Page 86 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

I laughed, feeling sorry for leaving Marcus with the old man.

Just about every weekend for the past few months, Vernon had become a steady visitor to our home. After Marcus solved the murder that the police couldn’t, the old man decided that Marcus was some kind of genius detective and brought him news of any crime that was occurring in town. Marcus didn’t do anything about it, but he surprisingly indulged the old man’s ramblings, as grumpy as he was about it.

Marcus’ popularity skyrocketed after he caught Old Man Clancy’s murderer. News about it reached several channels and trended on social media, and he gained the admiration of people around the world. There were even campaigns and petitions signed to make him the mayor of the town.

None of that interested Marcus, and he ignored his newfound celebrity.

Even a year later, I was still in shock about the whole thing. When I walked into the room to find Ken’s bloody body on the floor, I didn’t know whether to laugh at the joy that my son was safe or cry because of everything he’d been through.

After Marcus first told me that Ken was Old Man Clancy’s killer, I didn’t believe him.

It seemed like a ridiculous story.

Ken had been my friend since I was a child. We hadn’t been super close in high school, but then we’d reconnected after. He was a nice, well-adjusted man, to the best of my knowledge.

He wasn’t the type who would simply kill someone.

But it seemed I was wrong. I was a terrible judge of character, and I had allowed a murderer into my home. Around my son.

And even worse, I’d let him terrorize my little boy for God knew how long, to the point where he even refused to speak.

Shame and guilt nearly overwhelmed me at the thought. That night, as we took Caleb to the hospital to make sure everything was alright, I broke down in the hallway, weeping for everything Caleb had been through.

“It’s all my fault!” I cried, clutching my chest as the pain pierced deeply. I felt Marcus’ strong arms wrap around me, but even that wasn’t much comfort. “He hurt my little boy. How could I have let that happen?”

“Shh,” Marcus whispered consolingly, his hand rubbing over my hair. I could hear the pain in his voice, too, even though he didn’t cry. “You didn’t know.”

“Exactly.” I grasped his shoulders, looking into his eyes with despair. “How could I not know? I’m his mother! I’m supposed to protect him, yet I let him hurt my son! I was so stupid! I’m a horrible mother!”

Marcus continued to comfort me, but there was no solace to be had that night. Or the next. Thankfully, according to the ER doctor and Dr. Hammond, Ken never sexually or physically abused Caleb. Merely threatened him. But still, that was bad. He was so small, so vulnerable, as he couldn’t defend himself. I was supposed to protect him, but I hadn’t paid enough attention.

I thought I would never forgive myself.

Even though Caleb forgave me.

That night, as Caleb was resting my arms, lying between Marcus and me, he whispered, “Mommy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“I’m happy you’ll be safe now.”

I felt the tears rolling down my cheek. It choked my throat, and I couldn’t breathe. I pressed a kiss to his head and his cheek, wanting to hold him forever and never let go. My brave little boy was thinking of me this whole time.

I was determined to protect him from then on.

I would watch out and wouldn’t naïvely trust people. I would make sure I knew who they were before I let them into my son’s life. That was how I would make up for my carelessness.

Luckily, it seemed the incident didn’t traumatize Caleb as much as I thought it would. On the contrary, he slowly began acting like every normal kid, talking more and even playing around. Dr. Hammond said it was understandable since Caleb felt safe now that the threat was behind bars. I didn’t care why it was happening. I was just happy my little boy was back to me.

And it was all thanks to Marcus.

After the incident, the town’s attitude toward Marcus did a complete one-eighty. Evan was fired for his incompetent handling of the case, and certain people came one by one to personally apologize to Marcus for the accusations.

Too little too late, I thought, annoyed by their audacity. But surprisingly, Marcus was a lot more gracious than I was. He simply shrugged the whole thing off, accepting it as it was.

They supported him as he finished the resort renovations with my family’s support. The people of the town helped push the advertising, too, and the news stories on Marcus didn’t hurt. We had loads of sign-ups this year, though some people only wanted to meet the local celebrity who caught the murderer. Due to this, the town’s efforts, and Marcus’ brilliant marketing, the resort’s relaunch turned into a roaring success.

He was so amazing.

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