Sherry compressed her lips. “It’s important we know more about each other to be convincing.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I felt very much alone back then. Jimmy told me I was the love of his life and that he’d always be there for me.” Sherry’s shoulders slumped. “Looking back, it’s hard to see how I could have been so naïve.”

“Did you love him?”

“I told myself I did, but deep down I knew better. I…” Her voice broke. “I just didn’t want to be alone, I guess.” A single tear ran down her pale cheek, but Sherry seemed oblivious to it.

Madison swallowed against the lump in her throat. She just couldn’t bear to see a woman cry, least of all Sherry, even though she couldn’t say why. Without taking time to think about it, Madison put one arm around Sherry’s shoulder.

Sherry flinched. She turned and wiped away another tear that had fallen. “I don’t need your pity.”

Sherry’s rejection hurt. “And you won’t get it, trust me,” she said, harsher than intended. “So, what happened next?”

Sherry looked over to Madison. The deep sadness in her eyes took Madison’s breath away.

“I slept with him. Twice. Just twice. But I got pregnant.”

“And then?”

“He ended it. Said the baby wasn’t his and that I was trying to trick him.”

“Bastard!” Maybe Madison used women, but she never pretended otherwise, and she couldn’t get them pregnant. If she had been able to do so, she would have used condoms so she wouldn’t have to live with the consequences. Don’t go all high and mighty here. In his place, you most likely would have done the same. Madison found a loose thread on the blanket and used both hands to rip it off. “Bastard,” she repeated, but it felt strangely as if she meant herself this time.

“No. If not for him, I wouldn’t have Jake.”

Madison’s gaze snapped up. Was she serious?

Sherry smiled, and this time it reached her eyes. “Jake is a gift. He means the world to me.”

Madison regarded her. How did it feel to love someone like that? “How did your mother react when you told her about your pregnancy?”

Sherry closed her eyes as if trying to shut out the memory of it. Looking at Madison, she said, “When I was six months pregnant, I couldn’t hide it any longer. Just a few weeks before getting my high school diploma, my mother kicked me out, saying she didn’t want to have to care for my little bastard too.”