Page 47 of Secret Daddies

And now my son was reading them. Myson.I was still trying to make sense of that part. I quickly handed him back the comic before he noticed the change on my face, and turned my attention back to the arc he was currently getting into.

“It’s really cool, isn’t it, this story?” I continued, brightening my voice in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice how thrown I was by what I’d just realized. He nodded, that crooked grin spreading out over his face again.

And just like that, the two of us were chatting away. He was smart, for a kid of his age, and he was clearly fascinated by everything that went on in my line of work—and I was more than happy to catch him up on everything I could. Being able to share this with my little boy, the passions that had driven my whole life, I knew it was something I would never forget.

Before long, Maya arrived back at the makeup trailer with Paula, slightly out of breath, glancing between the two of us as though she expected something terrible to have happened in the time she’d been away. But when she saw us just sitting there, the comic laid out between us, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“You guys alright?” she asked, smiling as she came over to drop a kiss on Matty’s head.

“Yeah!” Matty replied. “We were reading comics.”

“Doing your research, huh?” Maya teased me lightly, and she glanced at her watch. “I need to grab some food…”

“I’ll bring you something,” Paula replied, patting her shoulder. “You wait here. I don’t want you wandering off anywhere.”

“Can I come with you?” Matty asked excitedly, clearly emboldened by his conversation with me. I half expected Paula to just tell him no on the spot—she had always been no-nonsense, after all. But to my surprise, she sighed slightly and held out a hand to him.

“Yes, I suppose I could use an extra pair of hands…”

And with that, Matty and Paula left, leaving Maya and me alone together for the first time since that night. The two of us looked at each other, and for a moment, I could see her softening.

“Thanks for taking care of Matty,” she murmured. “I—I really appreciate it.”

“He’s my son,” I reminded her gently. “I want to do it. I want to be a part of his life.”

She bit down on her lip as she stared at me.

“It’s really sweet of you to say that.”

“Maya, I’m not just saying it,” I replied, stepping toward her and clasping her hands in mine. “I’m telling you the truth. I want to be part of his life. And I want to be part of your life too. I know things haven’t always been easy between the two of us, but I?—”

“I’m pregnant.”

She blurted it out all of a sudden, stopping me dead in my tracks. I stared at her, her hands still pressed in mine.

“You’re what?”

“I’m pregnant,” she repeated herself, scanning my face for a reaction. “You didn’t…you didn’t know?”

“Of course not,” I replied, my heart picking up the pace inside my chest at the revelation. “What do you mean, you’re pregnant? Is it mine?”

“I…I don’t know,” she confessed. “It could be yours, Taylor’s, Lee’s—I’ve been with all of you since I started working here…”

“Right, of course,” I murmured. I hadn’t even thought of that. I glanced down to her belly. To me, it seemed to be showing no signs of the life growing inside of her. But as I planted my hand against the curve of her stomach, I could almost sense it. I could almost feel the energy of that child underneath my hand, like it was reaching out to me from under her skin.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she whispered. “I…I didn’t know what to do. I know it’s been huge enough for you to get your head around Matty’s existence, let alone another baby, but?—”

“I want to be here for you this time,” I told her, and I looked up into her eyes. I could see the pain there, the doubt, but it was mixed with something else—something that wanted to believe me, something that wanted to trust I was telling the truth. She stared at me, her eyes flicking back and forth between mine.

“I…I don’t know, Devon. Is that really a promise you can make? With everything going on with your career…?”

“It’s not like it was before,” I replied. “It’s different now. I get to call the shots. They need me more than I need them—it’s not like they can just recast me. I could take some time off work, or you and Matty and the baby could travel with me. I already missed out on Matty’s childhood, and I don’t want to do it again, not with this new child.”

“You don’t even know if it’s yours,” she reminded me, managing a small smile. I shook my head.

“It doesn’t matter. I want to be there for you. For them.”

Those words hung in the air between us. I could tell she didn’t know how to respond. Her words seemed to catch at the back of her throat as she tried to make sense of what to tell me.

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