She shook her head and felt beads of sweat collecting at her nape and forehead. “As I said, no one did. Whenever the subject of his father came up, I told him that the man was in my life for a very short period, then gone, that I didn’t know much about him anymore. I promised to tell him the whole story some day, but, for the most part, I hedged. I didn’t want Josh to hear things about a father who had left him before he was born, and I thought that if I kept the guy anonymous, and if there was no speculation, no gossip, it would be okay. Of course, that was a mistake. People talk and kids are cruel.” She swiped her bangs from her eyes. “You have to understand I was little more than a kid, myself. I’d been teased all my growing-up years because my mom was forever getting married and divorced. It seemed like everyone else’s family was stable and mine was this ... this chaotic mess.

“I know now that it wasn’t true. All families have their little secrets.” She laughed at the irony. “And of course, I had no idea that the man who was supposed to be my father, wasn’t. My mom lied to me, too. I would have died if I’d guessed that I was the product of a . . . an illicit affair. That I would be called ‘illegitimate.’ It was bad enough as it was, and I was determined that I wouldn’t put my kid through the same kind of pain.”

She leaned a hip against the kitchen island and glanced out to the backyard where moonlight was casting the dry grass in soft shades of silver. “Anyway, of course it was probably worse for Josh to not tell him the truth, but I was young and convinced I was doing the right thing. The trouble with a lie is it feeds on itself and keeps growing. Any time the subject came up, I evaded the issue and told myself he was too young to understand. I thought there would be plenty of time. It wasn’t as if Dave had shown any interest in my possible pregnancy, anyway. But then you landed in town with the news that Dave was dead and I . . . I couldn’t stand it. I knew I had to level with Josh. I finally talked with him a few days ago.”

“How did he take the news?”