Page 6 of Best Kept Secret

"I'm so sorry, Beau. I'm such a mess."

I wiped the remaining tears. Her skin was smooth like silk.

She's twenty-two, you pervert; of course, she has supple skin.

"Don't worry about it, yeah? It's all good. Now, I have some questions. Your car is a piece of junk, darlin'; why are you drivin' it?"

She gave me a watery chuckle. "It's all I could afford to buy. I was driving Asha's car, but…my parents took it away."

"And that's my other question. What's the story with your parents?"

She stiffened. "They want custody of Pari." Her voice was small.

"Why is that a bad thing?" I asked patiently, as it seemed that was what had spurred Mira to contact me.

Her eyes went wide. "You don't want her? That's okay. I…I'll raise her. Just don't—"

"Idowant my daughter. Don't doubt that, ever. But it's obvious you're struggling, Mira. Why not let your parents help?"

Her jaw tightened. "They don't want to help, Beau; they want to take Pari away from me."

I couldn't imagine any parents wanting to do that unless it was warranted, and I could understand someone thinking a twenty-year-old—hell, she had beennineteenwhen she became Pari's guardian—should not be raising a child.

"Well, they're going to be welcome to be part of Pari's life, but—"

"No." Mira's distress was tangible, almost radiating off of her. I couldn't understand it, but she was too fragile right now for me to press her, so I let it go.

"But," I continued, "I will be in her life." I laughed softly. "Iamher parent."

"I…I'm so surprised. I thought I'd have to beg you to help me." She looked relieved.

I smiled. "Asha didn't know me well."

She nodded. "I gathered that."

"Asha made you Pari's guardian?"

Mira looked sad. "We only have…hadeach other. Now, I have Pari."

"Andyou have me and my family," I assured her. She was my daughter's aunt, which made her a Bodine for all practical purposes.

"What happens now?" she asked, looking out at the garden where Pari was laughing out loud, chasing Roxy around a magnolia tree.

"First things first." I stood up. "When was the last time you got a proper night's sleep?"

She looked confused and then shrugged, shaking her head as if she didn't have a proper response to that question.

"That long?" I grimaced and held out a hand to her. "I'm going to make sure you and Pari are settled and comfortable in my house. Then I'm going to talk to my lawyer, and we'll start to look into the legalities of things."

She put her hand in mine and let me pull her up to stand. I tipped her chin up with a finger. "What are you worried about, darlin'?"

"Once you have Pari…will you let me be with her?"

Her eyes filled with tears as she spoke the words that, I was beginning to realize, revealed her deepest fear: being separated from my daughter—the child she had come to think of as her own. After all, she had cared for her since birth, even before.

"I'd never do that to Pari or you." I kept my voice level so she'd know not to doubt my words. I didn't want her to worry about being separated from Pari. "You're the only mother she's known, Mira. I don't know what the future looks like, but we'll find a way to co-parent. How about that?"

Her face lit up, and despite the dark circles beneath her eyes, they gleamed with bright, undeniable joy. "That sounds perfect."

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