Page 143 of All Our Secrets

“But we’ve wronged him. I told him how I felt when I was married to him. The ugly truth. My feelings for you.” She wiped her eyes, and I rubbed her back. “But I didn’t tell him for him. I did it for me. To let go of the guilt, and he probably knew that. He deserved better. But he also said he wasn’t sorry about something.”

Not sorry? Then it hit me.

“Baby, none of us is entirely innocent. Theo knew what you meant to me.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“I didn’t know until recently, but I think he put it together the second we met. And the second time we met, you asked again if I was King right in front of him. You said my username and everything. Theo knew those things, so I don’t know why it never clicked. My whole world flipped upside down when you strolled in with Theo… It terrified me. The world got bleak, and I lost sight of what mattered for a while. I never questioned things. I lost myself when I couldn’t find the courage to face you that day.”

“Theo knew… No. He couldn’t. Do you realize how many arguments I had with Theo about my gamer friend? He hated that I couldn’t let go of how you… disappeared on me.” Her brows knitted together as she bounced T.J. on her legs. “Theodoreknew.I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do,” I replied. “I was right there, and he knew. He just wanted us to give it up. He wanted you for himself.”

She shook her head. “Oh God. So that’s why he said it?”

“If I’d told the truth that evening, right then and there, the second you bumped into me, would you have walked out with Theo?”

Her brown eyes sparkled as the red crept over her cheeks. “Yes.”

Her answer caught me off guard, and my stomach plummeted as if it had rolled down the steps.

“I would have let Theo walk me to my door, and I would have told him goodnight because it would have been rude to leave with you… But as soon as I got inside, I would have messaged you on the PlayStation and told you to come get me.”

The breath I’d been holding rushed out. “I wish I’d known what Theo did then,” I admitted.

She pressed her lips against mine once.

“There’s something else,” I added.

Peyton entwined her fingers. “I’m listening.”

“Theo and I were arguing right before he got killed.”

“About what?”

“I wanted to come clean to you about who I was. He didn’t want me to, but I wouldn’t agree to drop it, so he stormed off…”

“And wrecked,” she finished, closing her eyes.

“I didn’t tell you who I was then because it seemed wrong to after Theo lost his life. But once we were together, I knew I had to tell you. It made me feel dirty to hide it from you, but you figured it out before I could work up the nerve.”

“Theo would still be here if you and I had gotten together,” Peyton whispered.

“Yeah.” There was nothing more I could say. It was the truth.

She looked at her son. “You know, I felt so betrayed when I learned the truth. Deceived. But in reality, I did the same to myself and Theo throughout our entire relationship. I loved him—still do, but not in the way I love you. And while thinking of what should have happened, I remembered whatdidhappen. I have a son, and without these mistakes, he wouldn’t exist. Ithurtsto think about never knowing this part of me.”

My hand went to her stomach. “I think we’re right where we’re supposed to be now.”

She poked T.J.’s nose, and he smiled that gummy grin that always made his mom happy. “My goodness. How perfect.”

Epilogue:

I do

Peyton

Six months later

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