“Mom?”
Tears blurred my vision as I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around her.
“Oh my goodness,” I whispered. “You’re alive!”
She held me tightly. “Mom, what are you doing here?”
Ethan stepped beside us. “Lily.”
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
She looked between the two of us in shock. Then a small voice spoke from behind her. “Mommy?”
A little boy sat on the blanket, maybe three years old, watching us with wide eyes.
Lily noticed my confusion. “This is Noah,” she said quietly. “His father disappeared before he was born, and things got harder than I expected, hence we’re here.”
I looked at the boy, then back at her.
“You have a son?”
She nodded slowly.
The homeless man cleared his throat awkwardly behind us. “Told you she was here.”
“This is Noah.”
Ethan reached into his pocket, pulled out a few dollars, and handed them to the homeless man.
“That’s for the information,” he said.
The man greedily grabbed the money.
“But listen carefully,” Ethan added, his voice firm. “If you try pulling something like that again, you might run into someone less patient.”
The man just hurried off.
I turned back to Lily.
“Come home,” I said softly.
“That’s for the information.”
Lily looked down at Noah and then back at me. “I didn’t think you’d want me to.”
