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Fifteen
Robin fought the urge to cry. What Nick had said had been absolutely perfect. She knew the words were completely unscripted—how could they be anything else, considering their situation right now?—but they resonated.
They were genuine.
He didn’t know these children. He had no obligation to take this little boy at all. They all knew that. She held her breath as she waited for Noah to accept the first overture. The kid just eyed Nick warily.
He reminded her of Wesley and Philip and how broken her boys had been after Doug had died.
Doug hadn’t been truly close to the boys. He had just possessed them all. But the boys had known he was their father, and at that age, they had held him in awe.
Doug had been their hero. She would never tell her sons how it had been between her and her husband. She would never do that to them. She would never let them know what he had done to her, especially behind closed doors when she would get “out of line.”
She was not that kind of mother.
Losing him…had changed her sons in ways that still bruised her mother heart whenever she thought of them. Made her a bit more protective than she had been before.
She heard the sounds of a little girl waking inside. She hurried back into the house. She didn’t want Nova to wake afraid. Not tonight.
“Nova? Sweetie, you’re ok,” she said, leaning over the little girl.
Big blue eyes flew open, and Nova practically jumped into Robin’s arms. “I’ll be good, my Robin! I promise! Don’t make me go away again. I want to stay here with you.”
“Sweetie, you aren’t going anywhere. You are safe here with Daddy.” Robin hugged her tightly. “But first…I think someone else is here, looking for you now.”
She stood, lifting Nova onto her hip. And turned.
“Noah, your sister’s right here. She’s been waiting for you all day.”
Nova yelled her brother’s name and practically jumped out of Robin’s arms. Then she was running.
Nova slammed into the skinny kid standing there so hard he almost tumbled to the floor. Then the little boy had his arms around Nova, and they were both crying like there was no tomorrow. They’d lost their mother and then been torn apart. Now they were in a place they had never even known existed. Everything about their world had just changed. Everything.
Her own eyes overflowed.
They shouldn’t have ever been separated to begin with.
She looked at the social worker. The blond woman held out her hand. “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Linsey Hodson; I work with Jude. Because of the family connection, I’m Noah and Nova’s official caseworker now. You are Robin?”
“Yes. I work for Nick and Chandler.”
“So I’ve heard. Great for you, working for Nick. He’s awesome; sorry about your luck working with Chandler, though. He’s distinctly not awesome,” she said with a scowl that was seriously out of place. “Thanks for helping out today. It was a bit of a mess. One I wanted to fix as soon as I possibly could. Brothers and sisters should never be split up like that.”
“No, they shouldn’t. My boys are constantly complaining about their sister, but if someone were to come between them, they’d probably grow fangs. And claws. I’m glad he’s where he belongs now.”
“Me, too. I wish we could keep it from happening as much as it does. This system…it’s broken. We have to find a real way to fix it instead of just giving it lip service. No denying that. I have a few things I need to talk to Nick about before I go.”
They stepped outside to give the kids some privacy while Nick grabbed Noah’s bags and carried them down the hall toward the room that would be his.
“I’ll stay with the kids while you talk with Linsey,” Robin told him. “I still have a few hours before mine are coming home.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. I…couldn’t have done this today without you.”
She slipped her arms around his waist before she thought about the consequences. The man just looked like he needed a hug.
Even though…Robin had never been the type to just randomly hug hot guys whenever she thought they needed it.
It had been one hell of a day. For all of them. Just like he had before, Nick hugged her right back.
As he pressed against her, she added another rule to her list… no hugging Nick, either.
Ever. He just felt too perfect pressed up against her.
