Page 45 of Light in the Dark (Heaven and Hell Duet 2)

“Sawyer, there’s nothing to tell,” Idaline replies softly, reaching to cover his hand with hers. “You are still their brother and our son.”

He turns to face us and my heart cracks at seeing his eyes watery. “But I’m not like them. I have a different mom and she was mean.”

“No.” My tone is so strong that his head snaps over to me. “You’re exactly like them. Someone else gave birth to you, Sawyer. That’s it. You’re otherwise exactly like them. Nothing has changed. Do you hear me? We’re all the same. We’re all a part of the same family. Hell, you basically have Idaline to thank for your name.”

Sawyer frowns. “What do you mean?”

“We were best friends while he was with Lila,” Idaline says. “He came to see me once and I showed him a list of my favorite names for my future children. He stole,” she gives me a playful smile, “Sawyer and Nash from my list to name you.” Idaline stands to hug Sawyer. “You’re ours, sweetie. You only know more of your history now; that’s it.” Her voice lowers just a bit, but I can still hear her. “And to tell you the truth, you’re my favorite.” She pulls away with a wink.

; Sawyer laughs. “Thanks, Mom. I kinda figured that.”

“Sawyer! Help! I’m stuck!” And that’s Declan, who apparently can’t figure out a way down from the tree. While he loves to climb trees, he always has trouble getting down.

“I’ll get him,” I tell them. “You sit here with your mom and think about all your good memories with her.”

“Dad, where’s Sawyer?” Declan pouts. “You’re too old to climb trees.”

“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, son,” I tell him as I begin to climb the tree.

“See? That’s what old people say.” Did I also mention that he’s our adorable smart mouth of the family?

I start to regret my decision when I reach Declan, who is nearly at the top of the tree. The branches creak and groan underneath my weight. I might not be too old to climb a tree, but I might weigh too much.

“All right, Declan. Arms around my neck and legs around my waist.”

After a few minutes of helping him over and securing him on me, we begin our descent. We’re halfway there when the branch snaps and I lose my hold on the other. Declan screams bloody murder in my ear. He holds on tight to my neck, but his legs fall from my waist.

And then everything goes black.

“Call 911, Sawyer! FC! Come on, FC. Wake up.”

I open my eyes to see six faces peering at me and a shit ton of pain radiating in my head. Idaline has tears falling down her face, but I don’t understand why.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Why is everyone looking at me?”

“Ambulance is on the way,” Sawyer says.

“Why?” I ask.

Idaline frowns. “You fell out of the tree, FC. You went up to get Declan and y’all fell. You hit your head pretty hard when you landed.”

My eyes find Declan. “You okay, son?”

He nods. “I’m sorry, Dad.” His voice cracks.

“It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“But you aren’t getting up.”

Right. I’m still laying down. My hands find the warm grass and I push myself up. Idaline protests, but I’ll be fine. My kids need to see I’m okay. Even though my vision swims a little and Idaline places a hand on my back to steady me. “See? A-OK, kids. Just a little bump on the noggin’. Dad will be okay.”

Corrine crawls onto my lap and cuddles against my chest.

“You scared us,” Idaline says what they all seem to be thinking.

“It’ll take more than falling out of a tree to bring me down. Go pack up what you’ll need to carry everyone to the hospital. Sawyer can stay here with me until the ambulance gets here.”