I’m pregnant, and there’s no way that this child belongs to Everett. It serves him right for cheating on me all these years. I knew there would be consequences for my actions, but why did it have to be this way? I have teenage boys, and I’m in my midthirties. I don’t want this child, but I can’t, in all good conscience, get rid of it.

“My mother didn’t belong to Grandpa?” April’s voice sounded like it was coming from a deep well in her own ears. The room began to spin, and she reached out to grab the leg of the coffee table.

“Evidently not,” Flynn said. “That explains why Nanny Lucy was so hard on herself and on you. She viewed both you and Rachel as retribution for her committing adultery.”

“Does she tell who my grandfather is? Please don’t tell me it’s D. J. Devereaux. I don’t think I could face Jackson if it is.” April covered her face with her hands.

“Why not? You don’t have a crush on him, do you?” Nessa asked.

“No, but we are neighbors, and he seems like a good man,” April answered. “He doesn’t need to know that the uncle he adored had an affair with another man’s wife.”

Nessa flipped through several more pages and finally read:

Rachel was born today, and her father doesn’t even know that she exists, and never will. He’s my best friend April’s husband, and they’ve moved to El Paso. April can’t have children, and wants a family so badly. It’s not fair. I have her husband’s child and don’t want it, but I’ll raise the baby, even though I never wanted another child, especially a girl.

April’s quick intake of breath caused both Nessa and Flynn to turn toward her. “What a mess! No wonder she got so mad at me when I looked in that closet. This is a lot to take in all at once. I know my father’s name, and I have a grandfather. I wonder if he’s still alive.”

Flynn flipped out his phone again, then put it back in his pocket. “We don’t even know the man’s first or last name. All we know is that he was April’s husband.”

Nessa scanned through several more pages and then read:

I was the maid of honor at my best friend’s wedding today. She seems happy with Joseph Wilkes, but that man has a wandering eye, just like my Everett. We’ll pay the price for falling for handsome bad boys. I just know it.

Tears flowed down April’s face. “I didn’t have much of a chance, did I?”