Scarlet Wilson - Resisting The Single Dad - Resisting the Single Dad / Reunited by Their Secret Son

‘You know, I think they get thousands of people who apply for every job as an astronaut. It’s tough.’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t care. I’d get through.’

He said it with the confidence that only a child could have. She liked that. She wished she still had that herself. The fearlessness. The expectations.

Nowadays, if you could bottle and sell something like that you would be a millionaire.

She lay back on the bed and looked out at the dark night sky. She hadn’t remembered to close the curtains yet. She pointed up at the stars. ‘Don’t you think it might be a bit lonely up there?’

Her heart was giving a few little flutters in her chest. Not because anything was wrong but because somewhere along the line she figured that Gene must have had that general conversation with his little boy about doing certain things and getting certain jobs.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was a tricky disease. The advice frequently said that children and adolescents with HCM should refrain from competitive high-activity sports to prevent the risk of sudden death.

Anyone with the HCM genes would never get on the space programme. Never be a deep-sea diver. Never be able to do certain other jobs. But did Gene really need to tell his kid that now?

She turned to face Rory as he took another sip of milk. ‘But I wouldn’t be lonely up there.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because my mom’s up there.’

Her breath caught somewhere in the back of her throat. From the mouth of babes. She opened her mouth to speak but he kept talking, ‘And I would take my girlfriend with me too. She’s new. I met her today.’

Cordelia’s brain was still dealing with the first statement. But she couldn’t help but smile at the second. ‘You have a girlfriend already? Who is she?’

He looked at Cordelia in surprise. ‘I always have a girlfriend. Her name is Jana.’

Cordelia knew a lot of kids in the nursery and she frantically tried to remember which one was Jana.

‘Blonde hair? Curls?’

Rory gave her a wide smile. ‘That’s her.’

‘You’ve only been at nursery for a week and you’ve got a girlfriend already?’

He wrinkled his nose. ‘Don’t you have a boyfriend?’

She felt herself blushing. ‘No. Not right now.’ She gave a casual wave of her hand. ‘Boys are too much trouble.’ Then she rolled her eyes. ‘And too messy.’

His dark brown eyes looked between her, her untidy pile of clothes, then back at her again. He didn’t even have to say the words out loud.

Cordelia decided it was time for a quick subject change. ‘Do you think your girlfriend wants to be an astronaut?’

Rory took another sip of milk and nodded his head thoughtfully. ‘I’m not sure. Didn’t you want to be an astronaut?’

She loved the way he asked her. As if every person on the planet wanted that job. She shook her head. ‘Nope. I want to explore the pyramids. Or build a pirate ship and paint it red. Whatever came first.’

Something swept over his little face. ‘Is that where your mom is?’

She almost felt her heart fold over in her chest. She couldn’t help herself and did the most natural thing in the world. She sat up and put her arm around Rory’s shoulder. ‘No, honey. I’m very lucky. My mom is still here. She’s quite old, but she lives by herself now.’

His brow creased and he looked up at her. ‘Oh. My dad doesn’t have his mommy any more, and neither do I.’

She wasn’t used to kids. And she wasn’t quite sure how to frame her reply. She’d had lots of life and death conversations with patients over the years—and with grief-stricken relatives. But this was a kid. Way out of her range of expertise.

‘I heard that. And I’m sorry. But you’ve got a great dad. And I bet he does everything with you that a mom and a dad would do.’

Rory seemed to think for a few seconds then took another big glug of milk, resulting in the cutest milk moustache she’d ever seen.

This little guy could tear the heart clean out of her chest. It didn’t matter that she felt as if she were treading on eggshells. It didn’t matter she was so far out of her comfort zone it was scary. He had a way about him. An aura that just pulled her straight in.

‘I might get a new mommy one day.’

She swallowed and spoke carefully. ‘You might.’

His wide brown eyes looked up at her. ‘Do you think she’ll like me?’

She pulled him up on to her lap. ‘Rory Du Bois, I think anyone who could be a mommy to you would consider herself the luckiest woman on the planet. Of course she’ll like you. She won’t just like you. She’ll love you. Just as much as she loves your dad. That’s how these things work. Your dad wouldn’t marry anyone who didn’t love you just as much as he does.’

She was probably way overstepping here. But even knowing Gene for a few days made her know that would be true.

Rory’s big brown eyes were fixed on hers. He blinked. Just once, and put his head back down, leaning on her shoulder. ‘That’s okay, then,’ he murmured.

She reached over and picked up the picture book. Strangely enough, it had a picture of a space rocket on the front cover. ‘Want me to read this to you?’ she asked.

Rory nodded and climbed off her lap and settled himself back under her arm. She didn’t even want to acknowledge how that made her feel. The way that a tiny part of her that been tightly coiled up in her stomach for so long was slowly starting to unravel.

Or the fact that it made her realise just how much she was missing.

* * *

Gene wandered out of the shower and into an empty room. For a second his heart stopped.

He started to walk out into the corridor and stopped. He was naked. And he was a guest in someone else’s house. He roughly towelled himself off and yanked on his jeans. The water was still running down his chest as he walked to the door and started to towel-dry his hair. ‘Rory?’

The corridor was empty.

His heart rate quickened. He opened his mouth to shout again and then he stopped. And listened.

He could hear murmuring voices. There was only one other person in this house apart from Rory. Cordelia.

His curiosity was piqued. He took a few steps towards the door to Cordelia’s room. It was ajar and he could see Rory sitting up on the bed next to Cordelia, drinking a glass of milk.

He put his hand on the door to push through and apologise but the words stopped him dead.

‘My mom’s up there.’

Gene winced as his stomach clenched.

The one thing he couldn’t control. Just how much his son missed his mother.

It was normal. It was natural. Rory had attended a few nurseries and seen lots of other kids being picked up by their mommies. Gene always kept a photograph of Mindy around. He told Rory that was his mom and that she’d loved him very much.

Rory asked questions sometimes, but not often. Maybe he hadn’t spoken about Mindy enough? The trouble was, there was no one else to tell Rory about Mindy, and what Gene knew wasn’t really that much. He wasn’t really into embellishments. But that looked like the only solution he had left.

His son had just told a perfect stranger that he wanted to be an astronaut because his mom was up in the stars. It was a story that families the world over told little kids. That someone they missed or loved who had died was up in the stars, watching over them.

Rory had long held a fascination with the planets and stars. But he’d never mentioned his mother. Gene had no idea that was the way he’d been thinking.

He was frozen. His feet rooted to the floor. But the woman who’d been prickly at their first meeting seemed to be managing around Rory.

In normal circumstances he would walk in and take over. But was that really best for Rory right now?