Noah's Journey (Sawyer Brothers #3) Read Free

was thankful he seemed to be oblivious to the tension in the room.
    Bill sat a bowl of ice cream on the table in front of Austin, and the boy’s eyes lit up. Silence set in as he grabbed for the spoon and dug in.
    “His name was Liam,” Stacey said. “I know I hurt you, Noah, but you have to know I never intended to. If I’d stayed, we both would have been miserable.”
    She took a shuddering breath as I continued to watch Austin take bite after bite. I was completely mesmerized by his every move.
    “Liam resembled you in a lot of ways. He even had the same blue eyes. Like I said, I’m not proud of how quickly I moved on with him, but he was good to me.”
    I shifted my eyes from Austin to the woman who at one point in my life I thought I would marry. Looking at her know, I felt nothing but pure hate and disgust.
    “I truly thought Austin was his. You and I were always so careful, and that wasn’t the case after I left,” she said.
    I chuckled sarcastically. “So some strange man raised my son for the last four years because you couldn’t take the time to figure out the truth. Because one damn phone call to me, to let me know he might be mine, was just too much to expect. Didn’t I deserve to have that? Was I so terrible and life here so bad that I shouldn’t have been given the chance to know for sure?”
    I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of my tears, but goddamn it I couldn’t hold them back. She’d taken four years of his life that I’d never get back without so much as a second thought.
    “Why now?” I asked. “What changed?”
    She took a few minutes to calm herself before she answered. “Liam’s father never liked me. In fact, no one in his family did.” She cleared her throat and took a drink of water. “I guess they had been pressuring him for years to get a paternity test, and he finally caved. After we talked about it, we figured it would be the only way to get them off our backs and let us live our lives.”
    She shrugged, and her eyes filled with tears. “When the results came back, you got to know, Noah, I felt like the worst kind of person.” She was playing out the feel-sorry-for-me routine, but I wasn’t biting. “Things went a little crazy after that. His family made it out like I was using him for money and support, and in the end he chose to believe their lies.”
    “I don’t know what your plans are after this, but I can guarantee you, you’re not taking my son away from me again.” I refused to feel sorry for her. She meant nothing to me, but my son meant the world. It may have only been an hour since I found out he existed, but he did, and that changed everything. “So if you have any intention of leaving Livingston, let me just assure you right now that you will have one hell of a fight on your hands.” I tried to keep my voice to a low whisper. Austin didn’t need to hear our exchange.
    I slipped from the booth and knelt at the side of the table. “Hey, buddy, you like horses?”
    He began nodding, resembling a bobble-head figurine more than a little boy. Chocolate ice cream covered his lips and ran down his chin. It was the cutest damn thing I had ever seen.
    “What do you say I take you to see some horses tomorrow?” I asked, completely ignoring Stacey’s reaction. I no longer gave a shit what she had to say. I had a lot of time to make up for, and I didn’t feel I needed her permission for that.
    “Do you have a horse?” Austin asked, looking at me hopefully.
    “I sure do, bud. A whole ranch full.” I smiled at him before standing and leaning over to kiss the top of his head. Before pulling back, I lowered my voice and stared directly at Stacey. “Have him at the ranch by ten.”
    “But I—”
    “I’m not asking, I’m telling ya. You know where it’s at. You can stick around for a bit until he’s comfortable, and then you can take off. I’ll bring him by your parents’ place when I see fit. Because the way I see it, now is my time to