Page 19 of Single Mom's Undoing

“Given his heart condition, you had to pull him out of school, right?” Lenora asks, giving me a warm look.

I nod slowly. “Yes. It wasn’t an easy decision, but the staff there were not trained for his heart issues, and there were so many kids for them to deal with already. I just couldn’t risk it. He was better off at home with me and Kacey, our next-door neighbor, who helped watch him while I was at work.”

“Carter tells me you had a nice job in Portland.”

“I did, yes.” I exhale sharply. “I couldn’t hold on to it, though. We had big projects to work on, and Kacey couldn’t cover most of my overtime. I ended up falling behind, missing meetings. In the end, they had to let me go. But they were kind enough to give me a decent severance package, enough for us to get by until I came back to Blackthorn Falls for my brother’s estate.”

“Stephan was a good man,” Damon says. “He did right by you.”

“He did. I just wish I knew about this sooner. I think it could’ve changed the tone in some of our conversations, at least,” I tell him.

“Trust me, anything you think you should’ve told him before he left us, he already knew,” Damon replies.

Matty gasps. “This is cool!”

He’s just discovered that red and blue combined create purple, his fingers wiggling with excitement as Shiloh scoots closer to his side with paint-glazed hands of her own.

“Can I paint?” she asks him.

Matty stares at his new discovery for a moment, then gives her a nod. “Okay.”

“Gotta give my little man credit. He knows when to concede,” I chuckle softly, then shift my focus back on Damon. “So, where is her mom now?”

Lenora rolls her eyes. “Don’t get me started on that woman.”

“Mom, come on. You promised.”

“I promised civility, Damon. Not speaking well of…never mind.” She pauses. “You have the floor, son.”

Damon laughs and leans back into the sofa, leaving a bit of room between us. I don’t mind it. I want to be able to focus on what he’s saying, not just how gorgeous he looks in that white cotton shirt and jeans that hug his thighs in all the right places.

“Elizabeth Winston,” he says. “It wasn’t supposed to lead anywhere serious, to be fair. We had a thing, and then she got pregnant. She decided to keep the baby, I proposed, she said yes.”

“Then she figured she could just plop the baby in Damon’s arms and go back to her career, traveling the world buying paintings for her rich clients,” Lenora scoffs.

“An art dealer then,” I conclude.

“A good one, too,” Damon says. “Most of the original artworks in the Vanguard Mansion were purchased by Elizabeth.”

“Let’s just say that Damon dodged a bullet with that creature. Shiloh is the only good thing to come out of that situation,” Lenora says.

Damon gives her a look, but I can’t really blame either of them for feeling the way they do—especially Damon. He’s caught between a rock and a hard place, especially where Shiloh is concerned, since he’s obviously trying to salvage her mother’s image for a child who has yet to understand what happened. It’s his way of protecting his daughter.

And it makes me appreciate him even more.

“Uh-oh,” Shiloh says.

That gets our attention.

She just spilled a tub of yellow paint all over the paper and part of the floor, and she’s about to dip her hands into the puddle. Laughing, I get up, rushing to stop her from making an even bigger mess.

“Hold on, honey, you don’t want to—” I lose my thought as I accidentally step into the puddle, then slip and fall.

“Mommy!” Matty cries out, understandably worried.

I’m laughing even harder, covered in yellow paint as my son rushes over and touches my face and neck with his red and blue fingers.

It makes Shiloh giggle.