Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Checking her phone again and seeing no messages from Brodie, Cerise controlled the urge to slam it down.
When he left, he hadn’t said he’d text her, or even call her, but she hoped he would.
Sleep had been challenging and her dreams had been of her and Finn separated from Brodie by a wall of fire.
She’d woken early because she’d been too afraid to go back to sleep.
What did the dream mean? Did it have anything to do with the idea of them faking a relationship for the adoption process?
She couldn’t deny that the more she thought about presenting a united front, the more she liked the idea.
Brodie had said he’d want to date her even without Finn being part of her life.
She would want to date him without Finn too.
But dating was a long way from a relationship involving an adopted child. And from a happy ever after.
Finn wandered into the kitchen, his hair sticking up again. It didn’t seem to matter if she made him brush his hair before going to sleep. It always looked like he’d spent hours in a windstorm when he woke up. “Morning, Finn. Did you sleep well?”
“Yep, have you heard from Brodie? Is he going to be able to come over today so we can finish our LEGO?” He fired off the questions while he took a seat opposite her at the kitchen table.
The attachment Finn had to Brodie was another reason she was thinking about Brodie’s suggestion, but it was also what was holding her back.
What if Finn got too attached to Brodie?
The lawyer said the adoption process could take a while.
What if Brodie decided that it was too much like hard work to be with them and he broke it off?
It would break Finn’s heart, not to mention hers.
“No, buddy, I haven’t heard from him. I’m sure he’s probably sleeping if he got home late. Or he got up early and is doing his job. I believe he had to work today.” But she still wished she knew if he was all right or not.
“Darn. But I guess being a firefighter is important.”
“It’s very important. Have you thought about what you want to be when you grow up?”
His brow furrowed in concentration as if he hadn’t given it much thought before, and at nine, he probably hadn’t. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Is that bad?”
She reached across the table. “Nope. You’ve got plenty of time to think about what you want to do. You can be anything you want. And whatever you decide on, you’ll be fantastic at it, I have no doubt.”
“My dad was an accountant, he liked numbers. I don’t mind numbers, math is pretty easy, but I don’t know.”
“That would be a good job and there’s lots of opportunities too. If you get with an international firm, you can see if you can get transferred to different countries. A great way to experience different cultures all while doing something you love.”
“Really? People do that?”
“Yep.” She leaned forward and smiled when he copied the action. “Can I let you in on a secret?”
“If you tell me your secret I promise I won’t tell anyone,” he said solemnly.
“I know you won’t. I wasn’t that great at math. It wasn’t my best subject at all.”
“Is that all? That’s not a bad secret to have. If you get stuck with math while I’m here, you can count on me to help you out.”
“Thanks, bud. Now what do you want for breakfast?”
“Eggs,” he shouted.
“Eggs it is.”
As she bustled around the kitchen preparing Finn’s breakfast, joy expanded her heart. This is what she was meant to do with her life, in addition to nursing. She would find a balance to make it all work.
“Do you think Aunt Poppy loves me?”
Cerise almost dropped the spatula into the scrambled eggs she was making. “I’m sure she does. I think she’s just a little confused with what she wants out of life.”
“She changes when she gets a new boyfriend.”
The eggs were done so she slipped them on the plate next to the toast she’d pulled from the toaster.
She placed the plate in front of Finn, all the while thinking of how she was going to frame her response.
It wouldn’t do her any good to bad-mouth Poppy.
No one would win doing that. “When people find someone special, they can get very excited about it and forget about everything else.”
“It’s not like that, she starts drinking wine again. When it’s just us, she never has wine.”
Cerise locked that bit of information away, so that she could think about it and whether it was something she should mention to Gordon and Daphne in the hopes it may help her case.
Again, it was a fine line she was walking, wanting to use information to her advantage, but at the same time, being cognizant of the relationship Finn and Poppy had.
“I can’t answer why she acts that way, Finn. But you’re safe here.”
“I know.” He wrapped his arms around himself in a protective gesture. “I really didn’t like her new boyfriend, Ed. He was really creepy. I was almost glad when she dropped me off at the home.”
What the heck? What was he saying here? Her instinct was to grab him by the shoulders and demand he tell her everything, but she didn’t want to frighten the boy.
Cerise breathed deeply until she felt more in control of herself.
“He didn’t hurt you or Aunt Poppy, did he?
” While she may not like how his aunt had treated Finn, if Poppy was being hurt herself, Cerise would mention that to Daphne to see if she could get some help.
Of course, the other woman would have to want to receive assistance for it to be useful.
Oh damn, this was becoming a tangled web and Finn was caught right in the middle of it all.
“No, he didn’t hurt me or Aunt Poppy, he just had shifty eyes.”
“Shifty eyes, huh? That’s an interesting description.
” The more he spoke, the more, like Finn, she was glad that Poppy had dropped him at the boys’ home.
Perhaps this was her way of protecting the boy from getting hurt.
Then again, it also suggested that Poppy’s choice in men wasn’t ideal if she thought she was protecting Finn by shuttling him back and forth from her home to the government-run one.
“Yeah, I don’t know, most of the other guys ignored me, but he looked at me in a weird way.” He gazed down at his food and then back at Cerise. “I’m sorry I wasn’t very nice when you picked me up from the home. I was really glad to see you, but I was also angry at Aunt Poppy.”
Cerise went up to the boy and squatted beside him, waiting until he lifted his head to look at her. “It’s okay, Finn. I haven’t told you this, but I grew up in a girls’ home too.”
“Really?” His eyes grew wide at her revelation, and she smoothed a hand across his brow.
“Yep, my parents died when I was about your age. I was put into care and, yes, I went to some nice homes, but then some awful ones too. I got close to being adopted a couple of times, but something always seemed to happen.” He laid his hand on her cheek, the gesture touching her soul in its sweetness and innocence.
“I understand what you’re going through, Finn.
But I want you to know that you will always have a place here in my home. Always.”
Even if she couldn’t adopt him, she would make sure that he was safe.
Take Brodie up on his offer and your chances of getting Finn are better. You know it’s not going to be a hardship. You really like the guy, and his kisses set you on fire.
Cerise shut down her inner thoughts, but she couldn’t deny that the more Finn said, the more she wanted to ensure that her adoption application had the best possible chance.
She would take Brodie up on his offer of them dating and presenting a united front.
As her inner voice said, it wouldn’t be a hardship at all.
Ed rummaged through the kid’s drawers in his bedroom.
There wasn’t much in them, but there had to be something somewhere that would let him know where the kid was staying.
Poppy was fucking hopeless. She wasn’t even that good of a lay, but the second he saw the letter and she confirmed she was the kid’s trustee, he wanted to get his hands on that money.
Fuck, the amount listed would mean he could get out of fucking Texas and start over somewhere else. With the amount of money that kid was going to get, he could live comfortably for years.
Now all he had to do was find the kid and get rid of him. Marry Poppy, then get rid of her and, as her husband, he’d get the money. He could put up with the bitch for a year.
Slamming the drawer shut he wandered over to the wooden table by the kid’s bed. Opening the drawer, he found what he was looking for.
“Perfect.”