Emma nodded. “It’s all right. I talked to her, and I think she’s too tired to be too mad.”
“I wouldn’t lay even money on that.” Hayden left before his mother could complain about how a child his age shouldn’t know about gambling and odds. The walk down the short hallway seemed like an eternity to him. He knew in his heart Cain wouldn’t be mad. He didn’t need confirmation from Emma about that. No, the woman lying in intensive care wouldn’t be mad; she’d be disappointed, and to him that was worse. Anger would almost be easier to deal with.
They stared at each other in silence when Hayden reached the doorway of Cain’s room. Cain visually scoured his body, making sure he was as fine as Mook had told her. “Come in and close the door.” Her voice was rough from emotion.
“I’m sorry.” Hayden stared at the now-closed door, his back to her.
“What are you sorry for?”
“For disappointing you.”
“Hayden, come here, please.” She held her hand up as high as she could manage, mentally cursing how weak she felt. “I’m not disappointed in you, son. Maybe I should be, but I’m so glad you’re all right and whole that I don’t care about the rest.”
“But you wouldn’t have made the same mistake.”
“I’m not perfect, my boy, no matter what my mother thought.”
The joke got him to sit on the bed.
“You made a mistake out of anger, which means you’re a lot like me. You’re still young, but with a few years under your belt you’ll come to realize anger and love are the two strongest emotions, and they’ll make you do strange things.”
“I just got mad you didn’t tell me about Hannah.”
Cain nodded, trying to find the right words to proceed. “Were you shocked to find out you had a sister?”
Hayden cocked his head to the side a little, much like Cain did when someone asked her something she considered idiotic. “That’s not a serious question, is it?”
“Yes, it’s a serious question. One I want an answer to.”
“Of course I was shocked.” Hayden threw his hands in the air as if to accentuate his point.
“Then imagine how I felt.”
“But I thought—”
“You didn’t have to think anything, son, because this was something I had to come to terms with on my own. But you can’t think I knew all along and didn’t tell you?”
Cain watched as anger replaced the confusion in Hayden’s eyes. “She never told you?”
“My relationship with your mother is a little different from yours, so let’s not confuse the issue here. What we’re talking about is my relationship with you and the trust that entails. But just so you know, I’m not angry with your mom over what happened. True, she walked to the precipice of a major decision, but in the end someone pushed her off that cliff more than she chose to jump of her own free will. Punishment for those standing behind her will come in time.”
“You don’t blame her at all?”
Cain looked past Hayden to the door that had opened slightly. If her answer was totally honest, Emma would never have a chance in the boy’s life; she knew him well enough to know. “No, I don’t.” The lie was a gift to the woman standing there listening.
“Is everything all right?” asked Emma.
Hayden turned and stared at her but stayed silent. He was young, but he wasn’t a fool. Loyalty was as important to Cain as love. When his mother deserted them both, she had cut deep. Those types of wounds were hard to recover from, and he accepted Cain’s fib for what it was—an invitation for him to know the woman who had left him behind, but hadn’t forgotten him.
“We’re fine, but we’re not done,” said Cain to Emma. The door clicked closed. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, I promise. He just kept me locked in a room the whole time.” His eyes never wavered from hers. “I think he weighed actually having me to what you’d do to him if he hurt me. You won out.”
The laugh that rumbled up from Cain’s chest was cut short by the stabbing pain of the gunshot wound. “If you’ve already figured everything out, then what do you think I should do to you for landing in Bracato’s hands in the first place?”
“You should show some of that vast capacity for forgiveness you’ve shown Emma?” As extra incentive Hayden held up his crossed fingers and smiled.
“That’s one route, but I hope you figured out what the lesson here was?”
The boy opened his mouth to answer, but Cain lifted a couple of fingers in an effort to silence him.
“Anger, in and of itself, is a good thing, within reason, but it will be your greatest enemy if you don’t learn to control it. You let your anger for me and your mother control your actions, and it made you an easy target.” Cain was starting to get tired, and the pain in her chest was getting bad enough to make beads of sweat break out on her forehead, but this was important to her. “No matter what you do with your life, you’ll be my son and I’ll love you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know and I’m sorry.”
“Again, what are you sorry for?”
“For disappointing you.”
