Page 130 of Winter Vows

Then with Dylan’s help she shooed the remaining pint-sized guests inside and matched them with their respective parents. Once the exodus started, it didn’t take long to clear the place.

“Up to bed,” she told Bobby.

He hesitated and she sensed suddenly that it wasn’t just his usual reluctance to see the day end. “What’s up, pal? Want me to come up with you?”

He shook his head, then gazed shyly at Dylan. “Are you gonna be here in the morning?”

“Nope. I’m going away for a few days.”

“Oh,” Bobby said glumly.

Dylan hunkered down in front of him. “Why? Was there something you wanted to do tomorrow?”

“I was thinking maybe if you were here you could play with me. I got lots of neat stuff in the backyard.”

Kelsey exchanged a puzzled look with Dylan. “Why did you want Dylan to play with you, sweetie?”

“So Daddy can’t make me go away again,” he said simply.

Tears welled up in Kelsey’s eyes. She had to turn away to keep Bobby from seeing. She was aware of Dylan quietly reassuring Bobby that his daddy wasn’t going to take him again, but all the while her heart was breaking.

She felt Dylan’s light touch on her arm and jerked her head toward him. “What?”

“I’m going to take Bobby up to bed and hang out for a minute, if it’s okay with you.”

Unable to speak around the lump in her throat, she simply nodded. Dylan squeezed her hand and mouthed, “He’s going to be fine.”

But Kelsey wasn’t so sure. Would any of them ever really be fine again?

Fourteen

Dylan spent nearly a half hour talking to Bobby, trying to ease his fears, then tucking him into bed and waiting until he drifted off to sleep. All the while, he kept thinking of all the nights he’d missed doing exactly the same thing with Shane, all the stories he could have read to his son, all the sleepytalks they could have shared. The experience reinforced his decision to see Kit as soon as possible the next day. He wanted his son back in his life. He needed to be a dad again. Even part-time would be better than nothing.

As he went back downstairs, though, his thoughts shifted back to the woman waiting for him. He had seen her shattered expression when Bobby had revealed his fear of being taken away again by his dad. The fact that she had allowed him to step in and reassure the boy, then put him to bed, told Dylan just how distraught she had been. She’d been afraid Bobby would detect her own fear.

Obviously, she had been wanting to believe, just as he had, that Bobby hadn’t been affected by the events of the last few days. Now they could no longer delude themselves. He’d been able to step in tonight, but what if Bobby needed more help than either he or Kelsey could give him?

Dylan walked into the living room to find Kelsey curled up at one end of the sofa. She hadn’t turned on the lights and the room was in shadows.

“Is he okay?” she asked, sounding lost and defeated.

“Sound asleep,” Dylan reassured her as he crossed the room, sat down beside her and drew her into his arms. She came willingly.

“Oh, Dylan, I wanted so badly for him to have come through this unscathed.”

“To tell you the truth, I think he was just worried about leaving you again. I don’t think it had anything to do with him being frightened of his father.”

“But he saw Paul shoot that gun in the air and tie you up. How could he not have been terrified? I must have been crazy to think he would forget all about it just like that.”

“We talked about that. I told him nothing really bad happened, that it was like a game between his dad and me to see who would get to bring him back to you fastest. He seemed to accept that.”

“In other words, you lied to him. Is that good?”

“It’s better than telling him his dad did a terrible thing that could have had tragic consequences. He’ll figure that out for himself when he’s older. For now, I think it’s better just to ease his mind. Maybe you should talk to a psychologist. See what he says.”

“Of course,” she said, sounding relieved to have something concrete she could do. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. It’s exactly what I’d recommend to the parent of any patient of mine who’d been through a traumatic experience. I’ll call a friend of mine in Miami first thing in the morning. I just wish I had some answers now.”

“Bobby’s sound asleep. The answers can wait until morning.” He gave her a knowing look. “But just in case you don’t see it that way, my guess is you have a few psych books left over from med school tucked away somewhere around here.”

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