“I’m leaving, Tristan. Brett should be home a little later.”
“Thanks for taking me to the police station. I had a fun day.”
“Me too. Although I’m a newbie at being an aunt, you’re making it easy.”
Tristan squirmed, tapping his foot on the footrest. “You remind me of my mom.”
“I do?”
“She was pretty, like you. And she listened to me.”
Morgan placed her chin on her fist and studied her nephew. There were moments he was all kid…all boy, and yet others he reminded her of a pint-sized adult. She suspected it had a lot to do with his upbringing.
Neither Jeff nor Tristan had elaborated on what his home life had been like, but based on snippets of what she’d overheard and been told by her grandmother, Addison Blakely made her living using her looks, meaning the child may have been exposed to some adult situations. She hoped not.
Not long after discovering Tristan was Brett’s son, her brother, grandmother and she had made a pact that they would create a stable home environment, one where the child was free from worrying about who might be in his life. Instead, he could simply focus on being a kid.
“What a nice compliment, Tristan. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you these past several days. I hope you’ll decide to live here at Easton Estate for a very long time.”
“I still get sad.”
“Because you miss your mom.” Morgan placed a gentle arm around his shoulder. “It’s okay to be sad once in a while. I still miss my mom, even after all this time.”
“I miss my Uncle Jeff too.”
“Maybe you should call him.”
“I talked to him last night before I went to bed. He’s going to come and see me as soon as he can.”
“I’m sure he will.”
Tristan slid off the barstool. “I’m gonna go paint in my room.”
With a heavy heart, Morgan watched him take the back stairs leading to the upper level.
“Poor kid.” Mrs. Arnsby tsk-tsked. “He goes from bouncing off the walls to being down in the dumps.”
“Grief is an emotional roller coaster. One minute you feel fine and the next you’re bawling your eyes out. I’m sure he misses his uncle. To be honest, we’re all strangers in a strange place no matter how you look at it.”
“You’ve helped immensely, taking him under your wing.”
“Because we share a lot of the same emotions, both of us losing our moms.” Morgan tapped out a quick text to her brother, asking when he was returning to Easton Estate.
His reply was prompt. An unexpected issue had come up, and he wouldn’t be able to return until the following morning. “Crud. Brett won’t be back until tomorrow.”
The cook placed a glass cover on top of the cake. “Would you like to join us for dinner? We’re having Yooper pasties and my homemade chicken noodle soup.”
“As tempting as it sounds, and you know how much I love both, it’s our girl’s night out. Ariel, Grace, Quinn and I signed upfor a shattered glass class at Elin’s bakery. It’s something new she’s trying to drum up business, and we’re going to support her.”
“Shattered glass? It sounds intriguing.”
“We’ll be eating decadent treats while we create.” Morgan patted her stomach. “My plan is to go heavy on conjuring up my creative muse and light on the pastries.”
The back door slammed, and Jax appeared. “Hello, Morgan. I saw you out flying Tristan’s drone.”
“More like getting it hung up in the tree.”
“Have you talked to Wyatt in the last hour?”
