Russell scowled. “I can’t believe you’re encouraging Matt, Tyler. He never listens to anyone but you. That child adores both of you, and neither of you has any sense where she’s concerned.” He manfully refrained from adding that Rebecca was a washout as a mother. “I hope to hell you don’t have her swimming in the ocean.”
“Maybe Russell’s right, Matt.” Tyler sounded a bit worried. “Jaxon’s a little trouper with the heart of a lion, but maybe we push her too much. And I had no idea you were allowing her to cook for Rebecca. That could be dangerous.”
“Someone has to do it.” Matt shrugged his wide shoulders. “Jaxon knows what she’s doing. When I’m not home, she knows very well she’s responsible for Rebecca’s care. And now we have little Mathew Jr. And just for your information, Jaxx is a good swimmer already.”
“Are you listening to yourself, Matt?” Russell demanded. “Jaxon is a child, a five-year-old—a baby. Rebecca! For God’s sake, you’re her mother.” As usual, neither parent responded to anything they didn’t want to hear. Matt treated Rebecca like a porcelain doll. Neither paid much attention to their daughter. Exasperated, Russell appealed to Matt’s best friend. “Tyler, tell them.”
Tyler nodded slowly in agreement. “You shouldn’t put so much pressure on her, Matt. Jaxon is an exceptional child, but she’s still a child.” His eyes were on the small girl waving and smiling. Without another word he got up and began striding toward the tower where the little girl was calling to him persistently.
*****
Jaxon, Seven years old
Florida, USA
The screams coming from her mother’s room were horrible to hear. Rebecca was inconsolable. Bernice, Russell Andrews’s wife, had called the doctor to administer tranquilizers. Jaxx put her hands over her ears to try to muffle the terrible sounds of grief. Mathew Jr. had been crying for some time in his room, and it was obvious her mother was not going to go to her son. Jaxon wiped at the steady stream of tears falling from her own eyes, lifted her chin, and went across the hall to her brother’s room.
“Don’t cry, Mattie,” she crooned softly, lovingly. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m here now. Mommy is very upset about Daddy, but we can get through this if we stick together. You and me. We’ll get Mommy through it, too.”
Uncle Tyler had come to their house with two other officers and informed Rebecca that her husband would never be coming home again. Something had gone terribly wrong on their last mission. Rebecca had not stopped screaming since.
*****
Jaxon, Eight years old
“How is she today, honey?” Tyler asked softly, stooping to kiss Jaxon on the cheek. He laid a bouquet of flowers down on the table and turned his attention to the little girl he had loved since the day she was born.
“She isn’t having a very good day,” Jaxon admitted reluctantly. She always told “Uncle Tyler” the truth about her mother, but no one else, not even “Uncle Russell.”
“I think she took too many of those pills again. She won’t get out of bed, and when I try to tell her things about Mathew, she just stares at me. He’s finally stopped needing diapers, and I’m so proud of him, but she won’t say anything at all to him. If she does pick him up, she squeezes him so hard, he cries.”
“I have something to ask you, Jaxx,” Uncle Tyler said. “It’s important you tell me the truth. Your mom is sick most of the time, and you have to take care of Mathew, manage the house, and go to school. I was thinking maybe I should move in and help out a little.”
Jaxon’s eyes lit up. “Move in with us? How?”
“I could marry your mother and be your father. Not like Matt, of course, but as your stepfather. I think it would help your mother, and I’d sure like to be here for you and little Mathew. But only if you want me, honey. Otherwise, I won’t even talk to Rebecca about it.”
Jaxon smiled at him. “That’s why you brought the flowers, isn’t it? Do you think she’ll really do it? Is there a chance?”