The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 304

Noah stood behind him, his hands still smudged with potting soil.

Felix grew nervous. "Daddy Noah... I wasn't trying to dig through the trash..."

Noah didn't say anything. He looked down at the crumpled note in his hand.

"Don't worry about me."

He left, but he didn't want her to worry? Why leave a note at all, then? Noah thought. It was a trick that would only work on someone as stubborn yet soft-hearted as Clara.

Noah crouched down to Felix's level, pointing at the words and explaining gently, "This says, ‘Don't worry about me.'"

"What does that mean?" Felix asked, blinking his big eyes.

"It means he doesn't want you to think about him."

Felix nodded, not quite understanding, a wave of disappointment washing over him. "Mommy kicked him out. She definitely won't be thinking about him."

Noah watched the boy's expression. The disappointment in those eyes, so much like Rhys's, was as sharp as a needle in Noah's own heart. He felt a pang of sympathy.

"Will Felix think about him?"

Felix shook his head, then nodded.

Noah sighed softly. "Since Felix is so worried, why don't we go see him?"

Felix's eyes lit up for a second, then dimmed again. "But Mommy said no..."

"Mommy was just angry," Noah soothed. "We'll go to the hospital, say thank you, and leave. We'll just take one peek and come right back, so we won't be bothering the doctors. It's the polite thing to do, right?"

Felix hesitated. "...Right."

"Then Daddy Noah will take you," Noah said, standing up. "But you have to promise me, Felix. Just one peek."

He would take the child. He would bring this vibrant, healthy boy to stand before Rhys and show him exactly who had done such a good job of raising his son for the past four years.

Clara had just come down from the patio when she saw Noah helping Felix into his jacket.

"Going out?" she asked, drying her hands.

"Mmm, we're going to the hospital," Noah replied.

Clara froze, her expression and voice turning cold. "I thought I said no."

She knew all of this, intellectually.

But when it came to Rhys, she always felt like the loser.

Four years ago, and still today. She even had to borrow courage just to face him.

"Besides, the fact is that he saved Orange," Noah said, ruffling Felix's hair. "You can wait for us at home. We're just going to say thank you, do what's proper, and then we'll leave."

"Mommy?" Felix asked tentatively. "Is it because I did something wrong that I can't go?"

Clara looked down at her son. His eyes were so clear, so honest. In comparison, she, the mother, was less brave than her own child.

Where could she even hide? He had found her in Heron Bay. Now that Rhys knew, she couldn't avoid him forever.

Felix's comment that Rhys was "hurt again" proved they had already met without her knowledge. Rather than let him approach Felix in secret again, it was better to have it happen under her supervision. At least in a public place, he wouldn't try to snatch the child.

"Fine," Clara relented. "I'll go with you."

Some things couldn't be clarified over the phone or through a haze of suspicion. It was time to ask him face-to-face.