Free The Storm (The Storm #4) by Samantha Towle

impassioned.
    “But he’s not here.”
    “No, he’s not. But I am, and so is Bob. And we want…” Taking a pause, I pull in a breath, making sure I word this just right. “We want to be your family, too.”
    His expression shuts down, and he turns his face away from me, tossing the dish towel on the counter. “You all right to finish up here? I have homework to do,” he says without looking at me.
    “Yeah,” I say, holding the disappointment from my voice. “I’m good. You go.”
    Then, Storm walks out of the kitchen without another word, leaving me standing there, knowing I still have a hell of a ways to go with this kid.

I finish up the dishes and head into the living room. Tiffany and Bob are sitting on the sofa, and she’s showing him baby pictures of Storm.
    “Everything okay?” Bob asks, a touch of concern in his voice.
    Maybe the expression on my face has him worried. Or maybe it’s because Storm isn’t with me.
    “Yeah, everything’s fine. Storm’s gone to do his homework.”
    “Voluntarily?” Tiffany smiles. “That’s a first.”
    “He asked about Jonny.”
    “Oh,” she says. “He hasn’t…he hasn’t asked me a thing about him. What did…what did he want to know?”
    “What Jonny was like. And…” I glance at the doorway and then lower my voice as I say, “He knows there was a chance he could have been mine.”
    “Oh.” Her eyes widen.
    “He said he overheard you talking to Marie.”
    “Shit,” she says. “Should I go talk to him?”
    I shake my head. “He didn’t seem overly upset about it.”
    She glances at the door and then says, “Still, I’ll talk to him about it. Tomorrow though. Probably not best to do it today.”
    “I also told him that we want to be his family.” My eyes go to Bob.
    He lifts his brows. “And what was his response?”
    “He said nothing. That was when he went to do his homework.” I say quietly, “Maybe I pushed it a little too far too soon?”
    Bob lifts his lips at the corners. “You’ve never been one for patience, Jake.”
    Can’t argue with that.
    I can feel Tiffany’s eyes on me. When I look at her, I see concern there.
    “Look, I don’t know what exactly you want from us. If it’s money to secure Storm’s future, then that’s a given. Anything he needs, he can have.”
    “Jonny’s money,” Bob says. “I’m going to put it into a trust for Storm.”
    Bob didn’t discuss that with me, but I’m not surprised.
    “He doesn’t need all that money,” she tells him.
    “I’m an old man. I’m the one who doesn’t need that money,” Bob counters.
    “Look”—she presses her hands to her lap—“we just need to lay this out there. I know talking about death makes people uncomfortable, but it’s a fact of life. We’re all going to die someday. Unfortunately, my day is coming sooner than I wanted. I wanted to see Storm grow and have his own children, but that’s not going to happen.”
    Her eyes are glazing with sadness, and I feel a tug in my gut.
    Bob reaches over and takes ahold of her hand. She gratefully smiles at him.
    “I want Storm to be financially secure, of course I do. And I knew I was taking a risk in finding out if he was Jonny’s, with him no longer being alive, and I knew either way, no matter the outcome, if he was Jake or Jonny’s, that would give Storm financial security. But money aside…more than anything, I want him to have a family. Marie has offered to take him, and that would be good because he knows her…but—” She bites her lip. “I know he looks like Jonny…but a big part of me hoped…I’m sorry—” Her tear-filled eyes go to Bob. “But I wanted Storm to be Jake’s son so that he wouldn’t be alone when I die.”
    Fuck.
    That punches a crater-sized hole in my chest.
    “I don’t want him to be alone when I’m gone. I don’t want him to be an orphan. I want him to have a family.”
    “He has a family,” Bob firmly tells her.
    “He has us,” I say. “And Tom and