“Okay.” Frank pushed Eli’s head back down to his shoulder. “Tell me about you and Chelsea.”
For a while Eli didn’t speak. “Why haven’t you told me what happened between you and my mother?”
“I don’t think you’d understand.”
“That’s what adults always say. They think kids are too stupid to understand anything.”
“You’re right. We adults do tend to put children into difficult situations, then mistakenly think they can’t understand them. But we’re trying to protect you.”
“From Chelsea?”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
Eli took a while before answering. “I guess you know it was Chelsea and me who . . . who . . .”
“Sent your mother into the woods to take care of me? Yes. I found out all about how you talked to my brother and he made the arrangements.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“No,” Frank said. “I had a wonderful time with your mother. We went up to an old cabin where a prospector lived. There’s a legend that he hid gold up there.”
“Did you do something to make my mother so angry?”
“Not then, no.” Frank knew he was evading that question. “What’s happened with
you and Chelsea?”
“Mom won’t let us see each other. She said our lie about going on a yacht and about . . . about all of it was too much and it had to stop.”
“To be separated from the person you care about the most is awful.”
“Yes. I miss her. We understand each other. We help people.”
“True,” Frank said, “but your mom is right and some of what you two do needs to stop. Lying is bad, and using corporate letterheads is illegal, and—”
“I know!” Eli moved to sit up and look at Frank. “I know all of it. My mom has told me over and over and over. She made me tell her everything. Since she came back from meeting you, she’s been different. What did you do to her?” He was nearly yelling.
Frank got up and opened a door to a little bar area. He didn’t have much for kids but he poured Eli a glass of seltzer water and handed it to him. “I fell in love with your mother. I even asked her to marry me.”
Eli, eyes wide, drained the glass. “Did she tell you no?”
“Yes,” Frank said slowly, “but she should have. I would have made her miserable.”
“No you wouldn’t!” Eli said. “You’re the best man in the world.”
Frank sat back down on the sofa. “You’re the only one who thinks that. Since your mother walked out on me, everyone I know has told me what a jerk I am.”
“I’d like to tell them that they—”
Frank put his arms around Eli’s scrawny shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “If you and Chelsea swear to stop sending illegal letters to people, maybe your mom will let you get back together.”
“We did. We wrote contracts and signed them in blood.”
“Ouch!” Frank said. “That was a bit dramatic, but what did your mother say?”
“No. That’s all she says anymore. My dad . . .” He trailed off.
Frank’s jaw hardened at the mention of the man. “What did Leslie Harcourt do?”