Page 76 of His Wounded Heart

“Again, I can’t speak for your sister. I’m just wanting you to understand what a toxic brew that shame and pride can be. Especially when she loves and looks up to you so much. You might have been one of the last people she would have told.”

Dammit. I look at his face and I feel like I’ve kicked someone when they’ve been down for months.

When I say as much, he puts out his hands and I grab them.

“That’s not true. You’ve given me new ways to look at this. I’ve just been running in the same old circle for months now. Seeing this from another angle really does help.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Can I ask you a question?” He’s so tentative, I know it’s going to be a big one. “Why haven’t you told anyone else about this bastard? Why only me?”

“That’s easy. By the time I came home, there was nothing to tell. It was in the past.”

“Didn’t your sisters ask?”

“Yeah, when my pregnancy began to show. But that lasted a week, then they respected my privacy.”

“Even Evie?”

“Well maybe not Evie. She still asks me about it to this day. She worries that my past is impacting my present?”

“Is it?”

I look into his gleaming gray eyes. “I really hope I’ve worked it out so I’m finally in the present.”

“I hope so too, Trenda. I really do.”

Chapter Nineteen

Bella had been bouncing around the kitchen all evening yesterday, and most of the morning. She must have snuck some brownies, or some of the caramel icing, because she was higher than a kite. I wish I had her energy. Even though I’d snuck some of the chocolate icing, I’m still moving slowly.

“Mom, are we going to put them on the unicorn platter? There’s so many, we could put them on the unicorn and the kitty platter. Everybody would like that.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not listening to me. Is something wrong?”

“I’m sorry. Say that again, Sweet Pea.”

“Can we put the cupcakes on the unicorn and kitty platters? I think everybody would like that.”

“Sure, honey.”

I grab another batch of cookies out of the oven while Bella rummages through one of our cupboards for the platters. Maybe I didn’t throw out that box I’d gotten from the farmer’s market and we could layer some treats in there.

“Found ‘em!”

“Honey, do you want to ice the cupcakes or put the last of the cookie dough on the cookie sheet?”

“Ice! Ice! I found the food coloring. Blue and red make purple, right?”

I turn around to see her squirting drops of blue and red food coloring into the vanilla frosting.

“The unicorn platter is purple. This’ll be great, Mama.”

“It’ll be something, all right,” I grin back at her. Harvey has a huge gray beard and mustache. I was going to make sure that Bella offered him a purple cupcake.

I put the last batch of cookies into the oven and set the timer, then I help Bella stir the icing until it’s a pleasant shade of dark purple. “Hurry and finish icing the cupcakes, because you, my dear, are going to need a bath before we can leave.”