Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 1319

Tarquin didn’t say a word, but that didn’t mean he didn’t notice.

Evan missed White—a lot.

White stuck out his little tongue, stared at Evan for a moment, then hopped down from his hand and scurried into the tent.

He made a beeline for Evan, nuzzled his tiny head against Evan’s cheek, and curled up right beside him.

“Back again? Planning to leave me again?” Evan’s voice came out of nowhere, making White jump a foot in the air.

He bolted like a startled squirrel, only to see Evan’s eyes open and—yep, there was that tongue again.

Evan’s eyes were red, rimmed with tears.

“I thought you’d gone off with them and weren’t coming back,” he said quietly.

He’d known White was sneaking out at night. He’d watched him these past few days, pretending not to notice, but how could he not see? Those strange creatures had been lurking around, obviously trying to take White away.

White slunk over and ducked his head.

Evan, blinking back tears, stuck out his fist for a bump.

“Look, I don’t want you to go, but if you’ve got some secret reason, just say it. I’m not unreasonable. Worst case, I’ll come visit you every now and then.”

White shook his head and stuck out his tongue again.

Suddenly, Evan sat up, scrubbing at his cheeks with both hands.

“Wait—they’re not your family?”

White shook his head, and Evan just stared.

“But… didn’t you say you had family business to take care of? I thought they were your folks!”

White gave another tongue-flick, and Evan’s jaw dropped. “They’re… enemies?!”

Not wanting to wake Elliot and the others, Evan scooped up White, bolted out of the tent, and didn’t even bother with a jacket.

Tarquin and Big Mike—his face a patchwork of old scars—looked up in surprise. “What’s going on?!”

Evan shot them a glare. “Private matter! No eavesdropping!”

The two exchanged a look and just shrugged.

Tarquin froze, then hurriedly denied it. “No way! Not me! I swear!”

No way he was taking the blame for this. Elysia loved him, but everyone knew he was at the bottom of the family pecking order. If he took the rap, she’d never let it go—and he valued his marriage too much for that.

Elysia kept her arms around Evan, giving Tarquin a suspicious glare.

“It’s just you two here. If you didn’t upset him, then who did?”

Tarquin hesitated. No way he was getting into the whole White saga—Elysia would only worry more. So he made something up.

“We’re getting close to the new development area. Maybe Evan’s just missing his great-grandparents.”

Elysia eyed him, half-convinced, then turned back to Evan. “Is that it?”

Evan nodded.

She quickly soothed him, “Don’t be sad. We’ll visit again soon, okay?”

Evan just sniffled and sobbed, tears and snot everywhere.

Tarquin watched, frowning with concern. He still had no idea what was really going on—but seeing his son so upset broke his heart.