Page 7 of Best Kept Secret

"And with me helping with Pari, you can go back to culinary school," I offered.

She shook her head vigorously. "I can't leave her and go to New York."

I was charmed by her dedication to my daughter, pleased and glad that Asha had trusted her.

"Why don't we figure out dinner and sleeping arrangements for tonight? Then we can look at the future."

She clasped my hand in both of hers. "I'm so grateful, Beau."

"Mira,I'mthe thankful one. You brought my daughter to me."

But when I talked to my family about Pari, I realized that only Nova and I truly appreciated what Mira had done for my daughter. Everyone else was furious, outraged that she had dared to keep Pari away from her family.

"And what kind of a name isPari? Does she have a middle name? Something else we can call her?" Mama wondered over the phone.

I had insisted we talk on FaceTime because I didn't want anyone to come over to my house right now, in case it caused more chaos in Pari and Mira's already muddled lives.

"Mama, her nameisPari," I maintained. "You can learn to say Pari. Her mother, who is dead, named her that. Let's show her some respect, yeah?"

Mama was having a tough time.

She had recently found out Nova was our half-sister, her husband's illegitimate child, but it hadn't been easy. She'd always liked Nova, so finding out her blood connection to us had been a little easier (and sometimes harder) to digest. It took Mama an agonizing six months to get to a place of peace with Nova's existence, which had been a relief to all of us because if we'd had to go through Trev and Katya's wedding with Mama taking potshots at Nova, her man, Anson, would've lost his shit, as would I. The relationship was not contentious, but Nova wasn't trying to be best friends with my mother—she was all about keeping it copacetic.

"Why do you think she doesn't want her parents around?" Katya mused. "It'sveryodd."

"We don't know what their family is like," Nova interjected. "And it seems that this was what Asha wanted for her daughter. Her sister might be simply honoring that."

"Regardless, she's my kid, which means she stays with me. Her grandparents can be part of her life, but she'll be raised as a Bodine," I said firmly.

"Of course, she will be," Mama huffed. "When can I see her? I want to—"

"I'm going to get her to talk to a therapist first and—"

"What?" Mama screeched. "Why?"

"Because she lost her mother, and I don't know what trauma she's going through." I loved my mother, but the amount I liked her shifted on a daily basis. She could be a complete pain in my ass.

"You gonna talk to Fallon?" Katya asked.

"Didn't you date her?" Trevor, my brother asked.

"He's dated everyone in Savannah," Nova pointed out.

"I don't date," I quipped.

"Yeah, you just fu…." Remembering our mother was on the line, Trevor shut the hell up.

Dr. Fallon Ashford was a children's psychologist. She and Ihad,as Trevor indicated, fucked a few times—but we never dated. She had gotten married, and since I didn't fuck wives of other men, we'd gone our separate ways. A year ago, Fallon got divorced, and since then, we'd been spending time together as friends. I wasn't sexually attracted to her any longer, and I was certain she felt the same.

"You need to have this Mira woman investigated," Katya stated. "You know nothing about her."

"I agree," Mama added her two cents.

"He's probably already asked someone to look into her," Trevor remarked.

He was right to think that way because it would've been typical of me. But he was wrong because, for some reason, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind—which was strange, considering who I was. I didn't know Mira well. Hell, I barely knew Asha, aside from the fact that we'd slept together and, somehow, I'd managed to get her pregnant.

"What does your gut say?" Nova spoke softly.

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