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Jace’s shoulders drooped, and his chin dimpled.
I edged onto the couch between Jace and Alex, across from George who lounged on the chair. Which of the three of them would be most likely to talk. Normally, that would be Alex, but he was turtling so hard I feared for his vertebrae. I lay my hand gently on Jace’s knee.
“Jace? What happened?”
He met my eyes for a painfully, pregnant moment, then dropped his face into his hands. At that,George stood up abruptly and stalked down to the bedroom, slamming the door.
Alarm bells rang loudly. Turning to Alex, I leveled him with a look that brooked no arguments. “Alex, tell me what is going on immediately.”
Alex curled into himself, wrapping his arms around his stomach. “George’s mom called him on his cell. She cried and stuff. Said he abandoned her just like his dad. Told him he was just like Uncle Vander. And not like it was a good thing.”
“Huh.” I sat back on the couch for half a second before sitting forward and grasping him lightly under his jaw. “Thank you for telling me. Does Thia Ruby know?”
Alex shrugged.
“Jace?” I turned to him.
He shook his head miserably. “George doesn’t want them to know. Said Thio Vander will be even more mad, and he’ll never get to see his mom or his sisters again.”
“Okay.” Iexhaled long and slow, surprised I didn’t breathe fire. “I can see how he might think that but it’s not true.” I sat back and opened my arms.
Both boys leaned in, their heads on my chest, arms crossing over each other’s around my waist. The fact they hugged me like that betrayed the depth of their angst.
I ruffled my fingers through their hair. Alex’s fair and floppy like Angus’s. Jace’s curly and unruly like Vander’s. And George’s.
“I’m going to tell you a secret. You mustn’t tell George, but you knowing the truth will be helpful for him in the long run.”
They nodded against my chest.
“Fact number one. George’s mom is not a good woman, and she hates your uncle Vander. That’s between the two of them, and that’s where it should stay, but she cares more about hurting Vander than she does about sparing George.”
They nodded again. Jace sniffed. Alex reached for the end of my ponytail and twisted it around his fingers. His forearm stretched over my breast.
His arm is on your breast. Are you enjoying that? Are you molesting him? Are you sure?
I shrugged off the thought. I’d deal with the fallout later. Right now, my boy needed me.
“Fact number two. And this one is even more important than fact number one. Nothing that woman will do will stop George from wanting her to love him.”
Jace slumped further against me, and Alex twirled my hair faster between his fingers.
“What we need to express to George is that he has our love. That he is loveable. And one day he will realize that she is the way she is, and it’s not because of anything lacking in him.”
I took a deep breath attempting to ease the familiar ache around my heart and cool the fire in my gut. “The other thing we must do is protect him from her bullying. This means we can’t keep this secret.”
“He’s going to be mad at us,” Jace whispered.
“Maybe,” I nodded. “But underneath that he’ll be relieved that he doesn’t have to carry this by himself.”
A noise from the hallway alerted me to George’s presence.
Jace and Alex lurched up ramrod straight, their anxious eyes shooting to George.
George stood with his hands pushed deep in the pockets of his shorts, his face drawn and pale. “You can tell Ruby, Minnie.” He looked at the boys. “I’m not mad. Not at you.”
“Alright!” I stood up. “I’ll tell Ruby and your dad later if that’s okay, unless you’d rather I just did it now?”
“Later,” he replied, some of the tension dropping from his shoulders.
