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Suddenly, Adam’s laughter cuts off. I blink out of my daze and realize that they’re both looking at me.
“Mama, who’s that?” the boy asks.
Even from here, I can see Taylor’s throat bob as she swallows. “Go inside, sweetheart.”
“But I wanna know—”
“Go inside!” she yells too harshly. Then she softens her voice. “You can have a cookie if you go get it right now.”
He doesn’t bother asking any more follow-up questions. He just darts off into the house and Taylor focuses her gaze on me. Slowly, she pulls herself up to her feet and I ease my way into her garden.
“I haven’t prepared him for this, you know,” she warns me.
“I don’t expect you to tell him who I am. Not right away.”
She takes a deep breath and looks toward the house. “I thought about running,” she quietly admits, her expression somber and thoughtful.
“What changed?”
She sighs and turns her back on the house. “I decided that I didn’t want to run anymore.”
“Smart decision.” I venture a little closer to her. “He’s…” I work my jaw from side to side, but I can’t think of anything to say besides the obvious. “Perfect.”
The moment I say it, her whole face softens. The uncertainty drains out and all that’s left behind is a love so deep that I start to feel it chip away at my emotional wall.
That’s less than ideal. I need to be strong. Stoic. Unmoving.
But damn it all—there’s something in the way this woman embodies motherhood so effortlessly that makes me feel like crumbling to my knees.
“He is, isn’t he?” she murmurs.
“He does look like me. But there’s a lot of you in him, too. You’ve done well with him, Taylor.”
She’s obviously not expecting that, because her eyes immediately glisten. She turns away just long enough to blink the tears from her eyes. “He’s a special kid,” she whispers. “I’d like to take the credit, but he’s always been kind, sweet, imaginative. I didn’t teach him any of those things.”
Then she peeks at me tentatively out of the corner of her eye and closes right back up. The wariness creeps back into her features and I can feel her silently pushing me away already.
“I’m gonna introduce you as an old friend, okay?”
I loft a brow. “Is that what I am, Taylor? A friend?”
“No,” she says decidedly, taking a step back. “You’re my brother-in-law. We both need to remember that.”
“Mama?”
We turn as one to face the kitchen door. Adam is standing at the threshold with a cookie in hand. His eyes are fixed on me with awe.
“Adam, come down here and say hello. This is a friend of mine. His name is Ilarion.”
He lingers anxiously by the door. Instead of waiting for him to come to me, I take a few steps in his direction.
“Hey, Adam.” I smile, hoping it’s as bright as his. I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t smiled like that since…ever. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
He glances at his mother and then towards me. “You’re tall.”
I laugh. “I’m pretty sure you will be, too. What are you, eight? Nine?”
His face cracks into a brilliant smile. “I’m only four and three quarters!”
