Heir to Scandal

“I’m not a doctor, so I’m not supposed to say, but between you and me...oh, yeah.”

The nurse disappeared with the wheelchair, leaving Rose, Joey and Xander alone together for the first time. He didn’t really think about that until he heard Joey ask Rose a question.

“Mom?” he whispered in an attempt to be sneaky, but it was loud enough to hear down the hallway. “Who is that man? Was he your date?”

“Oh,” Rose said, putting on her best smile. “I’m sorry, baby. I was too worried about your arm. Joey, this is Mr. Langston. And yes, he was my date. We went to high school together a long time ago.”

Xander frowned at the super-formal use of his name for the second time tonight. It was bad enough for Rose to do it. He didn’t want his son calling him that, too. “You can just call me Xander.”

“Xander?” Joey said, his eyes wide. “I wouldn’t even know how to spell that.”

“No worries,” he said. “There won’t be a test.”

“Good,” Joey said with a wide smile that was so much like his own at that age. There was even a hint of his same dimple in his left cheek.

The first moment he’d laid eyes on Joey, he’d known the truth. There were pieces of both him and Heath at that age in the boy. His brother had better well not be the father of his ex-girlfriend’s baby, so that left only one answer.