Page 38 of Dirty Little Secret
Chapter 13
Zandra
The steering wheel felt odd in my hands as I pulled away from Kane after our son stalked off, angry at his father. My mind was numb from all the new information.
I’ve got my son back!
In a matter of a few minutes, I’d become a mother to a ten-year-old boy. It defied the imagination. And the odds, too.
The odds of Kane’s aunt and uncle finding where my parents had relocated us hadn’t been good. The odds of them finding the adoption agency my parents had signed me up with were just as slim. The odds of Kane turning out to be a good father weren’t all that good either.
But even with all that going against this situation, somehow it all had worked out in our favor. It didn’t make sense to me. Mostly because I wasn’t used to good things happening to me, I guessed.
My life had shown me that, more often than not, bad things happened to me. Like being a virgin and getting pregnant after having sex one time—and at barely sixteen. Like being born to parents who’d made me give up the baby I had loved so much. While working as a waitress had helped me gain my freedom from my parent and make ends meet, it wasn’t easy, and I’d had a lot of difficult nights and found myself in more than one shitty situation.
It definitely wasn’t a job that a shy girl like I’d been would’ve ever thought of doing. Well, not until push came to shove and I’d had no other choice.
Pulling into the apartment complex, I spotted Taylor’s BMW parked in front of our apartment. Glad to have someone to talk to, I hoped she was awake. With so much on my mind, I figured talking to her would help.
As I went into the apartment, I smelled burnt toast. “I’m home,” I called out.
“Good.” She rounded the corner from her bedroom to the living room. “I tried to make some toast in the oven then forgot about it. I wanted to go out to get something to eat, but I didn’t want to go alone.” She picked up her purse as she looked at my hand. “Did they give you stitches at the hospital?”
“No.” I pulled the bandage off my left hand. “I got butterfly bandages. Well, that, and a son.” I waited for her to catch on to what I’d said, watching her face for her reaction.
She stopped, put her hand on her hip, and looked me in the eyes. “Give me that last part again, will ya?”
“I found my son, Taylor. The one my parents made me give away. The baby I told you about. I found him.” My heart pounded as I said it out loud for the first time. “I’ve got him back, Taylor.” The dam burst, tears pouring down my cheeks and a few sobs slipping through.
Taylor had me in her arms in no time, hugging me as she cried too. “Oh, Zandy! This is amazing. You’ve got to sit down and tell me everything. I want to know all the details, girl.”
“Wine. I need wine,” I gasped.
After helping me take a seat on the sofa, she left me to go to the kitchen to get what I’d requested. “Screw wine. I’m making us some mimosas. This is champagne kind of news. And since I don’t like it on its own, I’m mixing it with orange juice.”
I tried to gather myself and stop the waterworks. “Thanks, Taylor. This is something to celebrate.” Going to the half bath off the living room, I grabbed some toilet paper to blow my nose and some more to dry my tears.
Staring into the mirror, I looked at my red-rimmed eyes and saw something else there that hadn’t been there before. I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but I would say it had to be something akin to joy.
It was hard to tell. I hadn’t ever experienced so much joy in my life. But something was definitely different with me.
“Come on, Zandy,” Taylor called out. “I’ve got the drinks, and I’m dying to hear about your day.”
Heading back out, I took the champagne glass she’d set on the coffee table and took one long drink, hoping to steady my nerves. “Okay, the guy who got me pregnant is now a doctor. Dr. Kane Price, to be exact. And you’ve met him.”
“I knew it!” She pointed at me. “You lied to me. It was that guy from last night. You bitch!”
“I know.” Another swallow of the drink helped me steady myself to go on. “I’m sorry. I have no idea why, but I didn’t want you to know that he was the one. None of that matters anymore. The whole town knows that I had a baby. The whole town knows that Kane is the father.”
Perplexed, she asked, “And how is that?”
“He told me that one of my neighbors overheard my family when that whole thing went down. My parents screamed at me a lot, so I can’t say I’m surprised by that. She went to school when it started up again and told Kane about what had happened. She was pretty sure he was the guy, since she’d seen us together at that party.” I took another drink, finding my glass empty. “Well, hell.”
“I made a whole gallon of it.” Taylor jerked her head toward the kitchen. “On the counter.”
I got up to go refill my glass. “Great thinking. This news is a bit overwhelming.”
“I bet it is.” She put her glass down, watching me. “Okay, so somehow this guy was able to track you down, without you knowing, and he was able to get the baby you’d been forced to put up for adoption?”
