Chapter Twenty-Five
Kandace stood in the dining room doorway, dressed in her Sunday best. “You sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone?”
“I’m fine,” Lucas said.
“I’ll only be out for a few hours.” She kissed him on the cheek.
Andrew rolled his eyes at the display, but he liked seeing it as much as he liked that Lucas had decided Andrew was an acceptable substitute for Midnight Mass. This was one of several nice surprises since the boy started talking to someone who understood him and was equipped to help him embrace what made him happy. “Go. Worship. He’s kicking my ass.” Andrew gestured at the Monopoly board on the table. “I’m going to have him negotiate the rest of this house purchase.”
“He gets the standard three percent if he does that.” Kandace turned toward the front door. “Have fun, boys.”
Andrew rolled the dice, then moved his car to land on St. Charles Place.
Lucas held out his hand. “Pay up.”
“Or I put you to bed before Santa gets here.”
“I’m ten. I don’t believe in Santa.”
Lucas was starting to loosen up around him. Andrew saw the trepidation still, but they had time. “You left milk and cookies out.”
“So I could sneak out here and eat them after you passed out. Pay up.”
Andrew counted out the rent for the hotel-laden square. He couldn’t believe he was losing at Monopoly, to a ten-year-old. Pride bristled inside. “You’re not eating all those alone. You’re sharing.”
“All right.” Lucas grabbed the plate off the counter, a second one from the cupboard, and separated one cookie from the stack. He handed it over.
“Thanks. So generous.”
Lucas held up the stack of fake money. “You’re short on your rent. Extra cookies are for people who pay the bills.”
“I need a little more time. I’m almost at Go.”
“It’s on the other side of the board.”
Andrew laughed. “All right. You win. Do you want to play again?”
“You’re not tired of getting your butt kicked?”
“Incredibly.”
Lucas sank into his seat, grin fading into a more contemplative look. He took a bite of cookie and chewed slowly, swallowing before he spoke. “Where’s my biological mom?”
Andrew was grateful to hear the question phrased this way, rather than real mom. That didn’t mean he looked forward to sharing the truth. Was there a delicate way to put she didn’t want you? Especially to a kid who was recovering from a brainwashing that told him he was worthless. “She decided you needed a better life than she could give you, and she asked Kandace to take on her role.”
“Why did you wait so long to tell me?”
“I didn’t know before you were born. Your birth mother didn’t tell me she was expecting. I found out when Kandace called me, and by then, I was in another continent. She’d always wanted kids and couldn’t have them, and she was going to be so much better at raising you than I would be.”
“So why change your mind now?”
Andrew sighed. “Wouldn’t you rather find out now, than ten or twenty years down the line? If you think the resentment is bad today…”
“I don’t resent you,” Lucas said, “but I do wonder why she didn’t want me and neither do you.”
“I want to be able to call you my son. I don’t always make the right decisions, but I thought I was doing what was best for you.” The words echoed in Andrew’s head. Not that this was the same as the situation with Susan. Lucas had been an infant; choices had to be made on his behalf. But Susan… Andrew shook away the thought. The conversation at hand was too important to be distracted from. “I’m here now. We can’t go back, but I’m hoping we can move forward.”
“I guess.” Lucas shrugged. Instead of laying out the board again, he started putting the pieces away. “When is Susan coming to visit again?”