Page 21 of The Tiger's Secret Baby (Savage Shifters Special Ops 4)

“Does he know?”

“Not yet,” I answered. “I’ve been trying to tell him but something always comes up.”

“Why doesn’t he know?” she asked.

I knew it was time to tell the truth. “Your father and I were engaged a long time ago. We were both madly in love with each other. Lucian was his best friend. Lucian’s brother, Cedric, was killed during the war. Lucian joined the military, wanting to take out the people who hurt his brother. Damian went with him to try to protect him. While they were on missions, he couldn’t write to me or call me. Gradually, we stopped talking.”

“Why didn’t you tell him when he came back?” she asked.

“I didn’t know where he was. To be honest, I didn’t try to find out. I didn’t want him to try to marry me just because he thought he had to because we had a child together. I didn’t want to trap him, so to speak.”

She nodded. She understood as much as her ten year old brain could.

“He’s going to be mad when he finds out, especially if you don’t tell him,” Rose observed.

“You are right, Baby Girl. Looking back, I know I should have told him. But if he knew about you, he wouldn’t have gone to the military and I wouldn’t have my children here.”

Hastily I added, “That’s not an excuse, I know. You should have had your father in your life. He will be an amazing dad and he’ll love you as much as I do.”

“I understand, Mom. We can only do what we know best at the time. But you better tell him soon. I think everyone else knows,” Rose said. She hugged her mother and ran off to play with her brothers and sisters.

I raised one very smart and intuitive little girl.

How in the world was I going to tell Damian? The longer I waited, the harder it was becoming. I had to tell him. I just didn’t know when or how.

I watched the kids for a while, especially Rose. I watched how she moved and played, and saw that she was so much like Damian. I think that she was more like him than she was like me.

The phone started ringing, and my heart sank. I had hoped that with the arrival of the social services, Duggers had done enough damage for one week. Gage followed me into the house.

“Hello,” I asked, hoping that it was someone from a telemarketing service trying to sell me a warranty. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed.

“I heard you had a visitor out at your place,” he said, his oily slick voice came through the line, making me want to sandblast my ear.

“You heard that, huh? Now, how in the world could you have possibly heard something like that, considering that there was no one around when she arrived.”

“I have my sources,” he said, unruffled.

“You mean that you made several phone calls reporting child abuse, hoping they would find something and take my kids away, so I would sell you my farm,” I retorted.

“Now, would I do something like that? I have kids of my own. I only want to do what is right. I care about children, and I wouldn’t want any harm to come to any of them.”

“I would tell you that the kids are just fine, there’s no abuse here, and that the social services lady left satisfied, but you really wouldn’t care. You were just trying to find a way to make my life a little more stressful. Well, guess what, Sir. You failed. Have a wonderful day,” I said, and hung up the phone before he could say another word.

In my mind, I could hear him chuckling as he planned out his next strategy.

I turned around and almost ran straight into Gage.

“I have to give it to him, he is definitely a very persistent man, isn’t he?” Gage asked.

“He is. I don’t know how to make him give up. I don’t know what is so important about this piece of land that makes him want it so badly. There are a lot of other acreage around here that is available for sale.”

Gage nodded and studied me intently.

“When are you going to tell Damian?” he asked.

I didn’t even try to pretend that I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I’ve tried a couple of times,” I said, fidgeting with my fingers. “But every time I tell him that I need to talk, we get distracted or something else comes up.”

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