acquainted with both of you.”
For the first time Meg noticed the lines of worry edging the social worker’s eyes.
“Is there a problem?” Cole stepped closer to Meg’s side.
“I’m afraid your boy, Charlie, is a bit under the weather.” Lexi spoke quickly as if wanting to make sure she relayed all the facts before they began asking questions. “Travis thought he looked flushed, so we checked his temp. He’s running a fever and his throat is bright red. Now he’s saying his tummy hurts.”
“Oh, my goodness.” Panic rose up inside Meg, but she pushed it down, telling herself there was no need to worry. After all, he’d been fine an hour ago. “He was laughing and joking around all afternoon. No complaints at all.”
Meg turned to Cole, seeking confirmation.
He nodded then focused on Lexi. “I hope you know we’d never have brought him tonight if we’d known he was sick.”
“No worries.” Lexi’s understanding smile widened to include Meg. “Almost everyone here has kids. We know how quickly illnesses pop up.”
Apparently having overheard the discussion, David returned to join the group, a partially filled salad plate in one hand. “There’s a nasty virus going around. Fever, headache, sore throat and gastrointestinal issues. It’s been hanging on a good seventy-two hours. Very contagious.”
“Does he need medical attention?” Cole asked.
“Well, it sounds as if Uncle Travis has already checked him out.” David’s lips tipped up in a wry smile. “But then again he is only an obstetrician.”
Meg couldn’t even manage a smile at the joke.
“Where is Charlie now?” Cole’s tone might give nothing away, but Meg knew he was as worried as she.
“Rachel took him upstairs to rest in the spare bedroom while I came to get you.” Lexi smiled reassuringly. “She’s a nurse so he’s in good hands.”
Meg shifted her gaze to Cole. “How about I run upstairs and get him and we’ll meet you in the foyer?”
By the look in his eyes and his hesitation, Meg knew he wanted desperately to head upstairs to check on Charlie himself. But while Cole was able to negotiate stairs, it was still a slow process. They both knew she could reach the boy in half the time. Which meant they could be on the road more quickly and Charlie could be home in his own bed that much sooner.
He thought for a second then nodded. “I’ll get the coats and meet you at the front door.”
Meg turned toward Lexi.
“Could you please take me to my—” she paused “—to Charlie?”
Meg had almost said “to my son.” Though it had been only several weeks that she’d been fulfilling the mother role, she realized that’s how she thought of Charlie now.
Her boy.
Her son.
Like countless mothers before her, she would willingly go to the ends of the earth to protect him.
From anything.
Or anyone.
Chapter Thirteen
Cole had just taken a sip of apple cider when he heard Meg’s footsteps on the stairs.
He twisted his body and glanced over the top of the sofa. “How is he?”
“Asleep,” she said with a weary smile, her arms filled with laundry. “Let me put his clothes in the washer and then I’ll join you.”
Cole had sat in the back of the SUV on the way home, talking to his son and trying to distract him. Thankfully Lexi and Nick’s home was just down the road, so the trip went quickly.
With Kate’s approval, Rachel had given Charlie acetaminophen for his headache and fever before they’d left.
Cole had thought Charlie was feeling better until the boy stepped into the kitchen and upchucked everything he’d eaten all over himself, the countertop and the floor.
When Charlie began crying and apologizing, all at the same time, Cole’s heart had overflowed with love. Even as he’d reassured his son “no harm, no foul,” he wished Charlie would quit worrying that he and Meg would leave him.
While Meg took Charlie upstairs to clean him up and put him to bed—reassuring him with each step—Cole busied himself cleaning the kitchen. He may have gagged a couple of times, but he’d gotten it done. Once the onerous— not to mention odorous—task was accomplished, he’d heated up apple cider, plopped a cinnamon stick in each cup and taken the cups into the living room.
Meg’s voice sounded from the doorway. “Promise you’ll let me know when you hear the washer alarm go off.”
Cole looked up. Sometime between when she’d headed upstairs with Charlie and came back down with the laundry, she’d changed into an oversize T-shirt and sweatpants and pulled back her hair into a ponytail.
Though