Page 82 of Make Me Whole

This was my fault, after all. If Max hadn’t gotten involved with me and my divorce, if he hadn’t tried to keep me safe and happy, then he wouldn’t be on Eli’s radar and this wonderful, sweet little boy wouldn’t be traumatized. However, as angry as I was at myself, my feelings didn’t matter. These kids needed me, and I couldn’t allow my selfishness to damage them further.

“Aid, I know this is scary and I know you’re sad, but it’ll be okay. I promise you I’ll get this figured out and your dad back home to you. Do you trust me?”

He pulled his head from my shoulder, and my heart broke a little more at the sight of his puffy red eyes and splotchy face. He nodded. “Yes, I trust you. I just don’t understand why they took Daddy away. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

I forced a reassuring smile, cupped his cheeks in my palms, and wiped his tears with the pads of my thumbs. “I know. I don’t understand it either, but I’ll call my dad and our lawyers and they’ll sort this out for us. They’ll get Max home. But in order to do that, I need your help.”

Aiden frowned but grew a little taller in his spine and widened his shoulders. His little man stance made me smile a little.

“I’ll do anything you need, Mo—I mean Aunther Sky.”

That made me smile a lot.

I kissed the top of his head. “Look at the car. See how scared Ella is?”

He looked and nodded. “She’s crying. She loves Daddy more than she loves her real dad, do you know that? That she wants him to be her dad and me to be her brother?”

“I do,” I replied with a nod. “And that’s what I need from you tonight. I need you to be my brave and strong boy and help calm down your little sister so I can focus on getting Dad home to us.”

He blinked a few times, his face looking so much younger than ten, and asked, “You need me to help you like . . . like a mom needs a son?”

I kissed his cheek again. “Yes. Can you be my son tonight?”

Tears sprang to his eyes as he nodded and hugged me. It was an extra-long hug, and a light shining amid this darkness. “I can be your son any night, Sk–—Mom.” He pulled back and smiled at me. I kissed his nose, then he added, “I’ll get Ella and calm her down. I won’t disappoint you, Mommy.”

“I know that, sweetheart.”

He ran off to the car to help Ella—and her gigantic turtle—out and to the house. The way he held her while she cried despite his own devastation warmed my whole heart. I unlocked the door for them. Once they disappeared inside and I was no longer bound by my motherly role, I pulled my phone from my purse, sat down on the stoop, and called my dad as Max had instructed.

Dad picked up on the third ring. “Hey, sweetie! Are you guys back?”

The sound of my father’s voice made tears spring to my eyes. “Yes, Daddy. We’ve just arrived home, but Max got arrested.”

“The line is terrible, sweetheart. On my end it sounded like you said Max got arrested,” he said between chuckles.

I sighed as a silent tear spilled from my eye. “That’s because I did.”

There was a momentary silence. Then, a curse. Finally, Dad asked, “Why?”

“The officer didn’t say, but I know it has something to do with Eli,” I said in a tone a notch below hysteria. “The kids saw it, Dad. They’re devastated and confused, and it’s all my fault.”

Begging me to calm down, my dad asked me to tell him in detail what had happened, and I did. I combed through the fuzz in my brain to come up with the most accurate retelling of our night.

Once I finished, my dad let out a long string of curses. Then he said, “I’m gonna call our lawyer and head over to the station to see what’s going on. Molly will go stay with you and the kids until we sort this out, and everything will be okay. It’s not your fault, Skylar. I know it may feel like it is, but it’s not.”

As a parent myself, I knew he was doing theparent thingwhere we pretend we’re more confident than we actually are, but I didn’t care. He sounded sure that everything would be okay, and I believed him. I needed to believe him.

We hung up a moment later. I wiped my tears and went inside to check on the kids. They were sitting together on the couch looking calm but heart-gutting sad as they silently played with Ella’s giant turtle. Their little faces bounced to me as soon as I walked into the room.

“Any news about Dad, Mommy?”

I smiled. Max would get a tickle out of Ella’s question when I told him.

I shook my head and walked to the couch toward them. “Not yet, baby. But Grandpa is going over to the station with the lawyer, and he’s gonna sort this mess out. Dad will be here before you notice it. While we wait, how about we eat cookies and cuddle together on the couch with a movie?”

“Not really hungry,” Aiden said, and Ella agreed.

I rolled my eyes. “No one eats cookies because of hunger. We eat them because of feelings.”

---