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Kaleb’s probably still with him.
I bite my lip. Maybe it is time to get out.
“I should probably get out,” I say, sitting up.
“You sure? Don’t let him rush you. Besides, it never hurts to make a man wait.” She grins.
I laugh at her words. “I’ll try to remember that.”
Standing, she moves, the towel waiting on the vanity. “He always has been a charmer, that boy. Hadto be, I guess.” Her last few words barely float over to me, muttered so low.
In the mirror, I catch sight of her wiping away a stray tear.
“I’m so glad he found you.” Her voice wavers, and our eyes lock in the reflection. “He’s the baby I always worried about. Sam is social and outgoing. Kaleb, well, he was a troubled teen, but he was older than Michael and Daniel had been when they first arrived, and he knows people. He’s cheeky and charming. Daniel doesn’t need that kind of love, at least not before he met Charlie. But Michael . . .” She shakes her head.
Sniffling, Helen wets her lips. “Michael’s whole world is his brother. He loves us, and I know that, but Michael’s whole life has been about filling a debt and caring for Daniel however he could.”
She turns, giving me the same soft look as when she cradled my face earlier. “I just wanted more for him.”
Just like earlier, I tell her, “We’re not like that.”
“You will be.”
I don’t argue because I’m not sure what Michael and I will be after tonight.
“Let’s get you out of that bath so your man can tuck you into bed, huh?” she asks, shaking out a large bath towel.
Her words nudge at me until I can’t help but say, “I’m not sure he wants to be my man.”
Leaning my hip on the counter, I slowly dry offone-handed while Helen rubs the end of my hair, gently running her fingers through the damp strands as she goes. “He’s never brought a girl home before.”
“He didn’t bring me. Sam did.”
“True.” She nods. “Something her father and I are punishing her for,” she adds quickly.
And Kaleb will.But I keep the thought to myself.
“I have known Michael since he was seven years old, yet I’ve never seen him look at someone the way he just did. Never heard one of his brothers refer to someone as his girl either.”
“That was just Kaleb joking.” I shrug.
“Maybe,” she agrees, helping me step into some red pajama bottoms.
“Why else would he ask Kaleb to carry me up here and not do it himself?”
Pulling the tank top over my head, I don’t sense the shift in the room until I see Helen’s face.
Her lips have thinned, and she won’t look at me. Instead, she fusses with the towel, releases the tub plug, and lets the water out.
“Helen?”
Her whole body stills, her back facing me. “It’s not my place.”
“Is it something I need to know?” I ask, panicked. This woman was just insisting her son was interested. Why has she clammed up now?
Wrapping her arm around my waist, we slowly make our way to the door. Just as she’s about to open it, Helen pauses. “Michael doesn’t like to be touched.”
I frown. “He touched me.” Hearing how that sounds, I rush to add, “Before I mean, outside.”
