A Family for Tyler. Angel Smits

that.

      He’d almost given in a couple times, especially that first night Tyler had come to stay at the house. But they’d gotten along well, and while the boy had been sad when he’d gone to bed, he hadn’t made any fuss. Only later when he’d peeked in on the boy had Wyatt seen the tear tracks on the boy’s cheeks.

      Now he had no choice. And if he thought the judge had given him a rough time, it would be nothing like the tongue-lashing he knew Addie would give him for keeping this a secret.

      Part of him hoped it would roll over to voice mail. It didn’t. “Hi!” Addie’s voice sounded like the girl he remembered instead of the tired woman he’d come to know since Mom’s diagnosis.

      “Hi, yourself. How was the trip?”

      “Awesome. Stupendous. I’m exhausted.” She laughed and Wyatt knew it wasn’t the bone-weary kind she’d lived with for years. This was a happy tired.

      “That’s great. It wasn’t the same without you.” They usually talked several times a week, and her absence reminded him of all that was missing in his life. “I have something to tell you.”

      “Uh-oh.”

      “It’s not bad. Not really.”

      “Double uh-oh.”

      He laughed, thinking that maybe he’d avoid the tongue-lashing after all.

      “Spill it, brother dear.”

      Okay, maybe he’d been thinking too positively. Here goes. “Right after you left, a registered letter arrived.” He paused and sucked in a couple lungfuls of hot Texas air. “Apparently, DJ has a son.”

      The silence on the other end of the call grew heavy and thick. Was that a storm brewing or just shock?

      “I... Tyler is with me. He has been for almost three weeks.” There, he’d said it.

      “Tyler?” she whispered.

      “That’s his name. He’s eight. God, Addie, he looks just like DJ at that age.” Wyatt’s voice broke. He missed his brother and worried where the special forces soldier was in the world. And if he still was.

      “How... I don’t understand.”

      “His mother abandoned him. She sent a letter and just left the boy.”

      “He’s with you, there?” He heard her moving around and hoped it meant she was heading to her car.

      “Not right here. He’s back at the ranch with Chet and the crew.” He knew his foreman, a father of four, was well acquainted with little boys. “I’m just leaving the judge’s office. I’m trying to get custody.”

      “Good.” More rummaging. “I’ll be there in a couple hours.”

      “Thank God.”

      “What?” She was silent a long minute. “Who are you and what have you done with Wyatt?”

      Her comment did as he knew she intended and he laughed. “I... The judge keeps asking me about a woman in my life to help take care of Tyler.”

      Addie laughed this time. “Oh, this is gonna be fun. I’m on my way. ’Bye. Oh, and we’ll discuss your failure to tell me about this later.” She hung up.

      Wyatt groaned. Addie’s ire was legendary, but at this point he couldn’t let DJ or Tyler down.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      EMILY DIDN’T MIND coffee. She actually enjoyed a cup, heavily laced with cream and sugar on a bitterly cold, winter day. Otherwise, she’d rather drink pretty much anything else.

      There was, however, something comforting about its scent that reminded her of the mornings before she left for school, back when it had been just her and her mother. Mom would make a pot while she fixed Emily’s breakfast, then halfway through the second cup, she’d scoot Emily out the door to the bus.

      It wasn’t until just this instant that Emily wondered what her mother had done with the rest of the pot...or even what her mother had done the rest of the day. Helen had never worked outside the house. And to Emily as a child, it was as if either her mother vanished while she was at school, or just sat there, in a holding pattern, waiting.

      Emily sat outside Sunset Haven, the assisted living that had been her mother’s home for a couple months now, staring through the windshield, the scent of the coffee wafting around her.

      It felt good to sit. Emily leaned her head back and closed her eyes, though she couldn’t do that for long for fear of falling asleep. She was so tired.

      With Judge Ramsey still out on medical leave and Judge Helton announcing his retirement yesterday, Emily was swamped.

      And to top it off, she’d barely slept last night. Why couldn’t she get Wyatt Hawkins and his nephew out of her mind? At the most inopportune moments yesterday, his words had echoed back at her. She’d tossed and turned all night, seeing his face, hearing his accusations.

      And why the uncle? Why not the little boy? That was whom she really cared about, wasn’t it?

      Maybe it had something to do with where he lived. She sighed, knowing that she’d started thinking about Wyatt Hawkins again the instant she’d looked up his address online.

      He and Tyler lived out in ranch country. The same part of the county she’d grown up in.

      Emily knew she was stalling. She wasn’t in the mood for Mom today, and no one, except a few staff members at the facility, would ever know if she didn’t visit. No one would begrudge her. But Emily would know she’d let her mom down. Again.

      For Emily, her mother had been gone a long time already. All that was left was the shell of a woman whose mind, as well as her body, had faded.

      Slowly, she reached for the door handle and climbed out into the hot Texas sun. She grabbed the two cups from the holders and closed the door with her hip. Her heels sank in the soft black pavement, and she hurried to the concrete walk. If she slowed down or stopped now, she might not make it. Luckily, the air-conditioning was on in full force today and the small lobby felt blessedly cool inside.

      “Hello, Ms. Ivers.” The bouncy little receptionist greeted Emily. She was always there, always chipper. Emily hadn’t a clue how the woman could be so happy.

      “Hello.” Emily nodded and headed down the hallway. It seemed eternally long today, though she only had to pass four doorways before she reached her mother’s.

      The large bundle of yellow silk roses attached to the door were just as she’d last seen them. They were from the house, something the staff here had encouraged Emily to bring in to help Helen find her own room more easily. It worked sometimes, though Emily had received several reports about her mother being found in other people’s rooms. It saddened her. The mother she remembered would have been mortified by such behavior.

      “Mom?” she called from the open doorway, knowing that startling her mother was a bad thing. It only increased Helen’s confusion. “Mom, are you here?”

      “Oh, yes, deary.”

      Uh-oh. Deary. Emily’s heart sank. That meant her mother didn’t remember who she was today. Deary was her catchall name for everyone. Her mother stuck her head around the divider curtain and smiled blankly at Emily.

      “Well, hello.” Helen stepped around the curtain. “Can I help you?”

      Emily’s heart hurt. She missed the long-ago days when she’d come home from school and her mother would open her arms to give her a big hug.

      “It’s me, Emily.” She often had to remind her mother who she was, but just because she was used to it didn’t mean she liked it. “I brought you some coffee.” She lifted the cup marked decaf. She’d learned that trick a long time ago, too. No caffeine for Mom. Not if the staff here ever wanted her to go to bed