“Oh my God!”
“His what?”
“What did you just say?”
“Holy shit!”
All four of my daughters-in-law sounded off at the same time, shock written all over their faces. I looked around the staff meeting room of the shelter as they took in what I’d just shared with them and nodded.
“Yes, Lewis Greene actually turned out to be Robert Senior’s illegitimate son. But …” I waved my hands in the air, dismissively, “that’s not my part of the story to tell. Besides, we all have work to do, ladies.”
“Wait, what happened to this brother?” Destiny questioned.
“Yeah. Is he still around? How come we’ve never heard of him?” Michelle asked.
I shook my head adamantly. “Sorry, ladies, I cannot reveal parts of the story that are not mine to tell.”
“We won’t tell anyone,” Patience added.
“Right? If there’s anyone you can trust with a secret, it’s us. Right, ladies?” Kayla insisted.
I giggled at all of the other women nodding and agreeing with Kayla.
“I trust you ladies with the most precious things I’ve ever gifted the planet with. My boys’ hearts.” I looked around the room at the women I loved like daughters. “But I’m not telling that part of the story!” I giggled.
“Maybe Robert’s shared it with the guys. I’ll get it out of my husband tonight, if he has,” Michelle mumbled.
I shook my head. We were all just finishing up a lunch meeting on a Saturday afternoon. The women had come by, dropped all of the kiddos off at the seven-day-a-week daycare we offered at the shelter, and brought cartons of delicious Chinese food from a local restaurant for us to eat while we strategized.
So far, the soft opening of the shelter had garnered wonderful results. We already had three families staying in our full-time apartments, a number of mothers enrolled in our parenting classes, daycare, and back-to-work programs. There’d been two glowing articles written about us in the newspaper and on the websites of the local press. We were rolling along, and I couldn’t be happier.
“Fine. I’m going to teach my intro to personal finance class to a group of teens today. I’m so excited,” Destiny began. “I think I’ll bring Annalise to class with me so she can learn, too.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “She’s barely nine months.”
Destiny shrugged. “Never too young to start. If Tyler can have Travis and Tristan drooling over those damn Nerf balls, I can have my baby girl understanding the importance of index funds before she begins the first grade.”
The other women in the room laughed as we went about cleaning up and heading in different directions to our respective offices.
However, just before she exited, I caught Patience at the door.
“I wanted to talk to you,” I stated, closing the door, so it was just she and I.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Is this about the grant application? Was it returned?”
I quickly shook my head to wipe the worried expression from her face.
“This is about a personal matter.” I moved to the loveseat that sat against the far wall of the room, patting the empty space next to me for Patience to sit.
Once she did, I began, “Robert and I both noticed some tension between you and Aaron the other night. For the last few weeks, really.” I held up my hand to stop whatever she was about to say. “I know, I know. No one wants a meddling mother-in-law. And for the most part, I know well enough to stay out of my boys’ relationships. You all will work it out, how you see fit. I just thought I might be able to offer some perspective.”
Patience sighed. “He’s being so damned stubborn.”
I laughed. “He’s a Townsend, what else is new?”
She shook her head. “I know but this is different.”
I lowered my gaze to see her hand pressed against her stomach. A mother’s natural instinct to protect her child.
