It was nearly noon before the men came back to the house. Nick and Steve each had a child clinging to their backs like small spider monkeys, while Nick carried the candy-colored backpack they sometimes used as a diaper bag dangling off one oversized hand. There was another man with them, and they all laughed and talked as if this were something they did every day. For all Laurelynn knew, it may be, but for her it was a sight worth seeing.
Her children had never been as comfortable as these two were with their father, nor any other man, not until they were much older, if ever. She knew the girls had never had any relationship anything like this with Neil. And while Neil had taken an interest in Robert once the boy had hit puberty, she didn’t think even their son had ever dreamed of touchin
