Page 182 of Broken
“Nana and Papa bought me my own bedroom!” Ethan said.
“Why don’t we go upstairs and show them?” Prescott’s dad suggested.
Up the stairs they went, while Loki shoved his way through, determined to get to the top before anyone else.
Ethan proudly led the way into one of the bedrooms. “Nana said this used to be Uncle Prescott’s.” He pulled a framed photo off the night table, but instead of holding it out for everyone to see, he stared at it. “This is Nana and this is Papa. That’s Uncle Prescott and Uncle Nicky. That’s Aunt Kerri.” He beamed at Prescott’s mom. “I got everyone by myself, Nana!”
“You did a great job,” his mom said.
He set down the frame, ran over to the toddler bed, and climbed on. “This is my big boy bed. Loki can stay here with me, and there’s room for him!”
Jacqueline could not stop smiling. He was so happy. She believed he missed his mom, but he didn’t dwell on the loss. Death was too complicated for a three-year-old to fully understand. Even so, he was managing far better than she was.
“Ethan mentioned that he sleeps in a crib,” Prescott’s mom said.
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to buy him bedroom furniture,” Prescott said before shifting toward Ethan. “How ‘bout we go furniture shopping this afternoon and buy you a bedroom set?”
Ethan started jumping up and down on the bed. “Yay! Another present!”
Jacqueline laughed. “He’s adorable.”
“Ethan, do you want to shop with Uncle Prescott and Jacqueline or do you want to stay with us?” his mom asked.
Ethan stopped jumping and stared at her, then he regarded Prescott. He climbed down and slipped his small hand into Prescott’s large one. Prescott picked him up and Ethan hugged him. “Nana and Papa, I’ll come back and play with you another day.”
“What do you say to them?” Prescott asked him.
“I can’t know.”
Prescott whispered in Ethan’s ear. Jacqueline loved how patient he was with him. How everything was an opportunity to teach Ethan something new. For a man as ruthless as Prescott, she loved his softer side.
“Fank you for the sleepover, and for my toys, and my new room!”
His mom kissed Ethan on his cheek. “We loved having you. Next time, Loki can stay when you have another sleepover, if that’s okay with Jacqueline.”
“That’s so nice,” Jacqueline said, “and it’s absolutely okay.”
“Uncle Prescott and Jack can have a sleepover wif us too.”
Prescott tickled Ethan and he started giggling.
“We can save you some time if you don’t want to go to all the stores we went to,” his dad said.
After his mom told him where they found the toddler bedroom set, they headed out, stopping at Prescott’s to put Loki in the mudroom.
Back in the SUV, Prescott punched up Ethan’s playlist as he drove to the upscale furniture store in Tysons. The oversized showroom was packed with shoppers hoping to grab a deal during the Memorial Day mega sale.
With Ethan in his arms, Prescott pulled to a stop inside the entrance. “Ethan, you have to hold my hand or Jack’s hand while we shop. Do you understand?”
“Uh-huh, I won’t go away.”
As they were making their way through the large showroom toward children’s furniture, Jacqueline glanced over at the home office sets. As her gaze floated over the shoppers, her brain shorted.
Her sister, Leslie, was shopping with the same man she’d been having dinner with at Carole Jean’s.
Jacqueline pulled Prescott to a stop. “Look over my shoulder. There’s a blonde with her back to us. She’s with a tanned, older man. That’s my sister.”
He shifted his gaze past her. “No way,” he murmured. “She’s with my uncle.”
