Her Secret, His Child: A Little Secret by Tara Quinn (rosie project .txt) 📕

her with Nelson if she admitted she knew him.

She wanted to deny his claim. And guessed, by the derisive look in his eyes, that he expected her to do so.

"Yes, I know him." The words were strong. Clear. She lived her life by the rules now. Honestly. She was buying back her self-respect, one instance at a time, and if it took until she was a million years old, she was going to keep trying.

"Oh, sorry," the mother said, embarrassed. "I can't believe I did this. I thought—"

"It's okay, ladies," Nelson interrupted, nodding at each of them. And then he looked at Jamie and she cringed, waiting for everything to blow up in her face.

"Nice seeing you again, Jamie," he said, and to her astonishment, he turned and left.

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Jamie stood there a full minute, the crowd pushing around her, as she stared at the spot where Nelson had disappeared. She didn't know why, didn't know how, but she'd been spared.

Because Mother's Day was the biggest day of the year in the Archer household, Jamie and Ashley started making celebration plans by the end of April. They each came up with suggestions, which Jamie wrote down, and then when they had a whole list they'd put the day together.

Pen and paper in hand, Jamie called Ashley into the kitchen that Friday, just before dinner. They were waiting for Kyle, who was late. The table was set, casserole ready, salad tossed. Then they were all going to the drive-in to see a second-run showing of a favorite Disney film.

"Let's do our Mother's Day list," she said while Ashley was climbing into her booster seat. Mother's Day was not only a celebration of mother and child, but to Jamie, it was a symbol of who she herself had become. A celebration of everything that was good in her.

Ashley was watching her silently, eyes downcast.

"Don't you want to make a list?" Jamie asked, concerned.

"Uh-uh." Ashley shook her head.

Crushed, Jamie stared at her daughter. "Why not?"

"Mommy's Day is about God giving me to you, right?" the little girl asked, frowning.

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

"Yes." Jamie was scared to death of where this might be going, what Ashley might have heard.

"'God gave me to Daddy, too, and it might hurt his feelings if we do our special day wifout him."

"You want to wait till he gets here to make the list?" Jamie asked, weak with relief.

The little girl nodded solemnly. And wait they did.

"'I think we should all go to the zoo on Mother's Day," Kyle said after dinner when the list was once again on the kitchen table. "Ashley had such a good time there."

"Yeah!" Ashley cried. "We can see the mommy and baby and daddy monkeys!"

Jamie wrote down the zoo. "What else?" she asked.

"Your favorite. Mommy, Mr. Wallup's Ice Cream Shop!" Ashley's swinging feet were kicking her booster seat beneath the table.

Jamie added Mr. Wallup's to the growing list.

"I think we should have a picnic at the state park." Jamie threw out what she'd been thinking about. "We could have a cook-out with hamburgers or hot dogs and fly kites and take hikes if we want."

"Yeah!" Ashley cried. "A mommy, baby, daddy hike."

Kyle grinned at that last drawn-out daddy. If he'd had any doubts about where he placed in his daughter's affections, they'd surely been dispelled. Loving him as she did, Jamie felt almost as happy about that as he must have been feeling.

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"Let's do that," he said, studying the other items on the list. "We could hike after the picnic and then go to Mr. Wallup's on the way home."

"Yeah!" Ashley cried, bouncing up and down in her seat. "It'll be the best mommy, baby and daddy day!"

Exchanging a warm, intimate glance with Kyle, Jamie couldn't have agreed more.

She told him so later that night, after Ashley was in bed and they sat together on the couch—another newly formed ritual.

"You sure you don't mind my coming along?" he asked as he looked down at her.

Snuggling into his side, Jamie shook her head. "I agree with Ashley. It wouldn't seem right without you this year."

"There is Father's Day in June." He gave her another chance to change her mind.

Jamie stared up at him. "We'll spend that together, too, won't we?" In spite of how well things were going, she couldn't ever seem to get rid of her doubts. Her insecurities.

"Of course we will."

Kyle bent, giving her a soft kiss to seal his promise. A kiss that, as on other nights, led to a heated exchange of the passion she couldn't allow free rein. And moments later, when Kyle's hands roamed to her breasts, when her own hands traveled the road to intimacy, Jamie froze. And Kyle dropped his hands.

Until there was commitment between them, they

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

could go no further than kisses. Jamie wasn't that kind of woman anymore.

Two mornings before Mother's Day, the second Friday in May, Jamie was in her home office, reorganizing now that tax time was over, when the phone rang.

Thinking the caller would be Kyle, on break between classes, she grabbed the receiver eagerly. "Hello?"

"Jamie?" The voice was male. It wasn't Kyle.

"Yes."

"Nelson Monroe here."

Oh God. Would the nightmare never end?

"How'd you get my number?" Not that it mattered. He had it.

"You're in the book, honey."

Of course she was. She just hadn't expected a john from her past to be looking for it.

"I'd really like to…see…you again, darlin'," Nelson said softly. "Your honesty the other day impressed me. A lot. You always were one hell of a woman—even if you were just a kid."

Tears burned her eyes. Her whole body trembling, Jamie said, "No, Nelson. I'm not that kid anymore."

' 'All the more reason for us to get to know each other again." He didn't seem to be grasping the point at all. "We'll have more in common now that you're a little older."

"We have nothing in common."

"We're both accountants."

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"I get enough of accounting during the day."

"You've got a nice little setup there, haven't