“That summer I graduated a year early from high school, and Mark went to Europe, we broke up for a few months.”

“Yes, we remember.” Fran’s gaze darted quickly to Howard and back to me.

“I met someone when I was working at the skating rink. He was there for a summer hockey program for talented junior players. His name was Easton Black.” My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for their reaction.

“Black?” Howard’s voice cracked slightly, and he sat down hard on the coffee table. Good thing he was a slight man, or he’d have broken the thing in two.

“The first name on the list was Rosalee Black.” Fran stated what we all knew, but I was relieved I didn’t have to explain further.

“His mother.”

“Mark isn’t the father of the twins?” Fran stood and backed away from me as if I were carrying a highly contagious disease. She held her hands over her mouth and stared.

“It appears not.” I sat up slowly, needing to face these two people from a sitting position. “I am so sorry. I never knew. Mark and I got back together within a week of Easton leaving, and I…I didn’t know. You must think I’m a horrible person.” I buried my face in my hands, and the tears came and wouldn’t stop. I cried with huge sobs shaking my body. At some point in time, Fran sat next to me, and Howard sat on the other side of me. Fran rubbed my back, and both said nothing.

“Do you hate me?” I asked finally. These two were all I had in this world except for my kids and my best friend, Juniper.

“No, honey, we don’t hate you,” Fran insisted, but her gaze was full of confusion and uncertainty.

“You made a mistake, but that doesn’t mean we stopped loving you. We’ll get through this together.” Howard was in his take-charge mode, and I was fine with that.

I didn’t deserve the love of these people. They’d already forgiven me for passing my children off as their son’s children, not that I’d intentionally done it, but in my mind, ignorance was no excuse.

“What do we do now?” I said.

“Easton needs to know. It’s the right thing to do. He’s their father.” Howard looked to Fran for confirmation, and she nodded. Despite the shock of a few minutes ago, they’d both recovered remarkably and were already looking to the future.

I was stuck in the present and the past.

I had to tell Easton. I didn’t have an option.

It was the right thing to do.

Chapter Four

Holding All the Cards

~~Easton~~

That next morning, Coach Gorst called me into his office. It was a typical rainy day in Seattle. Leaves were turning colors and covering the sidewalks, soon to give way to an oppressive gray that would dominate the next several months. In a few days, the regular hockey season began, and I wanted to be on this team so badly I could taste it.