The Secret Heir

“About…?”

“What do you think about moving to Texas?”

She felt her eyes widen. Of all the things he might have said, she never could have predicted this question. “Why on earth would you want to move to Texas?”

“Remember Kelsey—Mike Kelsey, who used to work with me?”

“Yes. He moved to Houston a couple of years ago, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. Anyway, he and I have stayed in touch, he calls or comes by the site when he’s in town a couple times a year visiting his folks. He was here last month, and he told me then that the construction business is thriving in that area. He said he was sure he could get me on as a foreman with his company. And he thought there was a chance he and I could strike out on our own within a couple of years, make a decent living in residential construction.”

“But…why?”

“Well, you know I haven’t been getting on all that well with my boss. And there are excellent medical facilities in Texas for Tyler. I imagine they have need for skilled social workers there, too.”

At least he was acknowledging her in some small way. “How long have you been considering this move?”

“I guess it’s been in the back of my mind since Kelsey brought it up. Since Tyler got sick, I’ve been thinking about it more.”

Laurel couldn’t help but be skeptical. Was this really related to Tyler’s surgery—or did it have more to do with whatever Donna had told Jackson yesterday? “But you love Portland. You grew up here.”

He shrugged. “Might be nice to live someplace new for a change. Someplace where it doesn’t rain all the time,” he added with a crooked smile that didn’t quite work.

“You’ve always said you like the rain. And you love the rocky beaches.”

“They have beaches in Texas. The Gulf of Mexico is only an hour’s drive from Houston.”

“Totally different types of beaches than Oregon.”

“So we’ll try something different. I’m thirty-one years old, and I’ve never lived more than twenty miles from the hospital where I was born. I think it’s past time for me to see a little more of what’s out there. It would be good for us, I think. Give us a chance to make a fresh start—just you and me and Tyler.”

If he had suggested this move a couple of years ago, maybe even a few months ago, Laurel would have jumped at the chance. As much as she loved working at Children’s Connection, the offer of a fresh start in a new place with her husband and son would have been irresistible. But not like this.

“And what about your parents?” she asked evenly.

He lifted an eyebrow, as if in mild surprise at her question. “They’ll be fine. We’ll visit, of course, but it isn’t really necessary for us to live fifteen minutes away from them. They have their lives; we need our own.”

She was growing sadder by the moment. As much as Jackson was trying to convince her that this was a move for them, a chance for them to be closer together, she felt even more shut out than before.

She had no doubt that Jackson loved her. Just as she loved him. So why couldn’t love be enough to bridge the emotional distance between them?

“Are you planning to tell me the real reason why you want to run to Texas, or am I just supposed to go along with your plans like a good little wife and not ask any questions? And please don’t tell me again that you want to move for the scenery or the weather. I would rather you flat out tell me it’s none of my business than to brush me off with nonsense.”

His eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t lying to you. All my reasons for wanting to move are valid ones. And I do think it would be good for the two of us to get away from my—my parents. I would think you’d be the first to agree with that, since you’ve always resented how prominent a role they’ve played in our marriage.”

She hadn’t missed his slight verbal stumble. “What did your mother tell you yesterday, Jackson?”

The length of his hesitation made her wonder if he really was going to tell her it was none of her business. She braced herself for the words, achingly aware that their marriage would be over if he said them.

Maybe the same thought occurred to him. Clearing his throat, he muttered, “She told me that she and Carl have been lying to me my entire life. And it took almost losing our son for them—for my mother—to finally get up the courage to tell me the truth.”

Thirteen

“How have your parents been lying to you, Jackson?”

Even as she asked, Laurel still thought it likely that he had just found out he’d been adopted. His reaction seemed a bit extreme, but maybe it was perfectly normal, especially for a man who had always been so close to his parents. She was hardly an expert on how it would feel to be suddenly estranged from her parents, since she had never been particularly close to hers in the first place.

Losing her mother had been a sad experience for her, but mostly because the accident had put an end to any girlhood fantasies Laurel might have harbored of eventually forging a close relationship with Janice. Perhaps as friends, if not a more traditional mother–daughter bond.