A Father's Secret
She leaned across the table and deftly unclipped Riley from his rocker. Holding him to her, she gathered his breakfast cereal and went through to her sitting room, closing the door behind her and locking it for good measure. She waited on the other side of the door, listening for Sam’s movement. He must have stood there on the other side for some time but eventually she heard his uneven gait as he left the room. It was a small victory, but right now she’d take whatever she could get.
* * *
It was later in the morning that Sasha came around, to share a coffee and to check up on Riley. She was thrilled to see him feeling so much better so quickly. She was less so about Erin’s news about Sam.
“He’s Riley’s father?” Sasha’s eyebrows almost shot into her hairline.
“So he says. I won’t accept it until I have proof, though. Legal proof.”
“I wouldn’t either. Except…”
“Except what?” Erin demanded, her nerves frayed.
“Except I kept thinking there was something familiar about Sam Thornton from the first time I met him. It was his similarities to Riley. They really do look alike.”
Erin sighed and felt her entire body sag. So Sasha had noticed it, too. She really didn’t stand a chance and said as much to her friend.
“Don’t be silly. You’re still Riley’s mother.”
“But he’s going to go for full custody and, Sash, I’m frightened he’ll get it. I…I’ve done things in my past that I’m deeply ashamed of. He knows all of it and he’s not above using it to prove he is a far more worthy parent. With his money he can afford the best lawyers, the best advice, the best of everything. I can’t.”
Sasha reached across the table and gripped Erin’s hand tight. “Don’t borrow trouble. Let’s wait and see what he comes up with first. If need be Tony and I can loan you money to fight this.”
Tears pooled in Erin’s eyes as she squeezed Sasha’s hand right back. Words failed her in the face of her friend’s staunch support.
“And we’ll be character witnesses, too. We were James’s friends for years, we’ve known you from the moment you arrived here. We know you, Erin. We know the person you are now and the amazing mother you’ve become. It’s got to count for something, right?”
She could only hope.
The day stretched out before her once Sasha left. Erin remembered she needed to clean up the boat and get it ready before the dry stack guys came to collect it later in the week. Had it really only been a day since she and Sam had motored out of the cove? Memories of that day were some of the best of her life—and some of the worst.
She bundled Riley up in warm clothes and put him in his stroller, throwing her supplies in a large shopping bag. Sam must have affixed the gangway from the boat to the dock yesterday before disembarking. If she wasn’t still so furious with him she’d have mentally thanked him for the consideration. She pushed Riley’s stroller onto the boat without any difficulty and tucked him in a sunny corner out of the wind, where he promptly dozed off.
Local birds had made short work of the leftovers on the table, leaving their own very personal form of thanks on the crockery. Erin mechanically went through the motions of tidying everything up and bagging what needed to go into the trash before scrubbing the tabletop down with disinfectant and hot water. Once the exterior was spick-and-span, she knew she couldn’t avoid going into the cabin.
“Time to put my big girl panties on, Riley,” she said to her slumbering child as she went down the steps.
The bed was exactly as they’d left it, sheets a-tumble, covers strewn to the floor. A sharp spear of pain lanced through her as she reached forward to rip the sheets from the bed. Yesterday had held so much promise. So much hope. So much love. And now it was nothing but a tangled memory. She roughly bundled the sheets into a ball, shoving them into a laundry bag and breathing through her mouth so she wouldn’t catch so much as a whiff of Sam’s cologne.
She also packed up the coverlet and the pillows. They could all do with dry cleaning before getting put into storage for next season. She shook her head. Why was she even worrying about next season? There was no point. She would be leaving Connell Lodge soon.
She wondered if she had an out somehow. If there wasn’t some legal loophole she could utilize. Erin reminded herself to contact Janet Morin and ask her if she could study the terms of her right to reside at the lodge, not to mention the latest situation with Sam.
Back at the house, Riley transferred easily from his stroller and into his bed. The antibiotics seemed to make him sleepier than normal, she thought, but that in itself was a relief. She knew sleep was a great healer and she could already see a major improvement in his well-being. It was selfish of her to wish he was more wakeful just so she’d have some company and wouldn’t have to be alone with the thoughts tumbling after one another in her mind.