Nate’s heart squeezed with a sudden fear. What if Josh died and it was all because he couldn’t pay for the treatment? It would be his fault.

“Daddy!” Josh lifted his arms and waited for Nate to scoop him up. Nate gently pulled his son into his arms. Josh’s body was small and vulnerable, lighter than ever. Like he was already disappearing.

“Hey, buddy.” Nate’s heart crunched fiercely. Josh still smelled the same, like mango shampoo and day-old socks. His giggle was the same when Nate’s breath tickled his neck. “What are you drawing?”

Josh showed Nate a swirl of dark colors, thick strokes over twists of thinner ones, shades of blue and red. “Do you like it?”

“Of course I do!”

“That’s you and that’s Mommy. And this”—Josh pointed to a particularly dark swirl—“is the Empire. And that’s all of us and we’re fighting the Empire.”

“Wow! It’s amazing!”

“Grandma said I might be an artist when I growed up, and I said if I’m a famous artist I’d have very much money and I’d buy all the kids with cancer their medicine so they’d live.”

Nate pressed his lips to the top of Josh’s head, unable to reply.

“Here.” Josh handed it to Nate. “It’s for you.”

“Thanks, buddy. I’ll put it on the fridge, ’kay? Is Grandma cooking?”

“Yup.”

Nate went into the kitchen, Josh and Charlie trailing behind.

Moira was bustling about, filling bowls with a bubbling stew and slathering chunks of steaming white bread with slabs of butter. The kitchen was warm, steam rising from a colander sitting in the farmhouse sink. The cabinets, breakfast bar, and dining table were rich with woodwork, giving the area a homey, rustic vibe. Moira had music playing on her phone, an old Stevie Nicks song.

Nate remembered that when his parents had bought the house, it was a complete dive. His dad had spent weekends remodeling it. He’d begged Nate to help him tear out moldy carpeting and rotten wood, paint the new woodwork, and install toilets, but Nate had refused. He was a teenager and wanted to hang out with his friends. He regretted that now. Regretted that he hadn’t spent time with his dad before he’d been incapacitated by the stroke.

His parents had used the house as a rental until Nate and Emma moved back to Skamania. Now their rent helped pay for Matt’s care.

“Hey, Ma.” Nate kissed his mother on the cheek. “It smells amazing.”

“Well, maybe you’d get a home-cooked meal more if I got to see you more,” she replied tartly, but she smiled and patted his cheek to soften the words.

“Can I help with anything?”

“Nope, it’s almost ready.”

Josh moved past Moira. “Alexa, make a fart sound.”

Alexa complied with a fart sound. “That was a long and windy one,” she said.