Page 71 of This Heart
I looked down at Winnie, who was sitting patiently on my lap, waiting to go to the playground to play.
“Hi, Liam! Hi, Mary!” Melinda Walters, a neighbor who lived two houses down from me, said as she approached us. “It’s such a beautiful day, I decided to bring Emma to the park.”
The second Winnie saw Emma, she climbed off my lap.
“Hi, Melinda,” I said with a wave.
“You two look like you’re having a rather important conversation, how about I take the girls over to the playground. I promise to keep my eyes on Winnie.”
“That would be lovely,” Mary replied before I had the chance to tell her no. I wasn’t ready to have this conversation with Mary, but now that she got me talking, she wasn’t about to stop.
Winnie reached for Melinda’s outstretched hand, and the three of them took off toward the playground.
“How much did Hope tell you?” I softly asked.
She drew in a breath and exhaled. “That you separated in New York City, but then she found out she was pregnant with Winnie, and you worked things out.”
I nodded. “Hope wanted to move back to Moose Village so I could open up The Muddled Moose. She knew it was a dream of mine, and she wanted to raise our baby in a small town. Before she got pregnant, she wanted to travel the world and couldn’t understand why I didn’t. We wanted two totally different things in life. That’s why we separated in New York. Then she got pregnant and we got back together.”
“So what happened after you moved? Why didn’t things work out?” Mary asked.
Turning to look at her, I frowned. “She didn’t tell you why I asked for the divorce?”
With a shake of her head, she replied, “No. I just assumed it was the previous problem. Hope said you both wanted different things in life.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “You were right when you said we were doomed from the beginning. My end game was always to come back to Moose Village and open The Muddled Moose. I told her that from the beginning. We agreed to stay in New York City for a bit, then revisit the idea of moving back to Moose Village. I should have known that someone like Hope wouldn’t be happy being settled down, no matter how hard she tried.”
Sighing, I went on. “We grew apart not long after we got married. Hope became distant, and things were so strained between us we hardly spoke to one another; we eventually separated. When it didn’t seem like things would change, I told her I was going to file for divorce, and she told me she was pregnant. She was so happy, and I thought maybe this was a second chance for us. I don’t know if I believed that or if I was telling myself a lie. Hope fully fixated on moving to Moose Village the moment she told me she was pregnant, so I could fulfill my dream of opening the bar. I honestly wasn’t entirely convinced that she would like Moose Village. And at first, I think she loved it. I truly do. She became friends with Cadie, then Aurora and Harper. She liked doing things with them, but even I could tell she wasn’t herself. She was always tired and run-down. A part of me thought it might have been my mother who constantly rode her ass. She started to decline invitations with Cadie and Aurora, and well…she told me she hated it here. You know how Hope was. She was climbing the walls and ready to leave.”
Mary let out a soft laugh. “Always wanted to be on the go.”
I nodded. “I told her I could hire someone to run the bar and we could move back to New York if she wanted to, but she was hell-bent on staying in Moose Village. I couldn’t understand how one minute she would say she hated it here, then the next say we couldn’t leave because we needed to raise Winnie here. I finally found out why.”
Her eyes widened, and her face wore an expression of concern for what I was going to say. If I had any thoughts on whether Mary knew the truth of the matter, I could toss them out the window. By the look on her face, she had no idea.
“You remember Ronald Cunningham, right? I worked with him in New York City.”
Mary’s brows drew down. “Yes,” she slowly said. “I remember Hope mentioning him a couple of times after you two were split up, but I never got the impression there was anything between them. It felt more like a friendship. Like maybe he was there for her during your split because he had recently split from his wife as well. At least that is what Hope told me.”
It only took a few moments before it clicked. “No. Are you saying they weretogethertogether?”
I nodded. “Hope didn’t tell me. At least not until shehadto tell me. We were separated, and I honestly wouldn’t have cared, but if I had known when she told me she was pregnant. Well…things might have turned out differently.”
Her head shook. “Wait, Liam, you’re confusing me, and to be honest, I’m a little worried about what you’re going to say.”
Looking at Winnie playing on the playground, I smiled. “I never thought I could love someone like I love Winnie. I loved Hope, but my love for Winnie is different. The moment they put her in my arms, I knew I would love her for eternity. And I would do anything to make her happy. Anything.”
“She’s easy to love,” Mary said, then touched my arm. “Liam, why did you ask Hope for a divorce the second time after you moved to Moose Village?”
I drew in a deep breath and exhaled. I had promised Hope I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I was so tired of keeping her secrets.
“Winnie isn’t my biological child.”
A sharp intake of breath caused me to look at Mary. She looked utterly stunned. “What?”
“She’s Randal’s child. He and his wife reconciled and got back together shortly after his and Hope’s dalliance. When Hope told him about the baby, he had his lawyer draw up a document that essentially stated he didn’t want the baby, no part of her life…nothing. He gave up all rights to her. He wanted Hope to stay as far away as possible. He was worried that as the baby grew older, it would resemble him, and his wife would discover the truth since we did see them at work events. I’m not sure what happened between them when she told him and he told her he wanted no part of the child’s life, because he also filed a restraining order. Ronald never once told me any of this. Anyway, when the truth came out, Hope told me she had fallen in love with Randal, but he wanted to be with his wife and didn’t want to ruin this second chance he got. I’m going to assume Hope didn’t take that very well and maybe made a few threats, hence the restraining order.”
Mary’s hand came up to her mouth. “Liam, I had no idea. Hope never told me.”
