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I take a deep breath, and a moment to collect my thoughts.

“But you didn’t just lie to them about one thing, Harlan. You also asked me to lie to your family for you, to pretend to be Darla. Actually, you forced me to. With blackmail. Why?”

“Because, like I told you back then,” he says simply, “they wanted me to introduce them to Darla.”

“But you didn’t. Are you ever going to?”

“I can’t. Because there is no Darla. Then they’d know I lied.” He takes my hands in his and looks deep into my eyes. “You can’ttell them, either, Quinn. I’m telling you all this in confidence. I’m trusting you.”

With those words, I can feel the wall he’s still got up between us. This whole confession about Darla, the cat, and the lies he told his siblings might seem like he’s letting me in, but suddenly, it doesn’tfeellike it.

“But why can’t you just tell them the truth now?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. You know the truth.”

“I don’t, though. You told me why you lied to them. But you haven’t told mewhythey suddenly wanted to meet Darla.”

He hesitates, and I know he’s holding something back, for sure. “I can’t tell you the reason. What does it matter?”

“Because, Harlan. All of this… these lies you tell your siblings, and whatever it is you’re keeping from me… You’re still lying.”

He’s still lying tome, and our baby is coming in six months. How much more time do we have to get this right?

To become a real family? One that doesn’t keep secrets from one another?

A family that’s built on a solid foundation of trust.

The kind of family me and this baby need.

“I’m being honest with you,” he says. “Right now.”

“So, you’re being honest with me, but you still won’t ever introduce me to your family as Quinn? Just Quinn? Not Quinn-who-we-also-know-as-Darla?”

He takes a breath. Exhales. “I can’t tell them that Darla doesn’t exist, Quinn. Darla has to besomeone.”

Fuck me. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

What I’mstillhearing.

I get to my feet. I tell him, “Then introduce them to the damn cat, Harlan.” I’m so exasperated, I don’t even know if I’m more frustrated or hurt. “Can’t you see that the solution to your problem is literally staring you in the face?”

He stares at me for a long moment.

Then he looks over at the cat. She’s awake now, like she knows we’ve been talking about her.

She stretches a little, and her green eyes meet Harlan’s.

Then he looks up at me again. And for the first time, I see true fear in his eyes. “What if I can’t?”

I sigh, my heart aching, for both of us. “You can trust me, Harlan. But I just don’t think we have a hope in hell as a couple if that only goes one way.”

Chapter 29

Harlan

“So, what’s the big emergency?” Damian asks.

“Yeah. You seem so calm,” Jameson says suspiciously, eying me. “Where’s the body?”