At her words, something tugged at my heart. "Do you know why?"
"According to Brody, Mason wanted her to grow up in a stable home rather than being shuttled from place to place."
"You mean among the three brothers?"
"Or worse," Arden said. "She could've ended up with strangers. The way I hear it, Mason had to fight pretty hard to keep her out of the system."
As I listened, Arden went on to explain that Mason had been looking out for all of them for as long as Brody could remember. Even in grade school, Mason had been the one who'd made sure that his brothers went to school and did their homework, and that they had clean clothes and food in their lunch bags.
As I took all of this in, my heart nearly broke for all of them, Mason in particular.
WhenI'dbeen in grade school, I'd been a regular kid. It was true that we didn't always have a lot of money, but we did have a lot of love, and I never had to worry about the big things.
Looking back, my parents probably worried enough for all of us. And yet, they never shoved any of those burdens onto us kids.
I asked, "But what about their mom.Shewas there, right?"
"Well, the way it sounds, she wasn't home much, even before her so-called vacation."
Arden then went on to tell me that their mom had done her own share of disappearing – sometimes for hours, sometimes for days – while Mason kept the family from falling apart.
By the time I left Arden's place to pick up Willow from school, I was seeing Mason in a whole new light.
No wonder he was so serious.
Had he had a childhood at all?
To think, the guy wasn't yet thirty years old, but he'd been acting as a stand-in parent for nearly twenty years now. And, as far as I could tell, he never complained – well, not about that anyway.
And yet, hedidhave a way of surprising me, especially later that night when he read my dreaded report.
Chapter 26
Cami
In the dimly lit kitchen, Mason said, "I've got a question."
He wasn't the only one.Like right now, I was questioning why on Earth I'd chosen to get up for a bottle of water at two in the morning when I could've simply stuck my face under the tap in my private bathroom.
Sure, it would've been undignified, but not half as undignified as I felt now, standing in Mason's kitchen, wearing pajama pants, a thin tank top, and pink fuzzy slippers.
But in my own defense, the encounter with Mason hadn't been planned. Until now, I hadn't even realized that he was home. Earlier tonight, after picking up Willow from school, I'd received a text from him saying that he wouldn’t be home for dinner, and that he'd see us in the morning.
At the time, I'd figured this meant that he had overnight plans. Whether those plans were for business or pleasure, I hadn't wanted to speculate, mostly because the thought of him pleasuringanyonewas too unsettling to consider.
But now, here he was, standing in the kitchen, wearing the same business suit he'd been wearing this morning, before leaving for work.
And of course, he looked just as amazing as ever.
Oh sure, there was new stubble along his jawline, and his tailored suit had a few new creases here and there.But man oh man, he was still something to look at.
His shoulders were broad, and his hips were narrow. His hair wasn't quite as perfect as it had been this morning, but it was still thick and dark, framing his rugged face as we stood alone in the quiet kitchen.
In a low voice, he said, "And you wanna know what it is?"
I blinked. "Whatwhatis?"
"The question."
