Page 37 of Her Righteous Protector

“I appreciate it, Big Guy,” Max said as he picked up Zephyr’s Iron Man backpack.

“I’m not big, you are, remember?” Zephyr rolled his eyes at him; it was clear he thought Max was stupid.

Max pretended to cough so he could cover up his laughter.

12

“Can you read me one of your books?” Zephyr asked Hannah.

“How about if Max joins us?”

The little boy had been a real pill at dinner. She knew that Max thought Zephyr’s acting up was cute, but it wasn’t. His rudeness had been getting worse since his mother had left them to go into hospice. It had been Meghan’s decision not to let Zephyr see her those last debilitating three weeks before she died, which was another decision that she and Hannah had argued over.

“Is he really going to be here in the morning?” Zephyr demanded to know.

“Yes, Honey, he is.”

The moment that Max had asked about a good hotel to stay at, Hannah had realized that having him stay here at the house made the best sense. First, was that having Max get to know Zephyr on his territory made the most sense. Second, she wanted to be on hand to smooth any and everything over for Zephyr, and third, she wanted to make sure that her positive impressions of Max Hogan were right. She prayed to God they were.

“So what book do you want?” Hannah went to the full bookcase in his room. She pulled out three books, one of which was a science fiction book that she had illustrated.

“That one!” he pointed excitedly at Clara’s Galaxy.

Months ago, Zephyr had seen her working on the illustrations on her computer and he was fascinated to see the actual book in print. Hannah had made up a story to go along with the pictures just for the little boy.

“So can Max come and hear the story?”

Zephyr’s lip puffed out in a pout. “No.”

She suppressed a grin when she realized there was a tiny part of her that was thrilled to hear that word ‘No.’ God, she was a mess!

You just invited Max to stay here, you putz!

“Why can’t Max come and hear the story?” she asked reasonably.

The psychologist that she’d been taking Zephyr to had explained that Zephyr would naturally cling to her more after Meghan’s death. But Hannah had to start integrating Max into the boy’s life.

“I don’t like him.”

“Why don’t you like him? Did he do something mean to you?” Hannah really wanted him to try to make sense of his feelings.

She watched as his little brow furrowed. “No. He wasn’t mean. He didn’t eat all the food,” he admitted. “He let me watch the shows I wanted.”

“So, he was nice?” she asked gently.

Zephyr nodded.

“Do you think he would like to hear about Clara and her galaxy? You could help tell the story, I bet he would like it,” she coaxed.

Zephyr rolled his eyes and Hannah smothered a laugh. “Okay,” he said generously. “He can come listen.” Zephyr sat up straight in his bed and hollered Max’s name. The kid sure did have a set of lungs.

It didn’t take long for Max to appear in the doorway. “You bellowed?” he asked.

“Hannah’s going to read us a book. You have to be quiet and listen. I’ll ‘splain the complicated parts.”

Max’s eyes twinkled. “Sounds good, Big Guy.” Max had been calling him that all night and Hannah knew it was just to see Zephyr roll his eyes, and the kid did not disappoint.

Zephyr slapped both of his hands on his bedspread and shook his head in disgust. “I’m not big, you are. How many times do I need to tell you?”