“Come here,” I say, “and tell me what happened to your face.” I eye Cade. “You too.”
The look in Cade’s eyes tells me all I need to know. These two have been fighting a lot lately, and Cade often escalates their arguments to a physical fight. Out of our boys, Cade is his father’s son, whereas Travis has more of me in him. He’ll fight when pushed, but he prefers not to.
The one thing that Travis is exactly like his father in, though, is his refusal to dob on his brother. His brother may annoy him often, but he’s loyal to the end.
They both come to me, but neither offer an explanation.
I run my gaze over Travis’s face, immediately noting the gash on his forehead. It’s nasty, but it won’t require a trip to thedoctor. Thank God because I don’t have it in me to pack the kids up and take them anywhere, let alone to a busy doctors surgery where we’d probably have to wait hours to get looked at.
Tatum’s phone rings and she steps away to take the call while I deal with my boys.
Crouching, I eye them both. “One of you better start talking, and whatever you tell me better be the truth.”
“I tripped over,” Travis says.
I arch my brows. “Tripped?”
He nods.
“Over what?” I ask.
He points at a rock. “Over that.”
The rock is big enough for this to be true, but I don’t believe that this injury came from simply tripping over.
I look at Cade. “Is that what happened?”
He shrugs.
I love my son, but that defiant shrug of his frustrates me. It’s something he’s started doing a lot lately. “Answer me, Cade. What really happened?”
He shrugs again and says, “He tripped.”
I glance between them. “No, I don’t think he did, and until one of you tells me the truth, there won’t be any more playing out here.”
“That’s not fair!” Cade says angrily, knowing what I mean. He and his brother will go to their rooms until they answer me honestly.
“It is fair, Cade.” I stand and look at Travis while nodding my head towards the house. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Cade scrunches his face into an angry scowl before stomping into the house ahead of me and Travis.
Tatum meets me on the way. “I’ve gotta go. Is Travis okay?”
I nod. “Yeah. I’m going to clean him up and then send him to his room until dinner.” Experience tells me that’s how long it willtake for the boys to start talking. What’s also highly likely is that it’ll take their father coming home and sorting this out for me.
“Thanks for today,” she says. “We need to have an annual Christmas baking day every year.”
“I agree. And maybe next year I’ll send the kids to Mum’s for the day.” When she laughs, I say, “Honestly, they’re lucky to still be alive.”
“It’s the heat, Lil. It drives us all a little insane.”
“Trust me, it’s not just the heat. Cade has been stirring Travis up a lot lately. I think King needs to have a big talk with him tonight. He’s almost ten and knows better.”
She pulls me in for a hug. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow night.”
I nod. Devil and Hailee are having a Christmas party at their place. “See you there.”
She grabs her baked goods from the kitchen and leaves while I direct Travis into the bathroom.
