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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

Greg was already at the bench, wearing dark jeans and an army-green jacket, a striped scarf knotted around his neck. He shot me a wary look as I approached.

“You know there are easier ways to meet,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a Hardy Boys novel. Did you leave me a secret code in the hollow of a tree?”

I’d thrown a coat on over my owl costume and stuffed the mask inside my pocket so I wouldn’t feel ridiculous. Hardly anyone had seemed to be paying attention as I’d slipped off the cul-de-sac, but I still felt conspicuous.

Guilty.

I hadn’t said a word to Adam when I’d left. And really, what could I tell him that wouldn’t be more lies? If I was lucky, no one would miss me while I was gone.

If.

“Sit,” Greg told me, patting the bench.

I shook my head. There he was, my professor, my lover. The man who knew all my secrets.

He stood, hands in pockets. “You’re so serious. Is it my kid? Did she burn down your house last night and you can’t bring yourself to tell me?”

“No, she’s fine. It’s something else.”

You did a really good thing, Greg had told me on campus.

I decided to be direct. “Daphne Brown was Lily’s mother, wasn’t she?”

I studied his face. He didn’t blink. Didn’t even act surprised. I wondered if he knew this was coming. “Yes.”

Even though I’d already made the connection, Greg’s casual admission still hit me like a boulder.

“The Browns were good friends with my parents,” Greg continued. “They didn’t know what to do after she died. Daphne’s parents were awful—they wanted nothing to do with her. And the Browns couldn’t take on a baby. They didn’t want to, and I didn’t blame them. They’d already done so much for Daphne.”

“So you thought of me and Brad,” I said, the sarcasm dripping. “How sweet.”

“Daphne loved Lily,” Greg said. “We wanted to find her a good home, where she’d be loved. I knew that was you.” He made it sound so simple. So innocent.

“Really, Greg?” I asked. “Or was I just the convenient solution to your dilemma?”

Greg flinched at the venom in my voice. “My dilemma?”

It all added up. Why Greg had broken up with me. Why Jackie had left him anyway. Why he’d asked me to take Lily months later.

“You were sleeping with her, too.”

“With Daphne?” He put on his best offended face. “What? No. Of course not.”

“Don’t lie to me, Greg.”

“I’m not lying. Theresa. I’m not.”

“That’s why Jackie dumped you, isn’t it? The real reason? Because Lily is your daughter, too? She didn’t want to raise someone else’s child?”