Her Secret, His Child

"Mmm-hmm." Jamie stared out the window again. She'd made her choices. She was accountable for them.

"He's a jerk if he can't see that you were just a desperate young girl making what seemed like your only choice."

"He's not a jerk." Jamie glanced back at her friend. "He just has a very strong sense of right and wrong. It's part of what I love about him."

If Karen had any more thoughts on the matter, she kept them to herself. Jamie didn't want to think about life at all. She just wanted to enjoy the day.

And she did. Until Nelson Monroe bumped into her right after an announcement that t

he President's plane had been delayed and he wouldn't have time for his address.

"Jamie! Hello. Twice in two months! I'm a lucky man," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Shoving Ashley back with Karen and Kayla, she tried to steer Nelson away from the other mothers and children. If she'd thought God would listen, she'd have prayed. Instead, she focused one-hundred percent on getting the man as far away from her daughter as she could.

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

"You're visiting in Denver?" she asked him, attempting to push through the crowd.

"No!" He grabbed her hand, pulled her to a stop—which wasn't hard, as the crowd wasn't moving an inch. "I thought you knew. I'm living here now."

"What about Tom?" The two men had worked closely together. "He's still in Vegas, isn't he?"

"Of course!" Nelson laughed. "You'll never get him out of that city. But he's semiretired now, and so am I."

The children were right behind them. Jamie could feel a little hand pushing against her leg. She could hear their chatter. But not Ashley's. She fervently hoped that Karen had managed to hold Ashley back in the crowd.

"Well, it was nice seeing you," she said with forced cheer. She had to get rid of the man.

And when that was done, when Ashley was safe from Nelson's dirty aura, then Jamie could fall apart. She might have climbed out of a hellish life into a good one, but there was just no way to obliterate history. It was alive. And dangerous.

"Wait!" Nelson's arm stole around her. "We had fun together once, didn't we?"

Trying to unclasp his hand from her hip, Jamie said, "I don't remember any fun." She couldn't pretend anymore. She had to get away.

"I've missed you, Jamie." He squeezed her hip. Not hard. But possessively.

Jamie almost threw up.

Pulling free from his hand, she cried, ' 'Leave me

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

alone!" She couldn't stand this. Couldn't stand what she'd been. Couldn't stand the fact that she was exposing her daughter to this scene.

"Hey!" One of the mothers came forward. "Leave her alone, you jerk," she said. Two other women moved up with her, circling Nelson.

Jamie would have cried at their support if she hadn't been so humiliated.

Nelson held up both hands in surrender, much the way he had that night with Kyle. "Hey, ladies, just saying hello to an old friend."

The first woman turned toward Jamie. "He's your friend?" she asked. She remained in her defensive stance while she waited for confirmation.

The women would walk away, leave 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.