Page 86 of His to Mate
Ethan gave me a look that said he wasn’t pleased with my smart-ass response. I smiled back brightly at him because I didn’t give a shit.
Acquiescing like he always did since learning of my “delicate condition”, Ethan begrudgingly agreed and followed me to the door. When we saw who was standing outside through the window, I could have been knocked over by a feather.
“Did you know about this?” I demanded, angry heat flooding my cheeks as I searched the driveway for a car.
The honest shock on my mate’s face told me he was just as surprised as I was. “No.”
My brother was standing on the front stoop, suitcase in hand, visibly trembling, though it wasn’t cold out. I threw thedoor wide and ushered him inside. As soon as he stepped over the threshold, he dropped his tiny suitcase and began to quietly weep into his hands.
Tossing my arms around his frail shoulders, I made soothing sounds as I rubbed his back. “Bowman, where’s,” I was going to say Jenny, but quickly compromised by saying, “your mother?”
“She left,” he choked out, his entire body trembling with the effort. “She said she’s not coming back.”
What? This couldn’t be happening. My mother couldn’t be doing this to another child. What the fuck was wrong with her! Did she have no heart at all?
Glancing at the boy’s suitcase, the only other thing he’d come with, I glimpsed a white envelope taped to it. It was addressed to me. Yanking it free, I quickly opened the letter as Bowman hugged my middle like he was terrified I’d leave him too.
Millie,
Malcolm won’t let him stay, and I’m afraid he’ll kill him if I don’t send him away. He can never return to Alaska. Please take care of him, like I should have taken care of you.
I’m sorry,
Mom
Three lines. That’s all my brother and I were going to get. My stomach twisted at the woman’s cruelty. WhenBowman’s tiny hand reached for mine, I remembered what Laurence had said to me about taking in orphaned boys back in Alaska.
“I try not to judge when people come to my doorstep asking for help. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is that the children are safe and cared for.”
If I was going to start helping orphaned wares, I was going to have to embrace that philosophy as well. Children rarely got what they deserved in this life. The least I could do was not add to my little brother’s burden and give him a stable family that would love him for exactly who he was.
Crouching low, I tilted the boy’s chin upward so his beautiful blue eyes, so like our mother’s, were level with mine.
“Welcome home, Bowman. I’m so glad you’re here. You’re just in time for a snack. Do you like ice cream?” I took a shot in the dark, thinking it was a fairly safe bet that he did.
The child smiled through his tears and asked, “Do you have chocolate?”
Amateur! I had ten different flavors in the freezer at the moment and several more on my list for grocery day.
“Of course. Is that your favorite?”
Bowman eagerly nodded and I scooped his hand into mine. “This is my husband, Ethan. He’s going to make us each a big bowl of chocolate ice cream. Aren’t you Ethan?”
As was my mate’s way, he didn’t pester me with questions about the note, or why Bowman had shown up alone. He simply followed my lead.
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “I’m going to make one for myself, as well.”
“Will there be enough for everyone?” Bowman nervously queried, afraid he’d be an unwelcome burden, as he’d clearly been in his own “home”.
I clucked my tongue and held out my other hand to Ethan. Together, we began walking back to the kitchen as a unit. “In this house, there’s always enough to go around.” Enough food. Enough care. And more than enough love.
Bowman looked like he was amazing by the concept. “Really?”
Ethan rubbed the boy’s head playfully. “Really. Now, how many scoops can a big boy like you eat?”
As Bowman considered the question, I looked over his head at the man whom I mated with and realized the hole in my chest, and in his, had been filled with the one thing that everyone, human or ware, craved most of all: love.
And that was enough.
The End
