Page 69 of Texas-Sized Secrets

“It wasn’t your fault.” William placed his hand over hers. “Had I known what happened at the time, things would have been a lot different.”

She squeezed his fingers, her gaze never leaving Reed’s face. “I worked with Jeffrey Kuhn as a clerk in the bank. He was a young loan officer. On the night before his wedding, he said he was having second thoughts and was really scared about it.” Grace Bryson looked away from her son, her gaze staring off into the distance as if she was looking back all those years. “He said he needed someone to talk with to help him over his prewedding jitters.” She laughed a mirthless laugh. “I offered to listen and help if I could, in return he said he’d take me home. My parents were older and lived a couple miles out of town. I didn’t see anything wrong with it, and Jeffrey had never led me to believe he’d do something stupid. He knew I was engaged to your father. We were due to marry in a month, which was why I was so receptive to his request. So we talked for an hour over coffee at the diner.”

His mother’s hands gripped William’s. “When he drove me out to my parents’, he passed the turnoff and kept going out toward Palo Duro Canyon, to an old hunting lodge he and his family used during hunting season.”

“The one the teens used to smoke marijuana in?” Reed asked.

“Yes, that’s the one. Nothing good ever happened in that cabin. When I insisted he take me home, he laughed and dragged me inside and…and…” Tears welled in her eyes.

Reed’s chest hurt, his own throat choking on his mother’s pain. “Mom, you don’t have to go on.”

She looked across at him and through her tears said in a strong, determined voice, “Yes, I do. You need to understand. It wasn’t my choice. I didn’t make love to Jeffrey Kuhn. He raped me.”

“Why didn’t you turn him in to the police?”

“He held a pretty big weapon. One I didn’t see any way around at the time. As the loan officer at the only bank in town, he held the loan on William’s land. He said that if I told the police, he’d make sure the loan foreclosed and William would lose everything.

“The land had been in William’s family for a century. I couldn’t let him lose it. Jeffrey married Patricia Lee Taylor the next day in a big, fancy wedding. Who would believe me, if I told the police I’d been raped by one of the rising stars of Prairie Rock the night before his wedding?

“The rape would have to remain a secret. I lied to my parents, I lied to William and I lied to you to keep from losing the land.” She stared into her husband’s eyes. “My lies caused you both so much pain. William hated me because he thought I cheated on him. He hated you because you were another man’s son, not his, but he never told another soul.”

“Because I was ashamed.” William cupped Grace’s palm to his cheek. “I thought I was your second choice, that you only married me because you had to.”

“Never.” She smiled, her pretty, gray-blue eyes glassy with tears. “I’ve always loved you.”

“I don’t know how. I was angry for so long, I could have lost you. You should have divorced me long ago.” He pressed a kiss into her hand.

“No, I couldn’t. I loved you then, I love you now.”

Everything they said to each other played out like a movie. Reed felt as though he was intruding. And Mona wouldn’t stay put long. “I should go.”

“No, don’t.” The man Reed had thought was his father all those years looked to him now, sorrow etched into the deep, tanned lines around his eyes. “I couldn’t look at you without seeing what I thought was her betrayal. I was wrong. So wrong.” William Bryson, who’d pretended to be his father for all those years, the stoic, hard man who’d never so much as smiled, cried silent tears. He scrubbed his face with the back of his sleeve. “You did nothing to deserve my temper. You were just a kid. A good one at that. I’m sorry.”

A few days ago, Reed wouldn’t have been as forgiving or as easily assuaged. But having met Mona and witnessed how determined she was to retain what was hers and protect the ones she loved, he could well understand what his mother had done and even how his stepfather had behaved. “Why tell the secret now?”

“I couldn’t tell the secret or William would have lost his ranch. After a while, it just didn’t matter. The time went by and I just let it go.”

“Until Grace had her stroke and I sold the ranch.” William clutched Grace’s hand in his. “I thought I’d lost her.”

“I wanted William to know the truth about you and you to know what happened.”

“Why did Patricia blame you for her failed marriage?” Reed asked.

“She knew. I don’t know how, but she knew. Maybe Jeffrey told her. Maybe she saw us at the diner together. But she knew. It must have eaten at her. She had a baby within nine months after their wedding. A boy, Jeff Jr. He’d be about the same age as you. He looked more like her, dark hair, dark eyes, whereas you looked like Jeffrey. A reminder that he’d had me first.” Grace’s lips twisted. “They argued bitterly, dragging it into the public. She’d call Jeffrey names in front of the boy. Finally, she filed for divorce and left with Jeff Jr. I heard she changed their names and disappeared for a while. Then she started showing up here six years ago with Teague Oil & Gas.”

“Whatever happened to her son?” Reed asked.

“I don’t know.” Grace sighed. “I need to rest. All this excitement…”

Reed stood and helped his mother to her feet.

William hooked his hand through her arm. “I’ll take care of her. You go back to your girl. She needs you now.”

When Reed turned to leave, his mother’s voice stopped him.

“Reed?” Grace stood in the curve of her husband’s arm. “I hope you can forgive us.”

Seeing the two of them holding on to each other made his heart ache with the need to find a love as strong. One woman came to mind and she was waiting back at the diner for him. “It would be a waste of time if I didn’t.”

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