Katie was down the stairs in a flash, her bare feet skimming the wooden steps and hallway into the kitchen. She opened the door and found him in the shadows, as taciturn and unfriendly as she’d ever seen him. “Something’s wrong,” she guessed.

“You could say that.”

Her heart went wild. “Come in, come in. What is it?”

Once inside, he grabbed one of the chairs positioned around the table and straddled it. Folding his arms over the back, he stared up at her. Dread did a slow crawl up her spine. In a moment of intuitive divination she knew what this was about.

“I want to talk about Josh’s father.”

“I figured as much.” Her voice sounded strangled, even to her own ears. “Why?”

“It’s time.”

She wanted to argue, to tell him it was none of his business, but the truth of the matter was out. Now that Josh knew his parentage, there seemed no reason to lie. “I don’t see why it could possibly matter to you,” she began, rubbing at a spot on the counter with one finger, “but you may as well know that Josh was Dave Sorenson’s son. We . . . we knew each other in high school, got involved and then, just before he left, I got pregnant.” Her cheeks burned and for a second she thought she might break down altogether, but she managed to keep her voice steady and look Luke in the eye.

“You never told him that he had a son.”

“Nope.” She shook her head and couldn’t hide the regret in her voice. It seemed Luke was determined that she face all her demons. Tonight. “I should have. For Dave. For Josh. I . . . I was young and stupid and naive and hurt. I had explained to Dave before he moved away that there was a chance that I was pregnant, but he didn’t seem concerned and then, when I knew for sure, I found out that he’d already hooked up with another girl in Texas. I guess I had too much pride to run after him and give him the news he didn’t want to hear—that he was going to be a father.” She drew in a long, shaky breath. “So the only person I confided in was my mom. No one else knew and she kept my secret. I didn’t even tell Jarrod who Josh’s dad was and I felt badly about it, because Jarrod saw me through some pretty dark hours. Stood by me and didn’t ask any questions or give me any lectures.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, silently encouraging her to continue.

“I’m not making excuses. I should have told Dave the truth. I thought I was protecting my son and myself, but really I only ended up hurting Josh.” She managed a thin, frail smile. “I made a mistake. A big one.”