He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Leigh, Leigh, stop. Listen to me. What you did to me is really unfair. No matter what happened between us, they were mine. No matter what my marital status was or yours, for that matter—you should have told me I had children. This could have worked out all different. I missed all this time with them because you decided it was better this way. Leigh, I know I hurt your feelings when I said ‘Go,’ but I didn’t take your kids away from you! Is there anything else you should tell me? Anything that you either assume I know, assume I don’t know, or…anything?”

“What do you mean?”

“The kids are fine? Normal? No mysterious conditions or anything?”

“Of course not. I would tell you something like that.”

“You didn’t even tell me that—”

“Soup!” Jess cried from the back door. “Leigh, the girls and I have ours in the kitchen. Why don’t you, John and the boys help yourselves while we go back to our game?”

Leigh and John didn’t respond, only looked at each other. “Does she know?” he asked after a long moment.

“Sometimes I think she does, sometimes I’m sure she doesn’t. She hounds me about getting married all the time—she decided I should marry someone like you, but I don’t know how she could know you’re their—” She shrugged. “Maybe you just seem the perfect type to be their stepfather.”

“Stepfather,” he muttered, the set of his mouth angry. “You really did it this time. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Was it some kind of test…to see if I was good enough?”

“Oh, John, no. Oh, please,” she said, tears coming to her eyes.

“Sometimes you have no sense,” he said.

“I know, I know, but I thought—”

“Stop it!” He looked away. Were those tears in his eyes? He shook his head again, trying to clear the fog away. “I gotta go, Leigh. Tell Jess thanks anyway, but I need a little time to think. Alone. Let me have that. Okay?”

“Could you just remember one thing?”

“Yeah, what?”

“It’s not their fault.”

* * *

Work on the yard progressed with lightning speed, but without the foreman. John remained conspicuously absent while the roof went on the gazebo and the last brick was laid in the barbecue pit.

“Where is that young man?” Jess asked her daughter. “I haven’t seen him in almost a week.”

“Six days,” Leigh replied morosely.

“I hadn’t realized,” Jess, who realized each minute, lied. “And here I was getting the impression that he had taken a real interest in you and the boys. Or was it just my cooking?”

Leigh made no response. She gazed off into space, as she had been doing quite a lot lately.