Erin ached for her, at the same time being very grateful the woman loved that child so much she’d risk a great deal by bringing him to his father. Who then yelled in her face multiple times.

“Can I come in? Have a cup of coffee? I want to know you. I want to hear about Miles. Please.”

“Come in. I’ll put on a pot of tea.” Gillian turned and led the way through the sunny house toward the kitchen. Erin got the chance to devour every detail of the place. Pictures on the walls. Most of mom and son, some of others Erin gathered were extended family or friends.

A grand piano dominated the family room. Music played through the in-house speaker system.

The kitchen had a large table in the nook space. “Have a seat, I’ll get the kettle on.” She began to bustle around. “Or I can make coffee if you like.”

“Tea would be lovely, thank you.”

Gillian sat across from Erin, putting a plate with assorted cookies and crackers out. “Biscuits. Erm, cookies.” She laughed.

“We lived in London for two months once. Way back at the beginning. Enough for me to get a craving for real malt vinegar crisps every once in a while.” Erin took a cookie but didn’t eat it. “Tell me about him.”

Gillian’s smile was back, warm and a little shy. “Miles just turned thirteen and he’s often on the tussle between acting forty and, sometimes, infuriatingly thirteen. Surly. Sullen. Snappy.” Gillian rolled her eyes, amused affection on her face. “He’s a great kid. Smart, though he can be lazy and I have to be on him to get his homework turned in. Musical. Which isn’t a surprise really. He’s rather sweet. There are three girls who call here all the time and he doesn’t seem to know what to do with all the female attention.”

Gillian poured out as she spoke.

“Works hard, especially on things he loves like music or animals. Rarely gives me a problem except he grows out of his shoes every few months. He started walking late. Liked to snuggle in next to me and found no reason to get up and go anywhere.”

Erin sipped, liking this woman more by the moment. Charmed by the way she spoke about Miles. So totally in love with the boy.

“Gentle. Not very athletic, I’m afraid. He tried for a while and then found computers and games more to his liking. Reading. Writing stories. Music. He’s in a band, you know. With his friends. They’re quite earnest and sometimes they’re even good.”

“Yeah? We started early too. I was seventeen when we started Mud Bay. We played music together for years before that. Brody raised us, you know.”

Gillian shook her head. “No, I didn’t know. I’m aware Adrian believes I am some sort of petty thief out to steal from him in an elaborate game wherein I get his money without actually asking for it. But I don’t know a lot about you and your family.”

Erin cringed, wishing she could explain all the shit Adrian had to shovel and why it made him so suspicious of strangers. “He doesn’t really think that. Brody, well, let me tell you the story and then I’ll fill in the other details.

“My parents died when Brody was seventeen. He’d been pretty much raising us as it was. He’s the one I have all the big childhood memories with. Anyway, our parents died when I was fourteen and Adrian was eleven. We had some distant family who’d agreed to take us. But only one each. Brody gave up his place at art school, stepped in and took over. He’s my big brother, yes, but in a very real sense, he’s my father. He’s definitely Adrian’s. They have a complicated relationship, but Brody runs a tight ship and Brody has been on your side since day one. Adrian listened to Brody and now we’re here. He’ll be glad he did; Brody is rarely wrong. Which’d be annoying if he wasn’t such an all-around great guy.”

Because he understood, perhaps, what it meant to be a parent, no matter how it came to you.

“Anyway, Adrian really doesn’t believe all the stupid stuff he’s said. I think he’s afraid this isn’t real. Afraid to get his hopes up and then find out Miles isn’t his after all. You really don’t know how glad I’m going to be to tell him how utterly certain I am that is not the case. I hope you’ll give us a chance, even with the rocky beginnings. I know we might look out of the ordinary, but past the funky hair and the tattoos, we’re just like many other families. We love each other and we want to love Miles too.”

“You have a lot of money. And a lot of power. I don’t have either. I’m trying to do what’s right for my child, but it scares me senseless that Adrian has the ability to tie me up in court and try to take my son.”

Erin nodded. She reached out and squeezed Gillian’s hand. Just a brief, reassuring touch. “I’d be freaked out too, in your place. I can’t take all that fear away. I hope that’ll happen once Miles and Adrian meet and you get to know us better. But we’re not the bad guys. I can’t say I’m thrilled about your sister not telling anyone for so long. But you can’t own other people’s mistakes. I’ve learned that one, big time.”

Gillian found it easy to talk to Erin. It was, well, it was lovely that this woman wanted to know Miles. Her reassurances did indeed help too.

She began to loosen up for the first time since she’d opened the door. She talked about Miles. Told stories about his life as Erin began to unfurl her own, and through that, Adrian’s too.

It was simply impossible not to like Erin Brown.

“Miles is going to like you.”