Resisting The Single Dad: Resisting the Single Dad / Reunited by Their Secret Son. Scarlet Wilson
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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?
Rory had just told Cordelia Greenway something he hadn’t shared with his dad. That made Gene’s skin prickle. Was he failing his child? Wasn’t he being the best dad that he could be?
His mouth felt dry.
He kept listening, watching through the gap in the door.
It felt like prowling. And he certainly wasn’t doing that. Rory was safe.
And right now he was seeing a side of Cordelia he hadn’t noticed before.
He could see she was dedicated to her work. The staff at the institute appeared to both like and respect her.
It almost made him want to push what had happened the other day out of his head. But he couldn’t. It sat there, churning away in his mind, making him wonder what he was missing.
He could hear Cordelia still talking softly to Rory. Occasionally there was a little tremor in her voice. But she also sounded reassuring.
He closed his eyes for a second. Could he imagine Karen ever doing something like this? The truth was, no. He’d been hurt when she’d walked away. She’d been clear that she couldn’t see herself taking on someone else’s child. And that had hurt. Because Rory had been like a bolt out of the blue to him too. But he couldn’t walk away. He would never have dreamed of it.
But here was sometimes prickly Cordelia being sweet to his son in a way he would never have expected.
When Rory asked about getting a new mommy and if she would love him, Gene’s stomach clenched so hard it felt like it was made of lead.
Cordelia’s answer seemed so simple. And completely and utterly true. He would never be with someone who couldn’t love his son as much as he did. They were a package deal.
His heart squeezed in his chest. The woman he’d been angry with a few days ago got that. She had got that about him straight away. And as he watched she settled Rory under her arm and started reading him his favourite story book.
Now his heart gave an unsteady flutter. Rory looked so comfortable there. His little body had adopted the slumped position it normally did just before he fell asleep. Sure enough, like clockwork, only a few pages into the book Rory’s eyelids started to droop.
Gene took a deep breath and collected himself, willing that he’d look as if he’d just appeared this second.
He stuck his head around the door and whispered, ‘Cordelia?’
She looked up and stopped reading. Her eyes widened as he realised he still hadn’t put a shirt on.
He almost hesitated, then dismissed it. She was a doctor, she’d seen more than enough naked torsos in her line of work. He walked over to the bed. ‘Apologies,’ he whispered. ‘I was in the shower. Rory hasn’t really grasped the concept of patience.’
She looked down at the mop of blond hair and ruffled it with her fingers. His head was completely sagging now. He was fast asleep.
‘I’m not too good at