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Michael’s chest expanded in outrage. “If that’s my mother, I have a right to talk to her. It’s her, isn’t it? Let me have the phone.”
Lucas shook his head and pointed back toward where Chris stood holding a stack of planters. Addy appeared from around the back, her forehead crinkled in concern. Chris watched his brother, mouth slightly open, anticipation of confrontation in his eyes. Charlotte happily dug in the compost heap looking for worms which she promptly dumped into a can sitting beside her. The girl didn’t seem to know there was anything else in the world except fat, squiggly earthworms.
“Go back and help Addy’s aunt with the wheelbarrow.” When Michael didn’t budge, Lucas added. “Now.”
“This is bullshit. If that’s my mom, I want to talk to her. She won’t text me or call me. I need to talk to her.”
Courtney sighed. “Give him the phone.”
Lucas didn’t want to concede to Michael. He’d read in one of the parenting magazines consistency was the solution to many behavior problems in children of all ages. He wanted to stand firm on telling Michael no, but he wasn’t the kid’s parent. Courtney was, and maybe she’d finally tell the boy about his father’s condition.
“Mom, what’s going on? Why did you leave us with him?” Michael turned his back on his uncle and moved toward the front of the house where a low screen of bushes lined the older home.
Lucas studied the boy’s expression—the nods, the defiance, the frustration. Several heated words were exchanged before the boy’s shoulders sank in defeat.
Lucas knew Courtney hadn’t told Michael about Ben’s injury and complications. If anything, the kid looked even more resentful as he silently handed Lucas the phone and stalked away.
“Courtney?”
“What?” She was crying.
Lucas moved toward where Michael had stood arguing with his mother. “Why won’t you at least tell Michael about Ben? He’s old enough to understand.”
“Shut up, Luke. You don’t understand how vulnerable Michael is. He and his dad are so close. Michael already deals with some anxiety, and I don’t want him dwelling on his father’s injuries or the very real fact that Ben might not pull through.”
“What do you mean?” His heart thumped hard in his rib cage.
“He’s dealing with some infection, and they’re worried about his kidneys. I can’t deal with everything here and know that the kids are scared there. Just hold down the fort and tell them you don’t know anything. That’s the easiest thing to do right now.”
“Avoiding reality doesn’t help.”
“Right now it does. I know. I am not going to put them through what I went through with Mom and Dad. You understand?”
“I know what you went through, Courtney,” he said, his voice softening. Because even though Lucas held anger for Courtney, he remembered how much she’d gone through years ago.
When Courtney had been in high school, her parents had been shot in a convenience store robbery. Neither had died in the actual robbery, but they’d been gravely injured. Her mother had been shot in the face and the trauma had been severe. Courtney’s father died from his wounds the day after the robbery, but her mother had held on for days, undergoing several surgeries before succumbing. Courtney had lived at the hospital, Lucas with her, bringing her food and comforting her as best as an eighteen-year-old kid could. The loss had devastated the sunny Courtney, turning her into a shell of what she’d been, maybe even driving the wedge between them that allowed for the future betrayal.
“Luke, it was excruciating watching my mother slip away, and I could do nothing to save her. Those memories knock around in my head. I can’t get them out, and I don’t want my children to have that same hopelessness.”
“But what if you’d been kept in the dark? It’s not pleasant to be lied to.” The dual meaning lay there like a dirty, wet towel, staining the conversation with what he hadn’t intended. And that was the main reason he could never have a good relationship with his brother and Courtney. Too much icky.
Courtney sniffed, and he could tell she was trying to keep it together. “Just give me a little more time, that’s all. Time will fix this. The doctors feel like the new antibiotic is working. Ben’s blood work looked better this morning.”
“Is he still on the ventilator?”
Silence was the answer.
“Fine. I won’t say anything to the kids, but please consider telling Michael. He’s hurting with the unknown and that could be worse than knowing the truth.”
“The truth’s not always the best, Luke. Don’t you remember how much it hurts?”
Oh, he remembered. The truth about Ben and Courtney had crushed him, not so much with what he lost in a future with Courtney, but in the loss of his brother. Yeah, the truth hurt, but it was a hell of a lot better than lies. “Just think about it.”
“I will. How’s my girl?”
“Right now she’s digging for worms.”
“Worms?” The sob ended with a choke of laughter. “Well, I guess there are worse things. Why’s she digging for worms?”
