“Open it.”

Giving him that wary look she did so well, she withdrew the papers from the envelope and scanned them.

He was about to explain when she gasped, and her hand flew up to cover her mouth.

“Before you freak out, will you listen to me?”

She couldn’t seem to speak, so she nodded.

“A couple of days after we ran into him on the ferry, he found me in the diner when I was there with Thomas. He said he’d asked around and knew we weren’t married and that we hadn’t been together long. He’d figured out that Thomas was probably his.”

“Oh God,” she whispered. The stricken look on her face broke his heart and confirmed he’d done the right thing by not telling her when it happened. “Oh my God!”

Mac rested his hands on her shoulders. “All he cared about was that we’d come after him for money.”

“I’ve never wanted his money!”

“And I told him that, but he wanted assurances. I said we’d sign something releasing him from financial obligation if he’d sign away his rights to Thomas so I can adopt him.”

She wrenched free of Mac’s hold and began to pace the big, empty room.

From the floor, Thomas watched them with that big-eyed solemn expression of his.

“This happened weeks ago! When were you going to tell me?”

“As soon as I had the signed papers from him, which Roseanne delivered to me with my mail. I was going to bring them to you tonight.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the day it happened? We’re right back to you keeping things from me!”

Mac forced himself to stay calm. “If I’d told you that he knew about Thomas, you wouldn’t have been able to breathe or sleep or eat for the two weeks it took him to get these papers to me.”

“Is this how it’s going to be?” She threw up her hands. “You’re going to take care of everything and leave me out of it?”

“Stuff like this? Absolutely.”

“That’s not how I want to live, Mac. That’s not the kind of marriage I want.”

“This is me, Maddie. It’s who I am. I see something that’ll make you sick with worry, and I make it go away. I love you too much to watch you suffer like that, and you would’ve suffered over this.” He went to her, slid an arm around her waist and brought her in close to him. “You would’ve suffered.”

She expelled a deep, shuddering breath as all the fight went out of her. “Yes. I would have.”

“Now you don’t have to. He signed his way right out of our lives.” Mac pressed his lips to her forehead. “Are you mad?”

“No,” she said softly. “I’m sad.”

“Because of what I did?”