Best Kept Secret (Rochester Trilogy 3)

“One day you might.”

“Not any day soon.”

“They’re new beginnings,” he says. “All those goodbyes. They’re a fresh start for those kids. Every time you let one of them go, it’s to start a new life.”

I have a new life now. “Thank you.”

“You’ll make it,” he says, as if he’s reading my mind. “I’ve got you.”

“What about you?” I pull back to look into his face. At the dark eyes that stole my heart at Coach House and won’t ever give it back again. “Are you happy like this?”

“Yes,” he says without reservation.

He still does some work on his investments, but most of his time has gone towards working with the builders to get it done quickly. With furnishing the new house. With taking care of Paige when she comes over after school. With taking care of me between online classes.

His phone starts ringing in his pocket, and he groans. “I wanted to be inside you.”

“I just got home.”

“Exactly.” He takes one look at the screen and declines the call. “Work can wait. You. Naked. On the bed. I’m going to kiss your sweet cunt until you forget everything but my name.”

And he does.

EPILOGUE

Jane Mendoza

The new house is where everything happens.

It’s where I take classes from a sunny office Beau built for me and do my homework at the kitchen table when I want a change of scenery. It’s the first new house I’ve ever lived in, and even after months of waking up here and going to sleep, it still smells new. And fresh. Everything is possible here.

We live in sight of Coach House, where Paige lives with Emily. We’ve all got breathing room, but not real distance. I’m not done with my degree yet, but it’s a living example of all the shapes a family can take. Sometimes we focus too hard on two parents and two-point-five kids.

The family that I have fulfills every hole inside my heart.

I’m at the kitchen table reading case notes for my schoolwork. I’ve only got about a minute to go, and so much to read. So much to know. I’m excited to start a career but I don’t ever want to stop learning. These kids deserve that much from me.

Paige bursts through the door, bringing the breeze with her. Her backpack knocks against her back, and Kitten, who is no longer a kitten, follows her inside. “Jane! I’ve been waiting all day to tell you about chess club.”

“I can’t wait to hear it.” I poke my head out the door and wave in the direction of Coach House, the sign I’m taking over. Emily will be watching to make sure Paige makes it safely. Then I shut the door and turn to Paige for a hug. “Important question. Popcorn first or Monopoly first?”

“Both, obviously.” Paige does an eye-roll that makes me laugh. She’s moved onto chess as her primary focus, but she still loves Monopoly. “And I want to stay up late.”

“Staying up late is a guarantee.” For two reasons. I’ll stay up talking to Paige as long as she wants. There’s another reason I don’t get much sleep lately…

A small cry from the stairs.

Beau’s coming down with the baby on his arm. Baby fists stretch in the air. He’s still rubbing his eyes, mewling and confused from his nap.

“I did warn you about the binky situation,” Beau says to the baby, his voice as measured as if he was speaking to a grown up. No baby talk from this man. “I warned you that it would lead to a shorter nap, and it did. That’s okay though. We learn more when we experiment. Are you a scientist? I think you are.” Beau looks up from the baby and his eyes light up. “And Paige is here. Tell me you chose a good movie.”

Paige runs to his side and squeezes him around the waist. “I picked the best movie. It has robots and emojis and a princess who has a sword. But you don’t care what it is.”

“I just care that we’re here,” Beau says. “That we’re together.”

She gives him a big grin before cooing over the baby. “Hello, little Bastian. Are you sleepy? Did you miss me? We’re going to hang out all night. No sleeping.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Beau says, his voice dry.

Paige curls up beside Bastian’s ocean-themed gym, and Beau sets the baby down. He kicks, a little disoriented, until Paige makes the octopus twirl in the air. She’s not quite old enough to walk around with the baby, but she can hold him when they’re both on the ground. They’re thick as thieves, those two. I already know that Paige will spend most of her time here cooing over the baby. It makes my heart clench to see them, every time. I grew up in house full of children, but we weren’t siblings. We didn’t feel like brothers and sisters. We felt like prisoners, trapped and lashing out. Seeing Paige and Bastian spend time together fills the empty spaces in my past. Family isn’t about blood. It’s about love.