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Fifty-Nine
Robin just sat where she was. This was for Nick and Noah to do. Everyone but the bald idiot could see that. Robin looked at Nova. Nova hadn’t let her go since she’d sat down.
She sensed Nova wouldn’t either. Until she felt absolutely safe.
Linsey looked at Dr. Brown. “I understand that you are relocating somewhere? Have you decided where that will be yet?”
He shifted, sat in the chair ramrod straight. “That was something I was leaving up to Noah, after we discussed what he wanted from his future. I’m credentialed in Wyoming. And no matter what we decide, I want to get to know my sister’s children. Selena and I had a bit of an acrimonious relationship that I’ve always regretted."
"Dr. Brown, even though I am not legally allowed to be Noah’s worker considering the family connection—Nick is my husband’s uncle, I should disclose—I will say that Noah has been in a stable home for five weeks,” Jude said, fanning herself lightly. Robin remembered those days from her own pregnancies. “He’s forming attachments here, and friendships. He’s adjusting reasonably well to the new school, and he's with a foster father who is actively taking the next steps to make this a permanent placement. Plus, we do prefer to keep siblings together, if at all possible.”
“And to be blunt, you won’t get Nova, unless you can prove Nick unfit,” Linsey said. She was a lot more direct than Jude. “He’s Nova’s father, and a darned good one from what we’ve seen, too.”
“I can understand that,” Dr. Brown said. He looked at Noah for a moment. “I just want to make certain you are safe and happy. I can give you a good, stable, safe home. If Mr. Tyler wants to arrange it, we can make sure you still see your sister. I’m just here…to offer you another option.”
“The boy doesn’t get to choose.” That bald idiot had to interject. “It’s up to his workers to decide where he is going.”
Linsey stood. “Yes, Artie, that is up to his worker for now. And we all know who that is, don’t we? One hint—it’s not you.”
“Dr. Brown, you don’t yet have a permanent location?” Robin asked. “I’m assuming with you being a physician…?”
“Obstetrician.”
“So you could be at a hospital in any part of the state?”
He nodded.
“Do you agree that Nova and Noah being together is important?” Robin asked. Her best friend was a trained interrogator, her other a trained counselor—Robin had picked up a few things on getting someone to talk, after all.
“Of course. Are they happy with Nova’s father?” The man looked at Nick, studied him for a moment.
Everything got quiet.
“Yes!” Noah burst out. “I mean, I am. I like it with Nick, and Robin and the twins, and Becky, and Patton and Uncle Phil. I like my school and my baseball team. I don’t want to move. But…you’re my real uncle. Just like Nick is Nova’s real dad.”
He jumped up. He was more agitated than Robin had ever seen him. Her heart broke at the confusion on his face. She just wanted to scoop him close and make the world better somehow. No matter what she had to do. “And I wish Nick was my real dad, too. Then…then it wouldn’t be like this. We’d have just come to Nick’s, and I wouldn’t be just a fake kid. I’d be his real kid just like Nova. And I don’t know why my mom didn’t tell him about Nova? Why she didn’t tell you about Nova? Why she was mad at Nova all the time? Why it can’t just be easy? And I feel bad. Because I like it better with Nick than I did my mom. And Robin…Robin is so much nicer to Nova than my mom ever was. And my mom’s dead and that’s not fair. It's not fair. None of it’s fair. And things were going good here. And now…I don’t want everything to change all over again.”
Dr. Brown stood. He put his hand on Noah’s shoulder. Just as Nick did the same on the other side.
The two men paused. Studied one another.
The room got silent.
Robin studied them, too. Two tall, broad-shouldered, handsome men who probably had nothing in common—but the two kids staring at them too.
“Noah, it isn’t fair that your mom died,” Dr. Brown said. “It isn’t fair that she died the way she did, either. Not to you or your sister. I can see that you are doing fine right where you’re at, and I’m not going to ever do anything that destroys that. I do ask one thing of you, though. Would it be possible for me to be your uncle for real? If I find a place around here? I’m assuming there is a hospital near Masterson, and plenty of babies who need born? Maybe we can spend some time together? Get to know one another? Me, you, Nova? I can introduce you to your cousins. Be a part of your family sometimes? That’s one of my biggest regrets with your mother. And I’m at the season in my life where I don’t want to make more regrets.”
Noah was still for a long moment…then he just nodded.
Robin waited for what Nick had to say.
