Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family, #7)(10)

We still hadn’t told Noah all about his uncle, so he had no idea that we were expecting him to show up shortly. Since my mother had heard of our news, she insisted on taking the girls for the night, giving us time to deal with whatever may happen.

Savanna took a break and gathered everything for me to take over to my mother’s house. Of course, Noah started asking questions right away as to why he couldn’t stay with her.

I think Savanna would have liked to have time to think about what she wanted to say to Noah. Unfortunately, he was too nosey to wait and be calm about it. We sat him down in the kitchen across from both of us. I held my hand on Savanna’s knee knowing how worried she was about it. “Dad says that you have to talk to me. I knew my teacher was goin’ to call. I didn’t do anything. It was Billy.”

I looked at my wife and lifted my eyebrows. “Boy, what are you talkin’ about?”

“I didn’t put the gum in Lisa’s hair. Billy did it and told the teacher that it was me.”

I put my hands over my face and took a few deep breaths. “That’s not what we need to talk to you about, Noah. Me and your mom have somethin’ that we need to tell you and it’s important that you listen.”

Noah folded his hands and looked right at me. “So, I’m not in trouble?”

Savanna held out her hands and reached for his. He gave them to her and also turned to give her all of his attention. “Sweetie, do you remember talking about your birth mother?”

“Yeah. Her picture is in my room.”

“Did you know that you had an uncle?” Savanna looked over at me, like she wanted to know she was going about this the right way. I winked at her, but felt just as uncomfortable as she did. Noah was mine and after not knowing that I had a son for his first three years of life, I wasn’t sure I wanted to share him. I realized how selfish I was being, but it was the truth.

“I have lots of uncles,” Noah replied.

“No, not them. Your birth mother had a brother. He lives really far away and we haven’t heard from him since before you were born.” Savanna was doing a good job.

“Why not? Didn’t he know I was alive?”

“Yes, buddy. He knew your mother gave birth to you. He was just trying to make a life for himself and couldn’t get back to get to know you. When your mother passed away, you were brought to us. I never heard one word from your uncle until last week.” Noah needed to know the whole truth, except it was hard to explain to a kid his age that someone isn’t a good role model, especially when they were famous.

“Why did he call you? How come he didn’t just call me?”

“Because I am your father and he knew he’d have to get in touch with me to set up a time to come and visit.”

“He’s that guy from the other day, right?” Noah played with his fingers while we talked. I knew he was curious and I couldn’t blame him. Family was always the most important thing to me, so naturally he would think that this was a good thing.

“Yeah. He’s that guy.”

“He looks weird.” He’d only seen him clothed. After looking at Savanna’s magazines, I was even afraid of what he may have under cover.

“He lives a different kind of lifestyle than we do. Your uncle is into music. He’s in a band.” Right away I saw Noah’s eye light up. This news excited him and I could feel the pull of losing him starting to take place.

“Is he on the radio? Is he famous?” My son was now leaning into the table, hanging on my every word.

“Yes.”

He ran over and grabbed his IPod. “What does he sing? I need to download the songs to my playlist.

Savanna and I looked at each other and I could tell she was starting to freak out. “Your uncle is in a grown up band. They are uncensored and it isn’t appropriate for someone your age.” She explained it exactly how she should have.

Noah got an agitated look on his face. He tossed his IPod on the table. “Forget it then!”

“Don’t treat your belongings like that, Noah. We will not buy you a new one if you break it!” I wasn’t taking his attitude because he couldn’t do something that he wanted.

“It’s not fair!”

“How about you meet your uncle tonight and spend some time with him? I’m sure he will be willing to sign things, so that you can share them with your friends.” It was all I could think to offer him. Dealing with someone his age wasn’t exactly easy. They wanted to act like they were grown up, but had no idea how to do it properly.

“Does he live in a mansion? I bet he has a tennis court. Will his band be here for dinner too?”

“Go get your chores done and you can ask him all about it when he gets here.” Savanna had finally had enough of Noah’s excitement. I was clenching my jaw the whole time myself, so I couldn’t imagine how frustrated she was.

We watched Noah run out of the kitchen before we said anything to each other. I reached my arm around my wife and kissed her cheek. “It’s goin’ to be fine, darlin’.”

She started to cry. “You don’t know that, Colt. Our son is going to be so caught up in this guy. You know how he gets.”

I wiped the tear making its way down her cheek. “It’s for one night. Then he will be out of our lives and probably never call again.”