Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Before Wren reached the house, a truck skidded to a stop in the driveway, gravel spraying behind the wheels.
In the blink of an eye, Cody climbed out, engine still running, and began hauling Mason’s bike from the truck bed. He wore his uniform pants, boots unlaced at the top. His sandy hair was flattened on one side from a hat he wasn’t wearing anymore.
He’d been handsome at eighteen in a way that made teachers forgive him, and he was handsome now in a way that made dispatchers do the same.
“Hey—sorry to show up like this. But I got called into work.” He set the bike down without breaking stride. “A man was found unresponsive off one of the trails. I’m the only paramedic close enough.”
Her heart pounded in her ears. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t. Sorry again to throw this on you at the last minute.”
“It’s fine,” Wren murmured. She’d told Cody he was always welcome to bring Mason home if something popped up. “You coming back for him tonight?”
“Can I let you know later?”
“Of course.” She stepped away, sensing his urgency to get on the road.
Mason climbed out and ran toward her, throwing his arms around her in a hug. “Mommy!”
She caught him, held on a beat longer than usual, and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Hey, Bug.”
He stared up at her with his big, blue eyes. “Can I ride my bike before soccer?”
Soccer. That was right. With everything going on, she’d nearly forgotten he had practice tonight.
“Sure, go ahead.”
She looked up and saw Cody already back behind the wheel, one arm out the window. “Thank you, Wren. I appreciate this.”
Then he was backing out of the driveway, gravel popping under the tires.
Wren watched his truck disappear around the bend before she let herself move again.
Seven years ago, Cody Weathers had been eighteen and about as ready for fatherhood as Wren had been for motherhood at seventeen—which was to say, not even a little. When her life had fallen apart, she’d run straight into Cody’s arms.
He’d been warm and uncomplicated, and when she was with him, she’d felt utterly unconcerned with any of the things she’d been raised to care about. She hadn’t been thinking about principles at that period of her life. She’d been thinking about not feeling anything at all.
Getting together with him had been a mistake. But Mason was not. Being a teen mom had been a challenge, for sure. But Wren loved her son with all her heart.
However, she did have to wonder sometimes . . . would her parents still be together if Wren hadn’t gotten pregnant? First, Christian had been abducted. But then her teen pregnancy had been an embarrassment for the family. Her parents had started fighting even more about what to do.
Cody had missed the first five years of Mason’s life mostly on purpose. He’d drifted through jobs and girlfriends and one DUI that had cost him six months of visitation.
Something had shifted in him the past few years. He’d stopped dating around the time he went back to school, and when Wren had asked him about it once he said he’d already done enough damage in that department. He’d gotten a steady job as a paramedic, and he had his own place now.
More than that, he’d fought for these weekends with his son. Wren still didn’t know if she trusted the change yet. But she couldn’t deny the fact that Mason lit up differently around Cody now.
Watching someone finally become the parent you’d needed—five years too late—was a strange thing. She didn’t know if she was supposed to feel gratitude or resentment. Most days it was both.
She looked over at Mason. Her son was already circling the driveway on his bike like nothing in the world had changed today. For him, it hadn’t.
For one unguarded second, everything felt normal—like this was just a Saturday, just her son doing the thing he loved best.
“You have an hour,” she called after him. “Then we need to get ready for soccer.”
Since it was just practice, she hadn’t planned on going tonight. But maybe getting out of the house for a couple of hours would be a good thing. She could use the breather, though she hated to leave her sisters right now.
“Okay!” Mason didn’t even slow down.
She lingered a moment longer as she watched her son. He rode the way Christian used to—with his arms out sometimes as if he were daring gravity.
The similarity didn’t bring her comfort. No, for some reason, it brought her fear.
Wren took one more glance at Mason, saw that he was okay, and then she let herself back into the house through the front door. Bo would keep an eye on Mason for her.
The weight of everything Nash had said still sat in her chest, and she hadn’t updated her sisters yet. She needed to.
Inside, she scanned the house for Christian but didn’t see him. He must still be upstairs, which meant the timing to update her sisters might be perfect. She didn’t want him to overhear.
She remembered seeing him watching her from his bedroom window and repressed a shudder.
It doesn’t mean anything. He was just looking outside.
Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Nora stood at the sink. She set the pan down she was washing and turned, dropping her voice low. “Well? What did he say?”
Marlowe rose from the couch and crept closer.
Wren took one more look at Mason riding his bike outside. He should be fine out there. The property was safe, and he rode his bike all the time on the long gravel driveway. Plus, Bo was with him. Not that he was a decent watchdog. If he saw a squirrel, he was pretty much good for nothing.
She watched another moment as Bo trotted dutifully beside Mason’s bike for all of twenty seconds. Then he veered after something in the grass.
Not surprising . . .
She turned back to her sisters and kept her voice soft. “Nash thinks we should document everything. And he thinks we should get a DNA test, sooner rather than later.”
“Where do we even get a DNA test done?” Marlowe asked. “It’s not like you can just walk into the clinic and ask for one. Right?”
“Someone authorized has to make the request,” Nora said. “If we’re trying to prove identity, at least. Otherwise, there are at home tests he could take.”
“So, we ask Christian to take the test,” Wren said. “That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?”
Nora leaned back against the counter, her arms crossed. “And if Christian won’t do it? If he says no?”
“Then that tells us something too.” Wren hadn’t thought that far ahead, but the words felt true.
Silence fell for a moment.
“Christian still up in his bedroom?” Wren finally asked, even though she thought she knew the answer.
“As far as I know.” Nora glanced toward the ceiling like she could see through it. “I’ve been listening for him.”
Just then, the quiet outside struck her.
She didn’t hear the gravel under small tires. No bell. No humming. No Bo barking.
Those were all normal sounds when Mason rode his bike.
It was probably nothing. But Wren needed to see for herself.
She crossed to the front door and yanked it open, scanning the driveway and the yard.
Mason was nowhere to be seen, however. She didn’t even see Bo.
Panic gripped her.
“Mason?” Her voice came out higher than she meant it to. “Mason, where’d you go?”
He didn’t answer.
She called his name again, louder this time.
But the only response was silence.