Her Valentine Family. Renee Andrews

“You forgive us for not telling you the whole story?”

      “I do,” Jessica said. How could she be upset with them for wanting their grandson to know his father? But she wondered if Chad would ever forgive her for not telling him about his son. Soon, she suspected, she’d know, whenever she gained enough courage to tell him the truth. For now, though, she’d go see the other guy with green-gold eyes who held a large piece of her heart.

      She hugged her mom, told her that she was sure everything would work out the way it was supposed to and then headed upstairs.

      The door to the guest room, Nathan’s room for now, was cracked open. She approached quietly and peered inside, eager to see the interaction between Nathan and his granddaddy. Nathan hadn’t had a father figure in his world so far, and he hadn’t spent nearly as much time with her father as she would’ve liked, so this scene was very special.

      Her son sat against the headboard, his sandy curls leaning against her father’s side as Nathan pointed to a page of the book his granddaddy held. He tilted his head up and raised his brows, the same face he always gave Jessica when he expected her to answer one of his intricate questions.

      Nathan never accepted anything at face value. Even at two, he was determined to learn exactly how his toy train whistled and took the thing completely apart, to the point that Jessica couldn’t even attempt to put it back together. He wanted to know how things worked, why things happened, what caused what in the entire scheme of things. He was inquisitive, intelligent and witty. Never afraid to ask what he wanted to know. In other words, he was his father’s son, and Jessica couldn’t have been more pleased.

      She recalled Chad’s blunt query from earlier to night.

      “Have you married?” And then “Why not?”

      Tough questions, for sure, but she was used to tough questions. She got them often enough from Nathan. And he wasn’t cutting her father any slack now.

      She stepped into the room in time to hear him ask, “But how did the stone knock his head off?”

      Her father’s smile, and his adoration for his grandson, was absolutely breathtaking. And he didn’t get frustrated by Nathan’s confusion. Instead, he appeared to enjoy that Nathan wanted facts about the story. “You see, God was helping David, and that’s how the stone knocked off the giant’s head. Or rather, the stone knocked him down and then David cut off his head with a sword.”

      Nathan’s small hands instinctively moved to grasp his head.

      “No one would want to hurt your head, so you have nothing to worry about,” her dad said with a low chuckle

      Nathan squinted at his granddaddy, then apparently noticed Jessica’s presence and shifted gears in the subject matter to what he knew was the most important item in her day. “Hey, Mama. Did you get it? Get that job you wanted?”

      She’d called home and told her parents about the position at the day care center right after the interview. Apparently, they hadn’t thought her little guy would be interested in her news, which proved they still had a lot to learn about their grandson. Nathan was interested in everything, and she loved that about him, just like she loved it about his Daddy.

      “Well, did you?” Nathan repeated.

      “I did,” she said, opening her arms and waiting, while he jumped off the bed and ran to give her his traditional welcome home hug. She inhaled his little boy smell—chocolate chip cookies with a hint of soap from his bath—and squeezed him tightly.

      “Hey, I can’t breathe!”

      Laughing, she released her hold and placed him on the bed, where he crawled back to his spot beneath the covers.

      “Sorry. I missed you,” she said.

      “Missed you, too,” he said, “But maybe you won’t miss me too much while I’m at big school if you have all those little kids to take care of,” he said, happily putting himself in the “big kid” category.

      “Yeah, those little ones need someone to take care of them, for sure,” she agreed, enjoying the way his eyes beamed at her, and the way the gold flecks sparkled within the deep sea of green. She’d never gotten tired of those eyes six years ago, when she’d fallen in love with Chad Martin. And she sure didn’t get tired of them now.

      “Now that you’re going to work, Granddaddy says I can take the bus and it will pick me up right outside, by the mailbox.” Nathan pointed out the window toward the end of the driveway, where that big gold bus always picked up Jessica when she was his age. “And he said he’ll wait with me in the morning and that MeMaw will help me pack my new Superman lunch box for school.” Exactly what they’d done with Jessica, except her lunch box had had Malibu Barbie on the front.

      “What new Superman lunch box?”

      “The one MeMaw bought him at Walmart today, I suppose,” her father said, grinning.

      “I got new Superman shoes, too,” Nathan announced. “For school.”

      “Sounds like MeMaw is spoiling you rotten.” Jessica cocked her head at her dad.

      “Don’t look at me,” he said. “You know I’d have said no.”

      “Sure you would’ve,” Jess said, spying an empty glass with a hint of milk at the bottom and a crumb-covered plate on the nightstand, which explained why Nathan had smelled like chocolate chip cookies.

      “You’re getting me the backpack, Granddaddy,” Nathan said. “Remember?”

      Her father shrugged. “Okay, guilty.”

      “Let’s stop the madness at the backpack,” Jessica said, pressing a finger against Nathan’s nose.

      “They’ve got Superman notebooks, too,” Nathan mumbled. Then he looked at his granddaddy and grinned. “And pencils.”

      “Well, you certainly can’t have the backpack and not get the matching notebooks and pencils, can you?” her father asked.

      “You might as well hang it up, Jess,” her mother said, stepping into the room. “We’re hopeless and are bound and determined to spoil him rotten.” She smiled. “But that’s our job.”

      “Yep, that’s their job,” Nathan agreed, smiling broadly and showcasing the empty hole where a tiny baby tooth used to be.

      Jessica’s heart tensed. He was growing up way too fast.

      “And I’ll catch the bus right out there,” he said, informing MeMaw of the bit of conversation she’d missed earlier. “Until we get our new house. And then I’ll ride it from there.”

      Jessica had moved in with her folks until she could find a place of her own, and she had been up front with Nathan about that plan. She didn’t want him getting too attached to living with his grandparents, and she hadn’t wanted them to get too attached to having her and Nathan here either. She was twenty-three and didn’t want to mooch off of her parents forever.

      However, she had to admit that being with them now and seeing them enjoy having her and Nathan here was very nice.

      “I see,” her mother said, sitting on the bed beside her husband. They looked so good together, so content after all of these years, sitting there with Nathan, and Jessica suddenly had a sense of exactly what was missing in her life.

      Then Nathan giggled, and she remembered that her life was fine. No, not what she’d planned, but A-OK for now. And she’d seen Nathan’s daddy tonight and also learned that Nathan had a little sister. On Tuesday, she’d talk to Chad, maybe even tell him about their little boy.

      Excitement bubbled within her. Excitement…and fear.

      God, help me be strong enough to tell him. And God, please, let him understand.

      Chad Martin woke up bright and early Friday morning. Or to be more precise, he gave up on any hope of a decent night’s