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“It means I understand.”
“Uh-huh.” He shrugged. “You wanna know some cool stuff about kangaroos?”
I laughed. “Sure, I don’t know much about kangaroos.”
“If you hold their tail in the air, they can’t hop,” he said, his expression serious.
“Hmmm. I didn’t know that.” I truly didn’t, but I wasn’t exactly a pro at kangaroo trivia. Gun and murder trivia, sure, but not kangaroo.
“Yeah, and they can’t hop backwards either.” His dark blue eyes shone with excitement.
“You don’t say.”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Yup, and when they hop they always hop with both legs together.”
“Wow.”
“Uh-huh.” He paused a minute and stared at me. “Your name is Constantine?” He extended his little hand to me, not waiting for me to respond. “I’m Austin.”
I looked down at his hand and then back up to his eyes, taking his hand and giving it a gentle shake. “Nice to meet you, Austin. Yes, my name is Constantine. How old are you?”
“I’m five.” A grin spread across his lips, pride in his eyes. “Almost six.”
“Cool. So how do you know so much about kangaroos?”
“My mommy says we’re going to Australia one day,” he replied, bouncing a little bit on the sofa, clearly excited over the idea. “It won’t be for a while. But one day.”
“Oh, I see. So, where’s your dad?”
His smile faded. “My real daddy is in heaven, and I haven’t seen my other daddy in a long time.”
In heaven? I looked closely at the child before me as I counted back the years. My eyes narrowed as I studied him. His eyes were a sapphire blue, just like mine. Could he possibly…? I shook my head. There was no way…
But there was. The math didn’t lie. I’d only made love to the child’s mother once, but it did only take once… “Austin, what do…”
The sound of the toilet flushing caused Austin to leap from the sofa, a look of guilt and alarm on his face. “I gotta go, Constantine. Mommy is coming.” Without another word he raced across the room and into his bedroom, his door closing softly just as the bathroom door opened.