Uncovering His SECRET Read Free Page A

room. I wasn’t sure
bringing him here from Chicago would be a good idea. He’d lived
there his whole life, and all his friends were at the school he’d
gone to since kindergarten. I visited him at least three times a
month, but it was really hard to leave him there when I had to come
here to Vegas. He was in good hands with Cyndi, but I missed him so
much, and I was so happy when he asked to move here with me a couple
of months ago.
    My friends all stepped
right up to help—just like they’d done when we were all in
Chicago together. Now it’s more fun for them since he’s becoming
a little man instead of just a boy. The Griffin and Corrigan men have
taken him under their wing, teaching him everything he needs to know
about computers, architecture, art, hockey, baseball, and business.
My friends Kace, Wade, and Brett from the band Storyside have been
teaching him how to play different instruments when they’re in
town. Zack plays football with him, Gavin cooks with him, and Nate
teaches him how to fight. Isa’s boyfriend, Jake, will have
something to add to the mix as well, I’m sure.
    Cyndi, Jane, Maggie and
Gary Griffin, Helen Wilson, and Mallory and Jeff Daniels have stepped
in as honorary grandparents. He even calls the women his “Grams.”
The Griffin women babysit for me sometimes; although I rarely go out
anymore. They also make sure I know I can count on them for anything.
And my girls, well, they’ve taught him how to respect and treat a
woman. The Society women—past and present—have shown us so much
love and support since I joined them all five years ago. I can never
thank them all for what they’ve done for me and Ethan. He has a
plethora of strong male and female role models. I couldn’t ask for a better life. Well, I
could. But that’s a whole other story. A dream that will just never
come true. For me, at least.
    “I’m ready,”
Ethan tells me as he comes back into the room with his duffle bag
over his shoulder. “Hey you didn’t pack anything else, Mama.”
    “Sit down a minute,
‘kay?”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing. I just need
to talk to you.”
    “Okay,” he says as
we both sit on my bed.
    “If you want to meet
him, I’ll make it happen.”
    “I don’t.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Yeah. I mean, I want
to see him in person, but I don’t need him. I have you.”
    “I know there’s a
father and son sports night at your school soon. I’d go, but that
might be weird.”
    “Miles said he’d
take me. Actually, all the guys offered. I’m covered. Really. And
if I didn’t have them, I’d be happy to have you go. You’re my
mom and my dad, too. The best anyone could ever have. As long as I
have you, I don’t need some jerk in my life.”
    “He’s not a jerk,
baby.”
    “He hurt you, so yeah
he is.”
    “He got hurt, too. By
what happened.”
    I haven’t told him
the details, but he knows that someone lied about me and his dad
believed it. I told him I had to leave my family because they weren’t
going to let me keep him. That’s the easy version. The details are
so much worse, and not something I ever think about sharing with him.
He doesn’t need to know what I went through.
    “He should have
believed you.”
    I can’t really argue
with that, but I try to because my son should one day know his
father. “He was young, and what he believed hurt him too much to
think straight. I don’t want you to think badly of him, E.”
    “Well, I do. No one
hurts my Mama and gets away with it.”
    I pull him to me and
hold him tight as tears fill my eyes. His father used to get that
same look of fierce protectiveness in his eyes when he talked about
me. Seeing it on our son is more than I can take right now.
Especially when I’m about to walk back into the town I left all
those years ago with no real intention of going back so soon. Thank
God my scarlet letter’s still in place since they’ll all be
looking for it. It doesn’t matter that I never really earned