Page 6 of Secrets on the Mountain

"You're not going to take my boy away from me, June."

3

JUNE

It wasn't supposed to go this way.

That's all I can think as I double-check on Donner, who's thoroughly crashed out in the spare room he'll share with me for as long as we're stuck here in Cane's house.

Cane made sure we followed him back to his place and, after a few phone calls, his brother dropped by with a couple of pizzas from a place in town and I got to meet Raine's wife, April.

In the few hours I've been here, I've also met Cane's little sister, Zephyr and their mother, May-Ellen, and overhead more than one conversation between Cane and his grandmother, Mable, who turns out to be one of the women we met earlier at the museum where I stopped to ask how to find Cane.

"Six hours." Cane mutters, as he sets his phone on a charging pad. "You managed to keep Donner a secret for five years and within six hours of walking into gran's museum, the whole damn mountain knows about the both of you."

"I didn't keep him a secret," I mutter back.

A dark, amber glare shoots toward me from behind a large piece of polished granite that serves as both kitchen island and breakfast bar.

"You keep sayin' that, but I don't remember taking any birthing classes or handing out any cigars."

I stand on the other side of the counter, making sure to keep space between us at all times.

You might think that's because I'm worried about what he might do to me if he gets his hands on me, but honestly? It has a lot more to do with being afraid of what I'll let him do to me.

Cane pours tea from a pitcher, filling two glasses while he continues muttering.

"...don't remember--" he counts off with the fingers on his spare hand-- "four? Four or Five? birthday parties...Christmases, Halloween costumes, fathers' days..."

He pauses to look at me, gesturing to the second glass of iced tea.

"...mothers' days..." he adds the words to his rant in a softer tone.

"How sweet is it?" I ask, meaning the tea. I'm ignoring his running commentary.

"Ain't changed that much, Junie-bee," he tells me in the same soft voice as he slides a sugar bowl across the island to go with my tea.

Cane never sweetened his tea. The stuff he makes is downright undrinkable, if you ask me.

He goes silent as he watches me measure several teaspoons of sugar into my glass before I deem it acceptable.

When I replace the lid on the sugar, I look up to see him staring at me, shaking his head with a vague smile ghosting his lips beneath the beard that's grown out thick and full since I last saw him. For a second, I see a shadow of the man I loved.

Looking around, I catch a fleeting glimpse of the life I was supposed to have.

Reality crashes into me hard, bringing me back to the here and now that's so far from what I'd expected.

"If we're going to stay with you, we need to discuss what we're going to tell Donner." I finally speak, working hard to keep my voice steady and my mind focused on what's best for my son.

Our son.

Cane keeps saying there's no way he'll sign the papers I brought with me. He's already put in a call to his family's attorney and emailed the documents I brought so that they can be addressed.

He wants to be part of Donner's life and he's refusing to let us leave until we have an agreement in writing-- but I don't know how I'm going to explain this to Don.

In a million years, I never thought I was going to have to introduce Donner to his biological father.

Cane motions to the deck through a set of French doors and I let him guide me into the cool night air.

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