“I think I’d like that,” Eli said, wondering how Gena kept up with this little bundle of energy. He always had another adventure to share. “I’ve never built a snowman before.”
“Honest?” Scotty gave him a look of disbelief. “Why not?”
“Well, we don’t get much snow down in Louisiana.”
“I’m learning my states,” Scotty said, moving on to another subject. “But where’s Lous-anna?”
“It’s Louisiana,” Gena corrected from her spot in front of the stove.
Eli gave Scotty an indulgent smile. He’d been careful not to give out information unless the kid asked. “It’s near Texas and the southern part is right on the Gulf of Mexico. That’s where I grew up.”
“That’s big water,” Scotty said with a bob of his head.
Eli watched as the kid’s hair bounced and bobbed, too. “It is big water, very big. I go shrimpin’ in the Gulf a lot whenever I’m home.”
“You don’t stay home much?”
Eli shook his head. “No, not much. I’ve been away a long time now. But I might go back soon.”
“Maybe one day I can come and visit you,” Scotty said on a pragmatic note. “In the summer.”
Gena shot Eli a warning look tinged with fear. Although she seemed to trust him more and more each day, Eli wasn’t fooled. She was still afraid he’d steal her son away in the middle of the night.
“It gets real hot in Louisiana in the summer,” Eli replied, ever careful with his choice of answers. “But you’d be welcome at my door anytime, for sure.”
“I could help you catch shrimp.”
Eli nodded. “My maman used to say ‘Les petites mains fait bien avec les petits ouvrages.’ Little hands do well with little tasks.”
Scotty giggled. “You talk funny.”
Gena placed another batch of pancakes on the table, then sat down. “Eli is Cajun, Scotty, so he’s speaking French. His ancestors left Nova Scotia, Canada, and went all the way to Louisiana many years ago.”
“From one big ocean to another one,” Eli said, his eyes meeting Gena’s. “But that’s a long story.”
“Cool,” Scotty said, draining his milk. “I know where Canada is. We’re near there.”
“For sure,” Eli replied. “One day, I’ll tell you all about my Cajun ancestors. People get the wrong impression about us, so I like to set the record straight.” He gave Gena a long hard look on that note, hoping she’d try to change her impressions of him. Not that he was making it easy on her. But he had tried to back off and play nice.
Scotty looked confused. “Whatcha talking about?”
“I like to tell people about my culture—the good and bad of it,” Eli explained. “It’s not all about wrestling ’gators and talking funny, although I do both.” He winked, then grinned. “Never met a ’gator I couldn’t wrestle.”
Scotty’s dark eye grew wide. “Have you wrestled a really big one?”
“Not more than six feet or so.”
Scotty’s gaze filled with wonder. “Wow.”
Gena put her hand under her chin and gave him a skeptical look. “I didn’t peg you for being so open, Eli. Or so modest.” Her sarcasm was cute and he was getting used to this friendly banter even if it was mostly for his son’s benefit.
He leaned close, pasting on his best charming smile. “Well, maybe you had me pegged all wrong, oui?”
Scotty looked from his mother to Eli. “How’d you guys meet?”
“By accident,” Eli said, seamless and simple.
“How long you gonna stay?”
Eli gave Gena a determined stare. “Well, now, that depends on a whole lot of things.”
Scotty sat still for a minute. “What do you do, Mr. Eli? For work?”
Gena’s head came up and the gloves came off as she stared daggers of warning at him. She’d made it clear in their conversations that she did not want her son involved in CHAIM in any way. And Eli couldn’t blame her.
“I do all kinds of things to make a living,” Eli said, careful to choose the right words. “I travel a lot and help people in trouble.”
“Are we in trouble? I mean you’ve stayed with us longer than most of our other visitors.”
Gena stood and took Scotty’s empty plate. “No, we’re not in trouble, but you will be if you’re late for school. Go brush your teeth and get your coat.”
Scotty got up but stopped in front of Eli. “Are you riding to school with us again?”
“I just might,” Eli said. “If it’s okay with your mom.” He’d already insisted it be okay. He’d made it his business to help get Scotty to school and home each day since that first morning. His fear of trouble had easily overcome his fear of being a father. Or at least, he kept telling himself that.
Gena shrugged. “You’ve been with us every day this week and today is the last day. Why break tradition?”
Eli gave her an appreciative nod, hoping that would cover his real motives.
Scotty pumped his fist. “Will you be here when I get home? To help me with the snowman, remember?”
Eli swallowed, glanced across at Gena. “I’ll be right here.”
Then he watched as Scotty left the room. “Mon petit garçon,” he said, shaking his head. “My little boy.”
Gena turned away to stare out the big window behind the sink. Eli could see the ocean churning off in the distance beyond her. He felt that same intense churning inside his stomach.
“What are we going to do, Eli? We can’t just stay here in limbo forever.”
He got up and came to her, his hand tentative on her arm. “I won’t do anything…to upset him. I understand that now. I can’t do anything to hurt him. I wouldn’t.”
She turned, her eyes misty and big and searching. “You’ve been great these last few days, but are you sure about that?”
Like ice in the sun, his bitter heart melted just a fraction more. “Very sure. I’m not so cold and uncaring that I’d hurt a child…or his mother either, for that matter.” He looked down at his boots. “And I told you, I’m sorry about…scaring you that first night. I haven’t exactly been trained in the social graces and, funny, there’s nothing in the rule books about how to handle finding out you’re a father.”
“Good, because I can’t let you stay here and get close to him if it means he’ll be hurt or confused in any way. And I can’t—I won’t—let you take him away from me. That would hurt me. That would destroy me.”
“Then we have a big problem,” he said as he backed away. “I have a legal right to him, but you are his true mother and I can’t do that—separate a child from his mother. We’re at an impasse, chère.”
“Yes, we are, but we’ll talk about it later.” She whirled past him. “I have to take him to school and then I have to make sure our young couple got settled in yesterday.”
“You’re not taking him to school without me,” Eli reminded her, grabbing his coat. Even though he and Gena had reached a truce, he wasn’t letting them out of his sight again. Protecting both of them had become his new mission and that meant watching over them for as long as Gena would allow him to do so.
Because he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t