Timothy tried to help.
“Him running from this situation hurt you.”
Gene laughed.
It was clear the woo-woo was strong with this one. Ethan hadn’t been exaggerating.
“Oh, you could say that.”
Timothy was curious.
“Does it make you not love him as much?”
He stopped drinking the coffee and said the one thing that came into his mind.
“No. It makes me love him more. He needs me now. He just doesn’t know how to ask for help. He’d rather carry the world on his shoulders than feel like a burden. He’ll never be a burden to me. I’d die for him, so while I’m not thrilled that he ran, I’m not giving up on him. Ever.”
And Timothy believed it.
There was no doubt that this man would be the first wave to start healing Ethan. He would unlock the ability for him to love not only himself, but others.
That mattered.
These lessons would set him up for what would come as a husband and father.
Yes, he needed this man in his life.
“You’re a wise man, Mr. Cantrell.”
Gene knew that Ethan had said nothing to his grandfather about him, so again, they were taking a walk on the woo-woo side.
Truthfully, it was creepy and weird at its finest, but he didn’t mind. One day, he would marry Ethan. One day, he’d make him his. Then, he’d have to face the pain in Ethan’s past.
This man.
But they’d do it as a unified front.
“Hardly,” Gene said. “I’m a man in love, and a man willing to fight for Ethan until my last breath. He’s mine,” he said, putting his casted arm over his chest. “No matter what happens, he’s mine.”
Again, Timothy believed him.
“Then, if you want him to survive this storm, get him away from here.”
Gene hadn’t been expecting that.
Not.
At.
All.
Ethan had told him how much his grandfather wanted both him and Callen to marry nice Native women and give him great-grandchildren.
This was…not that.
“Pardon?”
He was to the point.
