“That went well,” Easton quipped. I wasn’t in mood for levity and merely scowled at him.
“I need to talk to them.” I started to get up, but Easton held me back with a gentle but firm hand on my arm.
“Give them time to absorb everything. This is lot for them to process.”
“But I-“
He shook his head to silence me. “Give them a little time, honey. They’re hurting, and I agree we shouldn’t leave them alone too long.”
“I shouldn’t have told them yet. It’s too soon. And you and I, they aren’t going to like us together and we’re-“
“You’re not going to run on me again, are you?” Easton’s brown eyes narrowed as he watched me intently.
“Run on you?”
“Kick me out. Tell we can’t see each other. We’re in this together, Caro. We agreed on that. You don’t have to go through this alone.”
“No, not this time,” I admitted.
“We’ll weather this storm together because that’s how a family does it.” He smiled, not one of his huge light-up-your-world smiles, because the situation didn’t call for it, but a better-things-are-coming and a trust-in-me smile.
Tears slid down my cheeks, and he pulled me into his arms. I needed him, and that was okay. I’d tried so hard since Mark had died to be everything to everyone and to be independent, I found it hard to admit maybe I did need someone. That together we were stronger than we were apart.
Easton was the other half of me, and we would weather this storm.
**Easton**
There was no real handbook on parenting. Yeah, there were lots of books written on the subject, but I was beginning to discover that being a good parent relied more on instincts, love, fairness, and consistency.
I didn’t have the solution on how to handle this sticky situation, but I decided that as long as we did it with love and the children’s best interests at heart, eventually things would work out.
We’d dropped a bombshell on them, and they would need time to adjust, but kids were resilient and sometimes they handled changes better than adults did.
We gave them about a half hour to let their emotions out. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do or not, but approaching them immediately seemed counterproductive to me, and Caro agreed.
“I’ll talk to Heath if you want to tackle Hailey?” I said.
Caro nodded, her face blotchy from crying. She blew her nose, wiped her face, and gave me a shaky smile. “We can do this.”
I stood and pulled her to her feet. I gave her a soft kiss on the lips and winked. “We can do this. Divide and conquer.”
She almost laughed. Together, we walked down the hall and knocked on the kids’ bedroom doors.
Neither of them said a word, so with one last encouraging smile in Caro’s direction, I went inside as did she.
Heath was sitting on his bed tossing a puck back and forth from one hand to the other. “Ziggy, one of my teammates, can juggle six pucks at once.”
My son didn’t look up, just kept doing what he was doing.
“One time he tried seven and got smacked in the head with multiple pucks, almost knocked him out.” I chuckled and waited for a reaction. Nothing happened. The room was silent except for the slapping sound the puck made as it hit his palm.
Smack. Smack. Smack.
“I know you’re upset and have every right to be. It’s not easy to find out things aren’t as you always thought they were.”
Smack. Smack. Smack.
“I know you loved your dad, and I never want to take that away from you. I’m just hoping that someday, you’ll find room in your heart for me too. I want to be your dad, Heath. I want to cheer you on at your hockey games. I want to help you with your homework. I want to teach you to drive a car. I want to be there for you when you need me for the rest of my life.”
Smack. Smack. Thump.
The two pucks hit the ground, and Heath didn’t bother to pick them up. He lifted his head and our gazes met. His eyes were filled with unshed tears, and my heart broke a little.
“I miss my dad.”
“I know you do, buddy. It’ll get easier, and you’ll always have the memories.” I sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a foot between us, not wanting to push it by getting too close. “I know how it feels to lose a dad. I lost mine. I’ll never forget the night they came to our door to tell my mom. It’s burned in my memory, but as time goes on, the good memories are the ones I choose to recall and hold close to my heart.”
“How did you lose your dad?” He sniffled.
“He was a firefighter. He died trying to save someone. He was a hero.”
“My dad didn’t die trying to save someone.”
“That’s okay. He’s still your hero, right?”
Heath nodded. “I guess so.” He scooted over, closing the foot between us, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I hugged him close and let him cry, possibly for the first time since his father had died.
**Caroline**
Because of my controlling nature and tendency to believe no one else could possibly know what to do in this situation better than me, my first inclination was to insist that I talk to both children. Mark had let me do all the hard parenting, while he’d been the fun parent. The fact that Easton wanted to help with the good and bad stuff was something I should encourage, not discourage, so I curbed my initial reaction and agreed to let Easton talk with Heath while I spoke with Hailey.
I opened the door. She was facedown, her head buried in her pillow, and her arms wrapped around the teddy bear Mark had bought her last Christmas.
I sat down on the bed and put my hand on her back. She jerked away. She was going to be a tough cookie. She’d been Daddy’s girl and had also been overly attached to her grandmother.
“I know you miss him, honey. I know this is hard. Easton doesn’t want to replace your dad. He just wants to be part of your life. He loves you too. It’s okay to like him. You’re not being disloyal. Your dad would want you to be happy first and foremost.”
Hailey shook her head and kicked her feet.
I sighed, wishing I had all the clever answers, but right now I was floundering. Hailey was crying again, her body shaking once more with sobs. I placed a hand on her back, and this time she didn’t pull away. I stroked her back and sang one of her favorite songs, “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Eventually, she was quiet, and I thought she’d fallen asleep.
She surprised me when she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She gazed up at me and blinked several times. Her expression was one of fear and sadness, but not anger.
“Oh, honey.” I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly. She hugged me back, still sniffling. “It’s all going to be okay. You have lots of people who love you.”
“I know.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.