Page 76 of Mended Hearts

He finally glances up. “Yeah. I want a real family.”

I smile. I want a real family, too.

“How do you feel about meeting your other grandparents? Or is it too soon?” I regret the idea as soon as I mention it. If I haven’t scared the boy away, my mother might.

“I’d really like that.” He enthusiastically nods, then lifts up the picture he’s been drawing. It’s my Blazer with a sunset in the back. But it’s the three figures standing in front of it, holding hands, that really undo something within me. He wants this just as badly as I do. And he also wants my Blazer. Little does he know it’s already his.

MY MOTHER LOOKS at Dylan, who is beside me. I revel in the fact that he feels safe near me. I believe I have Echo to thank for that. She never kept me a secret from him. She told him anything and everything he had wanted to know, even sharing pictures. I wasn’t something she wanted to keep hidden like I didn’t exist. In return, our son has bonded with a man he’s never known personally but has gotten to experience every other way possible.

“Oh my Lord,” my mom says, walking up to Dylan. She looks back and forth between the two of us, doing a double take. “You cannot deny it. Not that you’d ever want to. He is a spitting image of you.”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Dax exclaims, coming in the front door. I just shake my head and laugh.

My mother crouches down in front of Dylan, becoming eye level with him. “Well, hello, Dylan. I’m your grandma, Jill. It’s so very good to meet you.”

We hang out at my parents’ house for a while since my son can talk circles around all of us. I bet he could even talk them around Dax.

“All right. I wish this could last longer, but Dylan has to get back home tomorrow for school.”

“When do we get to see him again?” my mom asks, her voice shaky.

Dylan stands beside me, and I put my arm around his shoulder and pull him into me. “There’re still many unknowns that we are going to have to figure out.”

My mom goes to say something but thinks better of it. Such a small gesture that speaks volumes. Maybe she is learning, after all.

We begin our five-hour drive and Dylan starts asking me all sorts of questions about the Army and war, which led to my injury.

“Did it hurt?”

“Yes, initially. But I don’t remember much of the incident.”

“If you could go back and change something that day to keep from losing your hand, would you?” Man, this kid is deep.

I stare out the windshield and really think about his question. I used to question fate. I believed it wasn’t fate that was responsible for things happening to people, but that it was luck. They had just gotten lucky, and I’d be the guy who’d never get to experience the high. But now I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. Every choice leads you to where you’re destined to be. If I still had my hand, I wouldn’t be here.

I glance over, surprised Dylan is watching me intently. I shake my head. “No, I wouldn’t. You and your mom are a far more valuable appendage than my hand was. There’s justno comparison.” Dylan and Echo are my heart. I can survive without a hand. But no one can survive without a heart.

“Okay,” Dylan replies. “So a fake hand…do you ever want one?”

I laugh. “A prosthetic? I think I’m good without one.”

The closer we get, the more dread and happiness sink in. Dread that I’m going to have to say bye to my son that I just met. And happiness that I get to see Echo, but just long enough to make sure she’s okay and drop Dylan off.

“Dad”—he pauses, and I don’t think I could ever get tired of being called by that—“do you want Mom back?”

Without an ounce of hesitation, I reply, “More than anything in the world.”

“Then you have to win her back.” He shifts his little body my way.

“I know, son. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. You have any ideas?”

“I might have a few tricks up my sleeve,” he says in a devious tone, rubbing his hands together.

I would say boy am I in trouble, but I believe it’s safer to say boy is Echo in trouble to have two of me.

Chapter Fifty-Three

ECHO

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