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Once again she tried to embrace him, but he pushed away. "I'll tell him to!"
"You can't tell grown-ups something like that."
A wrenching sob. "Then marry… Rosie's daddy. I like him. He calls… me Chip and… he gave me a… head rub."
"Rosie's daddy is married to Rosie's mom. Edward, I'm not going to marry anybody."
Once again, Edward turned back to Gabe, but this time he didn't attack. His chest spasmed in hiccups of emotion. "If my mom… marries you, do we gets to… stay here?"
Gabe hesitated. "It's not that easy, Chip."
"You live here, don't you?"
"Now I do."
"You said you want to get married to her."
Gabe cast a helpless look in her direction. "Yes."
"Then I'll let you. But only if we get to stay here."
Edward was no longer the only one crying. Rachel felt as if she were being ripped apart. She knew she was doing the right thing, but there was no way she could explain it to him. "I can't,", she managed.
Edward's head dropped. A tear splattered on the toe of his sneaker, and all the fight seemed to leave him. "I know it's because of me," he whispered. "You said you won't marry him because he don't like me."
How could she ever make him understand something so complex? "No, Edward," she said firmly. "It's not like that at all."
He regarded her with subtle rebuke, as if he knew she weren't being honest.
Gabe's interruption startled her. "Rachel, leave us alone for a few minutes, will you? Chip and I have to talk."
"I don't—"
"Please."
She'd never felt more helpless. Surely he wouldn't try to hurt Edward even more. No, he'd never do that. And the relationship between them couldn't get any worse. Still, she hesitated. And then she realized she had no idea how to handle the situation herself, so maybe she should let Gabe try. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. Go on."
She hesitated for a moment longer, but his implacable expression told her he wasn't going to change his mind, and the cowardly part of her needed to get away, just for a few minutes, so she could put herself back together again. Finally, she gave a reluctant nod and slowly rose to her feet. "All right, then."
Now that she'd agreed, she didn't know where to go. She couldn't bear the idea of being cooped up inside with nothing to do but pace from room to room. She turned toward the path into the woods instead, where she and Edward walked nearly every day, and prayed she was doing the right thing by leaving them alone.
Gabe watched Rachel until she disappeared into the trees, then he turned to the boy.
Edward regarded him warily.
Now that the time had come, Gabe couldn't think of anything to say,
but every spark of decency he possessed told him he couldn't let this child be tortured by something that wasn't his fault. He made his way to the back step and sat down so he didn't tower over him.
Edward sniffed and rubbed his nose on the sleeve of his T-shirt.
Gabe hadn't planned to ask Rachel to marry him, but now that he'd said the words, he knew it was what he needed to do. What they needed to do. But the boy was standing in the way.
"Chip…" He cleared his throat. "I know things haven't been great between us, but you need to know that doesn't have anything to do with you. It's because of… because of things that happened to me a long time ago."
Edward stared at him. "When your little boy died."
