“This is a very beautiful place, Noah. I can see why Hannah wanted to bring you here for a vacation,” Victoria said.

“We might stay,” Noah said.

Hannah stifled a gasp. She had tried not to give him false hopes about staying; that decision was between her and Owen. She had been honest about needing to go back to work but that was as far as the discussions had gone.

Sheila put on a cheerful smile and sat down at the table. She shuffled the cards, dealt and made a little quiet small talk. She asked Hannah if she’d been to her friend Sully’s garden lately, asked what he was growing, asked how long she’d known him. Owen and Cal were stoically quiet. Hannah was just nervous, trying to hear what was being said between Noah and Victoria.

She picked up little things. It’s all right if you want to call me Grandma, Victoria said. I’ll just call you Mrs. Addison, Noah replied. Maybe when we know each other better, Victoria said. Look here, I brought you an iPad that you can play games and watch movies on. I already have one, he said. Maybe you can give it to some poor kid.

It took about twenty minutes to realize Sheila and Cal weren’t missing a word and they were purposely keeping their small talk quiet and superficial, not naming any full names, not giving away any information, talking about their cards, the weather, the lake, possible fishing later.

“Tell me things about my mom,” Noah said.

“Well, when she was little, like your age, she had blond pigtails and liked to climb trees. She didn’t want to wear dresses or fancy clothes. She was very smart in school.” On and on she went. Hannah frowned. Victoria could have been talking about any pretty little child. Then Victoria began pulling things out of the beach bag—she had brought him clothes, a couple of baseball hats, some books, a few games and shirts emblazoned with the logos for the Minnesota Vikings and Twins, football and baseball teams.

“Tell me some things about my mom when she was older. Like, before she was my mom,” Noah said.

“Well, she loved cookies and candy. She loved to bake pies, cakes and bread. Since she worked all the time, she wasn’t able to do it too often, but when she felt like it, she baked up a storm. She loved to go to the state fair—she loved the rides, especially the scariest ones. She used to love all the food at the fair—corn dogs, cotton candy, barbecue and popcorn. She liked to stay up late and watch scary movies, and I remember she used to love to dress up for Halloween—a witch or a wizard or Alice in Wonderland.”

“Did she have pets? Like Romeo?” he asked.

“She had a little dog when she was in high school but when she went off to college, she left him behind. She didn’t have a pet after him, at least not that she ever told me about. She was independent. She liked being alone. Until you came along, that is. She loved being a mom.”

“She did?”

“Oh, she did!” Victoria said. “She used to brag about you all the time! But, Noah, tell me more about you. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I’m planning to be a photographer,” he said. “Or a doctor. Or I’d like to be a firefighter like Connie.”

“Connie?” she asked.

“He’s our friend,” Noah said. “He’s a mountain climber and a rescuer. He’s the coolest guy.”

Victoria was quiet for a moment. “Would you like me to read to you for a while? I brought some books.”

“What was my mom’s favorite color?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. When she was a little girl she liked pink and then blue later. She loved puzzles and music. You know, rock music, like all teenagers do. Let’s read, okay?”

“Sure,” he said. “Go ahead.”

He settled back to listen and Victoria pulled out a pile of large picture books and asked him to pick one, which he did. Victoria began reading a picture book that might have been sold to her as appropriate for a five-year-old, but Victoria had no idea Noah was reading much of Treasure Island on his own, very seldom stumbling on words.

Hannah lost five games of hearts in a row because she just couldn’t pay attention. Owen and Cal tried to engage her in conversation but she just couldn’t focus. Her ear was turned to Noah. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Noah said, “Thank you. Hannah, can we be done now?”

Hannah looked at her watch. It had barely been an hour. She turned her questioning eyes to Cal, who gave a slight nod. “Okay.” She got up and walked to the other end of the porch. “Thank you for coming, Mrs. Addison. And thank you for bringing all these nice things for Noah.”

“Our time can’t be over already!” she said.

“I guess our little guy is worn-out,” Hannah said. “Maybe next time will last a little longer.”

“Is there going to be an entire congregation for our next visit? Because that would make anyone uncomfortable, and I don’t know how I’m expected to make a good impression with everyone staring at me.”

“That’s all right, Mrs. Addison. You were very nice to all of us and we didn’t have any expectations. I guess we’ll see you at your next scheduled visit. Thank you for everything. You were so generous.”

Victoria merely grunted. She stood, leaned over to put a gentle kiss on Noah’s head and briefly patted his hair. “I’ll see you next week.”

Romeo stood and stared at her. He didn’t growl or snarl—he was not imposing—he just stood and stared as if making certain Noah was safe.

Victoria departed without another word of goodbye to the adults present. She got in her car, backed out and drove away.

“Can I go see if they’re having snacks in there?” Noah said, referring to the girls and Lucas in the house.

“Of course,” Hannah said. “Try not to stuff yourself with snacks. I’m planning some gourmet peanut butter and jelly for lunch.”

“Right, like you ever do that,” he said. He grabbed his crutches and headed inside. Then he turned. “Does she have to come back?”

“We’ll see,” Cal said. “The judge wanted her to have a chance to meet you, get to know you. You didn’t like her?”

He shrugged. “She’s okay. But she shouldn’t make up stories. My mom said that’s the same thing as lying.”

“And what did she make up?” Cal asked.

“My mom didn’t like scary movies at all. She didn’t like movies that much. Just the ones we watched together. When the commercial for a scary one was on she used to cover her eyes and say, ‘No way.’ She didn’t watch TV hardly ever and I was only allowed one hour, except when we watched a movie. She liked quiet. She loved her books. And my mom hates rides—she threw up on the teacups at Disney. And she’d never let me go on hardly anything cool. And what’s a corn dog?”

“A hot dog on a stick, sort of.”

He just made a face and shook his head. “I didn’t never get hot dogs till I came here,” he said. “My mom was a vegetable nut. She put spinach in everything—she said it was good for my muscles. I been to McDonald’s, like, once! Here is better for food, but for everything else I still want my mom.”

“I want her, too,” Hannah said. “Thanks for doing that, Noah. I am very impressed by your manners.”

“And we know what her favorite color is,” he added. He crutched his way into the house.

Hannah sank into a chair, exhausted. “God, that was interminable.” Owen and Cal wandered into the house, leaving the women on the porch.

“But he did all your work for you,” Sheila said. “He brought her out. She’s a fraud. She knows nothing about her daughter or her grandson.”

“Erin had a dog—a little mutt, part Yorkie. While she was at school, living with us in our little duplex just off campus, her mother had him put to sleep. Victoria said he was old and sick, but she never even called. Erin went home to her mother’s house and the dog was just gone. I hope Noah doesn’t know about that. He’s just a little boy.”

“That was a good first visit—you learned things in a safe setting,” Sheila said. “The judge will want to be told if the visit doesn’t go well. And it didn’t go well from the standpoint of making Noah quite sad because his mother was so erroneously remembered. What was her favorite color?”

“Variations of purple or violet or lilac. She wore it constantly. She painted her bedroom pale purple. We teased her about it. It was so gaggy. But she didn’t force it on Noah... And Victoria read him baby books. What a trouper—he sat and listened. First time I pulled a little-kid book off the shelf in Owen’s house, Noah informed me that he already knew that one, that it was a baby book. I started reading him bigger stories—we’re working on Treasure Island. He can read a lot of it himself. He doesn’t know what all the words mean but he can sound them out.”

“At five?” Sheila gasped.

“He doesn’t play outside as much as the other kids...” Hannah said, repeating what Noah had told her.

“He sure plays outside here. The three of them have been running wild.”

“Since we’ve been here, he’s been very active.”

A glass of wine appeared before Hannah and she looked up into Owen’s eyes. “What’s this?”

“A little sedative,” Owen said. “Noah is already bouncing around, yelling and laughing with the girls, evidence he’s not at all traumatized. They’re playing Uno. And he’s eating all their pretzels. Want wine, Sheila?”

“Of course. I’m on vacation.”

“What did you think of the visit with Victoria?” Owen asked Sheila.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think,” Sheila said. “But it matters what Noah thinks and what Hannah thought. I didn’t get a good feeling from Victoria. If she really wants a relationship with her grandson in spite of the fact that her daughter was opposed to that, then she’ll accept the judge’s decision and ask permission to phone him or text him or email him. She could get to know him a little and send appropriate gifts for his birthday and Christmas. Did you notice she seemed surprised by the crutches? It kind of looked like Victoria didn’t know about his CP or what it meant. Just another little piece of information.”