbed, his dad had told him and his brother that he would always be in their back pockets. That no matter where he went or what happened, he would be with them.
It was a good thought, but Cole had longed for an earthly father. Someone to play ball with him and come to his games. Someone to guide and support him as he grew up.
Losing a parent could be devastating, but at least Charlie wasn’t alone. Charlie had him. God willing, would always have him.
Cole’s gaze drifted to where Meg sat, an arm looped around his son’s shoulders, smiling at something the child had said.
In that moment Cole knew Charlie had been right. He had no doubt that Ty and Janae were looking down from heaven, grateful that their son had found a home with two people who loved him.
For Charlie’s sake, Meg would have to play a part in the little boy’s life.
Consequently, she would remain in his, as well.
Chapter Ten
By the time Charlie fell asleep, exhaustion had wrapped itself around Meg’s shoulders like a heavy shawl. Since the child’s room was only a couple doors down the hall from hers, she was tempted to go straight to bed.
The only thing that stopped her from doing just that was the knowledge that Cole was still up. He’d tucked in Charlie then headed downstairs ostensibly to get a couple of ibuprofen for his aching knee.
Meg knew that had been a ruse, a ploy to give her more time alone with the boy, in case there was anything Charlie needed to share before he drifted off to sleep.
But Meg knew Charlie was done talking about his parents, at least for the evening. About an hour before bedtime, Cole had pulled out a box of action figures and from that point on Charlie’s whole focus had been on Castle Grayskull and the Masters of the Universe action figures.
Meg thought it was cool knowing these were the same toys Cole had played with when he’d been Charlie’s age. Though they’d tried to give her the Man-at-Arms action figures, being therapeutic and empathetic for much of the evening had sucked the energy right out of her. She’d been content to watch Cole and his new son play with Skeletor and He-Man.
It had felt good to simply chill and regroup. She’d been a little over her head today. When Charlie had begun to confide his fears, she’d immediately begun to worry. What if she said the wrong thing and traumatized the child more? She’d hoped Cole would jump in, but it quickly became apparent he was yielding to her expertise.
Meg snorted. As if being the oldest girl in a family of eight children or raising teenagers had given her extra insight into a small boy’s brain.
Still, Charlie had gone to sleep with a smile on his face. Meg now faced an even more daunting task—dealing with Cole and THE OFFER.
The way they’d left it made it appear she was considering his proposition. Which she wasn’t. What he had proposed was totally out of the question. That was the reason she aimed her feet toward the stairs. She needed to set the record straight.
And she must do it now…before she convinced herself that having an affair with Cole Lassister made some sort of crazy sense.
Cole looked up from the magazine he’d been flipping through when he heard Meg’s footsteps on the stairs. The chill he’d felt when he’d shut off the fireplace turned to heat the second he turned his head and saw her.
Her red-brown curls lay in a tangled mess around her shoulders. Sometime during the evening she’d shed her shoes and her lipstick. Still, even at the end of a long day, with fatigue bracketing her eyes, she remained a beautiful woman.