Page 97 of Falling for Brody

"Do you," he heard Rhea exhale, "I mean if this actually gets a hearing, he's going to have to know. They'd likely have to ask him about what he thinks. About me and how I'm raising him. Do you think I'm doing the right thing? Not telling him?"

Brody blew out a breath. "I don't know."

He heard her exhale and a sigh as she leaned her head against the window. "I don't know either. That's what's killing me."

She went quiet again.

"I shouldn't say that. Talking about death like it's... just another topic of conversation."

"Can I ask?" Brody looked over at her. "About how-"

"How we lost Charles?"

"Yeah." He barely heard his answer. It came out from his throat, but it was barely a whisper.

"He had a heart attack at work." Her voice was steady, but her hands were wringing in her lap. "One day he went out the door, kissing me goodbye and saying he'd see me at home later. He gave Chip a hug and kissed him all over his face before setting him into my arms. He got into his car and drove away.

"A few hours later I got a call telling me that he was dead. I almost laughed, thinking it was a cruel joke, but I could feel it. An empty hole gnawing through my middle. It felt like the floor dropped out from under me and I don't know how long I was sitting there until I came to. Tears rolling down my cheeks. The only thing that made me feel like I was alive was Chip. Even though I tried desperately to hold myself together, all it took was seeing his smiling face and hearing his laughter.

"Because of him I was able to get up every day. Put food in my belly. And go to my job. I was missing a whole part of me, but Chip was there. He needed to eat. To play. To live. And I did it, too. For him."

"And you decided to move because of his family?"

Rhea smiled at the billboard on the side of the road advertising another tourism center.

"I thought that they'd realize what they'd lost. That they'd come around and Chip could have someone who could tell him about his father. But once his paychecks stopped, and the money to them stopped, we only heard from them once.

"A call where I could barely hear my own thoughts. After I answered, all they did was yell at me. Who did I think I was? They were his real family. They demanded that I keep paying them since Charles had agreed to do it. To help them."

Brody looked up in the rear view and put on the signal before moving to the right lane.

A moment later, a Highway Patrol car rushed by.

Brody looked at her. "The left lane has a few people camped in it. I had to let him by."

She smiled. "I get it. I work with you, remember."

He nodded, smiling as he continued to drive.

"So, what did you tell them?"

She sighed. "I told them that now I only had one income and I'd been using my pay all along to pay for us. To keep a roof over our head and food on the table. I was lucky that I'd already had insurance from my job."

He grinned. "One of the benefits working in the medical field, right?"

"Yeah. It was a lifeline. They even offered me more shifts, longer hours, but-"

"You had Chip, and he needed you."

"Yes." She turned to him and smiled. "That's why I didn't take the extra hours or the shifts. Then money was also becoming a problem. We had a mortgage, and it was a pretty decent sized check every month. I could have kept it if..."

"But you wanted to be there for Chip."

"Well, that I needed him. I needed that face and those eyes. I needed to feel his love and see him thriving. He was and will be my heart."

Brody reached out his arm and covered her hands with his. "He's a special kid."

Rhea nodded, her gaze staring out the window at the passing trees. "I hope that the move was the right thing to do. That's my job now. To make sure he's good."

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