He joined her a few minutes later, a little uneasy after her mysterious warning. “Is everything okay? Something with Dad? No one said anything while—”
She quickly sat forward, shaking her head with a reassuring smile. “No, no, Dad’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Colton breathed a silent sigh of relief. He took his first bite of double chocolate chunk cookie and groaned in ecstasy. “You outdid yourself with these.”
“The boys liked them, too.”
He watched across the yard where Cody, Dustin and Noah had struck up a game of catch with a neighbor kid whose backyard bordered his mother’s. His attention shifted when his mother set down her cup and commented, “That Noah’s a little talker.”
Colton chuckled. “Must be you. Kid doesn’t give me the time of day other than to dump purple dye in my hair.”
She laughed. “I wish you’d taken a picture of that.”
“Oh, I’m sure Joel got one somewhere along the way.”
“I’ll have to ask him to email me a copy.”
He ate another half cookie in one bite. “You do that, because I won’t.”
“Don’t worry, I will. Anyway, when we sat down with our cookies and milk earlier, Noah was curious about your father. I explained what’d happened and he told me about his own parents, poor boy.”
He knew Noah had lost his father when he was young, and that his and Kendra’s mother had died two years ago, but didn’t quite understand why his mother wanted to talk to him about that.
“He told me all about his sister, Kendra and his brother Robert,” his mother continued.
“You mean Joel.”
She gave him a patient look. “No, Robert.”
Colton stiffened in his chair and leaned forward.
“Exactly what I thought,” she said softly, even though Colton hadn’t said a word. “He was in the middle of telling me how much he likes Joel better than Robert, and how Robert apparently followed them from New York to California and scared his sister when all of a sudden his eyes widened and he switched the subject. Started chatting about school and how much he liked it here.”
“Did you say California?” Colton asked with a frown.
His mother nodded. “Once he realized what he’d said, he looked scared out of his mind, Colton. I got the impression he wasn’t supposed to mention a word of any of it.”
Another brother. Did Joel know about this Robert? And how did he figure into the whole situation?
Their conversation was cut short when the neighbor boy was called inside by his father, and Cody, Dustin and Noah ran back over to the porch. After a few more cookies, Colton and the boys said their goodbyes and left.
On the drive back, just as they turned into the ranch drive, Noah surprised him by asking, “How’s your dad?”
Colton met Noah’s eyes through the rearview mirror for a brief moment. The kid’s question held a note of childlike sincerity that was impossible to fake. “He’s doing fine, Noah, thanks for asking.”
“Do you miss him? Your mom said he’s been in the hospital a long time.”
“Yeah, I miss him a lot. I miss not being able to do things with him like I used to. That’s why I go see him every week.” That, and the other reason. He sighed inwardly and tried to ignore the guilt.
Noah nodded solemnly. “I miss my mom, too. She used to take me to the park before she got sick. We used to swing together and play on the slide.”
“My dad did that with me when I was little, too.” Colton smiled as good memories washed over him. Oddly enough, they didn’t evoke the usual tide of shame. Absently, he murmured, “I’d forgotten about that.”
He parked the car and they started for the house. Colton put a hand on Noah’s shoulder. When he looked up, Colton said, “Thank you.”
A moment of understanding passed between them and Noah smiled at him sincerely for the first time that he could remember.
“Noah,” Kendra called from inside. “Get changed quick, we’re leaving in just a few minutes.”