“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good. And now apologize to Ian for snapping at him.”
I huffed but turned towards Ian, who looked at us with raised eyebrows. “I’m sorry, I snapped at you, Ian.”
“It’s okay. I understand that this situation is not easy.” Ian smiled, and then he leaned forward. “You need more people in your corner, Henry. You can’t deal with this alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have Caden.”
A tap on my leg had me looking at Caden. “You need friends, too. And what about Ava?”
Oh my God. I hadn’t thought about my aunt. “No. No, we can’t tell her. I’m not going to tell her. She’s in Europe, and I don’t want to ruin her holiday.”
“She’s your aunt, Henry. She deserves to know.”
“No. Miles is about to propose to her. If she knows, she’s going to insist on coming back and then Miles can’t propose, and he wanted to do it in Paris and…” Gently, Caden put his finger on my lips, and I stopped talking.
“Fine. We won’t tell her. For now. But you will tell her when she’s back, okay?”
“Okay.”
I could live with that. It would still be wrong to tell her that Robert was about to walk free, but it was a better choice than to call her now. Maybe, there was no need to tell her at all. Maybe…I turned back to Ian.
“What’s going to happen at that hearing? Is there a chance that they keep him locked away?”
“It’s a hearing, that means people will speak on his behalf and yours.”
“Mine? But I’m officially dead.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t speak for you,” Ian explained. “I know that the DA who worked on your case will be there. The cop who was first at the crime scene. The doctor from the hospital in Pinewood. And a Collin O’Rourke came forward as well.”
“Collin…”
I blinked and tried to remember the young boy, who was my first real friend. He lived just a mile or so through the woods. We were both strolling through the woods when we met. We were twelve. He was the first kid I’d ever seen, who didn’t live on the compound. For two years, we’d meet in the woods whenever we could. Collin brought me books from the real world. We talked about the differences between our families. He told me what his parents said about my family, and I shared what my family thought about outsiders. He opened my eyes and showed me a different point of view. He never pushed or said I was wrong. Collin was also my first kiss, which happened two days before I decided to get away from my family.
“He…he’s going to speak up for me?”
“Yes.” Ian nodded, and his lips formed a sad smile. “I spoke to the DA. Collin approached the DA and said that he was your best friend and that he knows why Robert…did what he did. He told the DA that he would do everything to make sure that Robert pays for what he did to you. He said that he still misses you and that someone should speak up for you. Someone who cared about you.”
“Oh.”
We were only fourteen when all the crap happened. To know that he cared about me…he must have been devastated when I died. I swallowed hard and tried to blink back tears. During the time where my family thought that I was finally old enough to learn everything about camaraderie, white supremacy, how to fight, or defend myself, Collin had been the only good thing in my life. For the first time in years, I thought about him and wondered what had happened to him. Was he happy? Did he still live in Pinewood? Did he ever get over the grief of losing me? The rest of Ian’s visit passed over my head as I mulled over my past.
Later that day, when Caden and I lay snuggled up in bed, Charlie curled up on his stomach, Caden gently turned my face so I could look at him.
“Tell me about Collin.”
“I don’t know what to say about him.”
“You seemed heartbroken when Ian mentioned him.”
Heartbroken? Yeah, maybe I was. Collin had been my first and only real friend. My first kiss and the first man I had feelings for. How could a person not be heartbroken when you lose that special connection?
“We met playing in the woods surrounding the compound. He was exploring and wanted a closer look at the compound. At first, he feared me because everyone had warned him about the people living there. But then he gave me a chance, and we became great friends…he taught me everything he learned in school. He brought me books about the holocaust and how it ended. He brought me books about all sorts of topics that my family thought were wrong. He…he showed me the world beyond the compound.”
“I’m sorry that you lost him.”
“I wish I could tell him that I’m alive. I wish I could make his grief go away.” Sighing, I cuddled closer into Caden's side, and that got me a kiss on the head. “I wish we could be friends again.”
Caden let me lean into his side and signed, “I’m sorry, that you can’t do that.” Caden kissed me again, and then he was quiet for a moment before he signed, “You still can have friends, Henry. Not Collin, but what about Sam? Or Josh? You need someone right now.”
Caden laid his finger on my lips and shook his head when I opened my mouth to reply that I had him.
“Not your Daddy, Baby Boy. Someone just for you. Think about it, if I mess up, who are you going to talk to about it?” Smart Daddy. He knew what I was going to say.
“You would never mess up.” Nope. Never. Yeah, ok, I admit that I knew that it was only a matter of time before he messed up and that Caden wasn’t a unicorn Daddy. But I wanted to believe that
