Free Cowboy Daddy by Carolyne Aarsen

reached under a pile of lumber.
    â€œCan you talk?”
    â€œYes. I’m with the boys.”
    â€œI want to talk to them. Now.”
    Nicole hesitated. This was the first time she’d been alone with the boys since she’d met them. She hadn’t had an opportunity to let them know that not only did they have another aunt, they also had a grandfather. She highly doubted Kip Cosgrove let them know either.
    â€œI haven’t explained everything to them yet—”
    â€œYou’re telling me they don’t know about me?”
    Her father’s gruff voice created a storm of guilt in Nicole. “I haven’t found the right time to tell them,” she whispered.
    Justin wriggled backwards then turned around with a triumphant grin. He held up a squirming, mewling puppy. The little creature was a bundle of brown and black fur with a shiny button nose.
    â€œI got one,” he squealed. Nicole knelt down, still holdingthe phone as Justin brought the puppy over to her. “You want to hold it?” he asked.
    â€œThat’s one of them, isn’t it?” her father asked. He broke into a fit of coughing, a sure sign to Nicole that he was upset. “I need to talk to them. Please, let me talk to them.”
    It was the please that was her undoing. She couldn’t remember her father saying those words more than a dozen times in her life.
    â€œJust give me a few seconds,” she whispered to her father. “I need to explain a few things.” She smiled at Justin and held out her hand. “Yes, I’d love to hold it,” she said. “Why don’t you hold my phone for me and I’ll take the puppy?”
    Justin managed to release his grip on the puppy and take the phone. Nicole gathered the warm, silky bundle in her arms, her heart melting at the sight of its chocolate-brown eyes staring soulfully up at her. She crouched down in the straw covering the floor of the pen, preferring not to think what might be living in it.
    â€œHe likes you,” Tristan said as she settled down.
    â€œWho are you talking to?” Justin asked, looking at her phone.
    â€œWhy don’t you come and sit by me,” she said, keeping her voice low and quiet. “I have something to tell you.”
    Curious, Justin knelt down in front of her, still holding the phone, Tristan beside her. She stroked the puppy and looked from one pair of trusting eyes to the other. “You know that you had a mommy, right?”
    â€œWe don’t know where our mommy is,” Justin said. “She ranned away.”
    Nicole pressed back an angry reply. Their lack of knowledge wasn’t their fault. “Your mommy didn’t run away,” she said. “Your mommy loved you both very much, andyour mommy had a father who loved her very much too. That father is your grandmother.”
    â€œOur grandpa is dead,” Justin said. “Uncle Kip told us.”
    â€œNow you know that you have another grandfather,” Nicole said. “And he’s alive and he lives in Toronto.”
    â€œYou mean like Paul and Liam and Kirsten and Leah and Emily and Jenna from Auntie Doreen? They have a grandpa,” Tristan squealed. “Uncle Ron’s daddy.”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œWhere is our other grandfather?” Justin asked.
    â€œI was talking to him on the phone you’re holding,” Nicole said, tilting her head toward the phone Justin clutched. “You can talk to him if you want.”
    Justin frowned. “Uncle Kip lets me pretend to talk on his phone,” he said.
    â€œYou don’t have to pretend,” Nicole said gently. “Now I’ll hit a button and put it on speakerphone so we can all hear all of us talk.” She tapped her phone, then held it out. “Justin, say hello to your grandfather.”
    Justin lifted his shoulders, suddenly self-conscious. “Are you my grandpa? This is Justin.”
    â€œYes, I am.