Page 79 of Thick & Thin

She sat beside me and set Caleb down. He dropped to the floor and started playing with the cars they kept at the house for him without even realizing the massive thing that was happening at that moment.

“Don’t you dare apologize. We understood. So much happened with Josh, and everything happened so fast. We wanted to confront you, but we were never sure if Josh was ready for that kind of news. It wasn’t long before too much time had passed, and we felt like it was too late. Josh was already living away from home. The last thing we wanted was for him to hate us.”

I nodded in understanding. The same happened with me. Too much happened. Too much time had passed.

“Are you going to tell him?” I asked, swiping at my tears.

She shook her head. “But I think you should. Y’all might not be close anymore, but he has the right to know. He’s already missed so much, Jenny. I don’t want my son to miss any more.”

I sniffed and swiped at my nose with the back of my hand.

She was right.

I couldn’t keep my secret forever. Especially now that I knew she was aware that Caleb was a true grandson.

“I will when the time’s right. I promise. Right now, he just lost his father. I can’t spring Caleb on him like that. He already hates me. I’m not sure I want to make it worse yet.”

It was wrong.

So wrong.

He deserved to know, and now knowing Mr. and Mrs. Black had always known, I knew my days of keeping my secret were limited. It was time.

Then it hit me.

The guilt I had felt that Mr. Black had never known that Caleb was his grandson slowly dissolved, and my tears started anew. I covered my face with my hands and let the tears fall.

“What is it?” Mrs. Black asked, rubbing my back in a soothing manner.

“He knew Caleb was his,” I whispered, running my fingers over the old baseball mitt. “Mr. Black knew he was his grandson.”

I couldn’t help but smile, feeling such relief with that bit of news.

“Oh, he knew. I’m surprised you didn’t see it with how much he loved that boy. It was obvious. That little boy had his Poppa wrapped right around his little finger.”

I laughed, again swiping at my tears. “That he did.”

“Anyway, we’ll deal with the details of everything, but you should know when I’m gone, Caleb will get as much of this farm as the rest of the family. He’s one of us. You, too. I’m not rushing you to tell Josh, but just know, one day he’s going to have questions.”

I nodded. “Soon. I’ll tell him soon.”

The door opened as soon as the words left my mouth, and Josh stepped in looking as if he had spent the night in his truck, which I happened to know he had. His eyes moved over my face before he turned and closed the door behind him.

“Where have you been?” Mrs. Black asked him.

His eyes slid over my face again before they fell to the floor and landed on Caleb, who was playing with cars and toys that used to belong to him.

“I was out looking over things. I plan on getting back to work as soon as possible. I can’t sit for long, and this place ain’t going to run itself.”

Mrs. Black started to smile but quickly recovered. “Oh. You’re planning on sticking around?”

He leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and nodded. “Daddy would roll over in his grave if I left and didn’t take care of this place.”

She nodded, her eyes going a little misty. “Yeah, he would. I’m glad to hear it.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Caleb copied her, shocking all of us.

He stood and went to Josh, sticking his hand out for a handshake the way Mr. Black had taught him. “Hi. I Caleb.”

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