Page 103 of Best Kept Secret

He turned sideways to face her so she could see his face too. He no longer had anything to hide, and he was glad of it. It had been hell keeping his secret from her, almost as hellish as the past week had been.

“Kelsey—”

“Why didn’t you trust me?” she interrupted.

“Huh?” His mind went blank.

“You didn’t think highly enough of me to believe I could handle the truth.”

“You’re wrong. I think very highly of you.”

She shook her head. “You thought I would judge you. Isn’t that why you didn’t tell me?”

“Well, I…” This wasn’t going the way he’d expected. Of course, he’d learned that with her, nothing ever really did.

“Some people might judge you, but not me. There are many worse things you could have done than have a baby with a woman you didn’t love.”

He’d tried convincing himself of that too, but hearing her say it really hit home. “I didn’t want you to think I was careless or irresponsible.”

“Spare me the details, but I know that mistakes can happen even when people are being responsible.”

Another true statement. Although, in his case, he hadn’t used protection. She didn’t want to hear about that, though, and he couldn’t blame her.

“I’m not mad that you’re Annie’s father. I was angry that you didn’t respect me enough to tell me sooner. I still would have been shocked, but it would have been less shocking than finding out like I did…from Sonia.”

Her voice cracked, and she looked down at her hands, which were clasped tightly in her lap. He was dying to reach over and touch her, but he didn’t dare. Not yet.

“I understand, and I hate myself for keeping Annie a secret from everyone, but from you most of all. I should have told you the first time you met her, and then none of this would have happened.”

“When I commented on her mole…”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “I thought that she might be yours, but I also didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to think about you being intimate with another woman, even though I know you’ve had plenty.”

He stiffened. “That was partly why I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. I was afraid you already saw me in a bad light, and I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“But you did make it worse by lying.”

“I know,” he said, his voice breaking. This suddenly felt a lot harder than he’d anticipated. It almost would have been easier if she’d yelled and screamed and called him names. Instead, she just sat there, calmly explaining how badly he’d hurt her.

“Is there any way…any chance…?” He searched her eyes, looking for a glimmer of hope.

“That I can forgive you?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t want to.”

Past tense. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope.

“And believe me, I fought hard not to.”

He held his breath and waited.

“But it turns out I’m not very good at hating you.”

His mouth dropped open. “Does that mean…?”