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Barely an hour before, two guys from different bands had stopped by to tell her that attendance had been up for their concerts, along with CD and T-shirt sales Downloads of their h the roof Three of the food vendors had wanted her to know they’d nearly doubled their sales from the previous years There was still friction with the honey booth guy, but no situation was perfect and this was more of a win than Felicia had expected

Patience and Lillie raced up to her "Did you hear?" Patience asked "It’s Heidi She had a girl We’re going to the hospital later to see her It’s the perfect end to a perfect weekend"

"I hadn’t heard," Felicia said, thinking she’d only met Heidi a couple of times The woman had seemed very nice She had married the previous suratulations froged her "We’ll find you soo to Denise’s booth? You could talk to her about Kent Unless you’re interested in Ford"

"I’m not, but thanks"

"Just as well Despite her protests, I’lanced at her engageed on her et to the hospital"

"You’re right" Patience hugged Felicia again "Come to Brew-haha soon I want to hear all about your first festival"

"Sure"

They ran off

Felicia circled the park and checked on the cleanup The crowd had drifted away, and the booth vendors were busy breaking down their displays and packing thereeted theht happily Survived her first big event It hadn’t been easy, but she’d only had a mini breakdown and she had o a little sloith the changes and explain et input and then she would ht happily Always a good thing

She walked toward the front of the park Gideon had said he wouldup on her She spotted him as she crossed the street, then realized he wasn’t alone There was a boy standing next to him

The kid was maybe twelve or thirteen, with dark hair and eyes Neither was unusual, so she shouldn’t have found herself staring at the boy Only there was so almost familiar

She wondered if she’d seen him that day Or around town There were so ht be a friend of Lillie’s or--

Gideon spotted her His expression of both relief and panic had her walking faster As she approached, the boy looked at her, too, and snized it Recognized the shape of his mouth, his eyes

"Youme about you I’m Carter"

Felicia knew, even before he said the words, but still she had to hear them "Carter?"

"Uh-huh Gideon’s ed "Yeah, I know Weird, right?"

Felicia glanced at Gideon, but he wasn’t talking His gaze seemed locked on the boy, and if his trapped expression was any indication of what he was thinking, she would suspect he was seconds fro A sniper rifle would make sense to him An attacker would be quickly disabled But a son?

Carter slipped his hands into his front jeans pockets "My mom was Eleanor Gates Ellie They o He went overseas and then she found out she was pregnant She always said he was a good soldier and she didn’t want to get in the way of that"

Carter looked at Gideon "Special Ops, right? That’s what she said, but she wasn’t sure You didn’t talk about it much"

"Need to know," Gideon said, then cleared his throat

Carter flashed another smile "And she didn’t need to know Kinda like in the et in the way She said if you wanted to be with her, you’d come back"

The smile faded "When you didn’t, she decided not to put your name on the birth certificate But she told me You knohen I was older"

Felicia could hear the words and understand theirtheht Gideon had a son Even without Carter’s story, she could see the physical similarities

"Where is she now?" she asked, afraid she already knew the answer

"She died," Carter said sio My best friend’s parents said they’d be my foster parents, so that worked out I lived with the out of state Neither of theo into the foster systeht But she saw the telltale tremble in the corner of his mouth

"How old are you?" she asked

"Thirteen But I know stuff I’m not a kid"

"In many cultures you would be considered an adult male by now," she said "Usually there are rituals to e of life to another Here we consider adulthood to start at age eighteen, although it isn’t difficult to become an emancipated minor"

Carter stared at her "Okay," he said slowly "You’re agreeing I’m not a kid?"

"Not exactly How did you find Gideon?"

"That was easy" He picked up the backpack at his feet and opened it "I had his picture and his na to find a new place to live, I went online and did soood at computers and stuff"

"Obviously," Felicia said as she took the picture It showed a younger version of Gideon with his ar with that "in love" glow Felicia had seen in other women but never in her own eyes She passed the picture to him

Gideon took it, then nodded slowly "It’s Ellie"

She knew there was no point in confir the relationship Carter was obviously related to Gideon Not that he was prepared to take on a child, she thought There had to be a next step and she had no idea what it was

It was nearly eight on a Sunday night She’d planned to go hoer But what about Carter?