Page 67 of View With Your Heart

“I never wanted to lie to you, but I didn’t know how to tell you the truth. And I always thought Gavin should know first.”

Sarah weakly smiles. While she might not understand, she isn’t reacting like Gavin or his father.

“I’d like to meet him,” she says. She has met him, but I understand what she means. She wants to officially meet her grandchild.

“I think I should speak to Gavin.” If he’ll ever talk to me again.

“At this point, we need to forget Gavin’s feelings. You have our grandson, and Sarah would like to meet him.” Jack Scott turns to his wife, rubbing a hand up her back. The way he looks at her breaks my heart. It’s as if he’d give her anything she wants.

“Gee doesn’t know.” If I thought telling Gavin would be difficult, I don’t know how to tell my son that the man he believed was his father wasn’t. Patrick was his dad, for all intents and purposes. He’d been there from before Gee could remember, but I’d meant what I said. When Patrick was sick, he knew he would not see Gee into manhood. He wanted me to reach out eventually and give Gavin the chance he deserved to be a father.

I didn’t know how that would work out, and at the time, my only concern was taking care of Patrick. He’d been a good dad himself. He’d been a good husband. I didn’t deserve all he’d done for us.

“Please give me time to tell him, but I promise it will be soon.”

Jack Scott meets my eyes. “Sooner would be better.” His message is clear as his eyes shift to his wife. She might not have much longer, and I knew all about that kind of ticking time bomb.

“Gavin leaves tomorrow,” I state, thinking maybe Gavin and I should speak to Gee together.

“As I said, I think Gavin is irrelevant right now,” Jack states, and Sarah turns to look at her husband. “We’ll figure it out instead.”

+ + +

I don’t sleep that night, tossing and turning with questions about how I’d tell my son the truth. I’m also concerned Gavin will try to take Gee from me. In my heart, I know it’s not a real possibility. He can’t just take away my child. He deserves to meet his son, though. He deserves to get to know him and spend time with him, but I don’t know what that will look like.

Finally, I get out of bed despite the early hours of the morning and head to the kitchen. I don’t even know if I can stomach tea, but I need to keep my hands busy. I stand before the kitchen sink, tapping my fingers against the porcelain, waiting for the water to heat on the stove.

“Aunt Britton.”

“Jesus.” I twist to see Theo standing bare-chested in sleep pants. His hair is rumpled, and he looks sleepy. He can be a night owl. “You scared me. What are you doing awake?”

“I thought you should know he’s on the porch.”

“Who?” I question.

“Gavin. He was there when I got home last night. He didn’t want me to wake you, but he’s still there.”

“What?” I rush to the front window, peering out the glass to find Gavin sitting on the low porch, his knees bent, his feet on the only step. “He’s been here all night?”

I turn back to Theo.

“He said he didn’t know where else to go. This was his family.”

“Was he drunk?”

Theo shrugs. “Might have been.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I told him if this was his family, he was one lucky man, and he shouldn’t fuck it up.”

“Theo,” I hiss.

“It’s true. You and Gee are the best, and he’d be damn lucky to belong to you two. He’s Gee’s dad, isn’t he?”

I step back from the window and turn to my cousin’s son. “How did you know?” I whisper, admitting the truth as I’m too tired of holding in the secret.

“It’s not rocket science. Plus, they look like each other, and Gee has his name.” Theo rubs over his head, making his hair stand up. “Look, you know my dad and I have struggled. If he wants a chance to be Gee’s dad and he promises to be in his life, then I think you should let him. For Gee.”