Page 77 of Harmless Secrets

She held her daughter close to her chest as she continued to cry.

“Why are you so sad, Mummy?” Bridget asked her.

Embarrassment heated her face. She wiped away the tears. “Oh, just a little sad, that’s all. I lost a friend today and I found out she wasn’t too nice.”

She had never cried in front of her daughter, not once. The argument with Devon had pushed her over the edge, and she’d lost the fight with her tears.

“Was Devon angry with me? Did I do something wrong?”

The fear of disappointing Devon was easy to hear in her voice. She pulled back and looked at her daughter. She knew Devon would never do anything to hurt her.

“Oh, poppet, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. Devon and Mummy had a fight.”

“Oh.”

Bridget didn’t understand. She was really too young to pick up on what the undercurrents meant. With just the two of them for all of her life, Bridget didn’t understand arguments. She sighed and slipped her hand over her daughter’s golden hair. She had important things to discuss, and she wasn’t quite sure how to approach it. Alicia was a woman who planned for everything, but this had never been on her horizon. Not until she decided to have a fun Saturday at the market.

“How do you like Devon?”

Bridget smiled. “He’s nice when he doesn’t frown. He has a nice smile.”

“That’s true. He does have a very nice smile.”

“His eyes are like Dee’s. But, they’re twins.”

She drew in a deep breath, and slowly released it. “Yes, they are.”

“And they’re like mine. I have eyes like theirs.”

Leave it up to her daughter to pick up on that. Four years old. She shook her head. Her father had said Alicia had been a precocious child, solving puzzles on a teenage level when she was barely seven. She should have known with a father like Devon that Bridget would turn out even smarter.

“Yes, you both have the same eyes. Do you know why?”

Bridget shook her head.

“That’s because, a long time ago, Devon and I knew each other.”

“You knew him before I was born?”

Alicia nodded and decided to take the plunge. “He’s your daddy.”

Bridget didn’t react right away. Alicia knew her daughter and knew she was putting the pieces together in her mind, trying to understand the situation.

“What do you think about that?” Alicia finally asked.

“Does that mean Alana is my cousin?”

Alicia nodded. “And Dee’s your aunt and Micah is your uncle. What do you think about that?” she asked again.

Bridget smiled. “That’s okay, but I don’t want to live here. I want to move back to Washington.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Alicia said.

“Hey, do you think Devon would come live with us? He can stay in the guest room. I think he’s lonely.”

Fresh tears burned the backs of her eyes. “Why do you say that?”

Bridget shrugged. “You said you were lonely until you had me. Now he doesn’t have to be lonely.”