Page 98 of Beauty and the Bayou

“Oh my God, he hasn’t seen the kids since Tommy’s accident, has he?”she asked.

Gabe was watching his kids greet Sawyer, his eyes looking a little shiny.He shook his head.“Nope.”

“So, they haven’t seen his scar.”Her gaze was back on the trio.

“No.I told them he’d been hurt though.They know about it.But they’re both very…inquisitive.”

“He’s ready for that.”Juliet was sure Sawyer had braced himself.

She watched Stella pull back and study Sawyer’s face.

Sawyer just let her look.

Stella lifted her hand to Sawyer’s scar, touching it gently.“Does it hurt?”

Sawyer shook his head, swallowing hard.Juliet held her breath.

“Not as much as it used to.It’s getting better all the time.”

“I’m glad it was just your face,” Stella told him.

Juliet hugged her arms around her middle, watching the emotions cross Sawyer’s face.

“Oh yeah?”Sawyer asked.

The little girl nodded.“Faces heal better than internal organs.Like hearts.Heart problems can be bad.”

Juliet felt her breath catch in her throat.

Sawyer nodded.“Heart problems really can be.”

“And livers,” Stella added, immediately deflating the emotion around the idea of hearts being hurt.These kids were nine.They were talking about the actual organ.“You’ve only got one liver, so you can’t just get rid of that like you can a kidney.”

“You can get a liver transplant though,” Cooper informed his sister, moving closer to Sawyer and Stella.“It’s a long list though.So yeah, your face was probably better.”

Juliet heard Gabe give a soft snort beside her and felt herself smiling.

“What about a spleen?”Stella asked Cooper.“You only have one but you can live without it, right?”

“Yes.But you’ll get more infections,” the boy said with a tone that indicated he was the authority on all things related to the spleen.“And you could actually live withoutanykidneys,” he told Stella.Her eyes grew wider and he looked pleased.“You’d have to go on dialysis, but you could be alive.”

“You could live withno kidneys at all?”Stella clarified.

“Yep.”

“Wow.”

“But,” Cooper turned back to Sawyer.“Hurting your face was better than hurting your kidneys.”

Sawyer nodded.“I think I completely agree.”He looked from one kid to the other.“It doesn’t look scary though?”

They both shook their heads.“You look badass,” Cooper said.

“Coop,” Gabe said with warning—while clearly trying not to laugh.“I don’t think badass is appropriate for a nine-year-old.”

“But he does,” Cooper told his father.“And Uncle Logan says sometimes bad words are the only ones that really express feelings fully.”

“I’m sure he does,” Gabe said, clearly trying to cover a grin.“But Uncle Logan isn’t right about everything.”

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