Page 100 of To Believe In You
Her brown eyes held with his for a long moment, then she sipped her coffee.
“Since getting clean, I’ve been trying to rebuild my life. Making amends with people. That meant reaching out to Awestruck, which meant talking to Tim.”
Her chin lifted, and her fingertips turned as white as the mug she held.
“A couple of weeks ago, he told me why you left. That was first I’d heard of it. It took a while to find you.”
She pursed her lips in a frown and turned her head toward the center of the dining room, glaring as if her worst enemy had walked in.
“Axel …” But he couldn’t finish the thought.
She refocused on him, venom in her eyes.
“Is he my son?”
“He has a father. A good one.”
The protectiveness only clarified what she’d clearly hoped to blur. “But biologically, he is my son.”
“I don’t regret the choices I made where he’s concerned.”
Matt willed her to say more, unequivocally confirming the news that had thrown him into such chaos.
Nadia’s throat pulsed. “Zach’s been in his life since he was a year old, loving him like a father should. Axel’s happy, believing that’s exactly who Zach is—his father. I can’t have you upsetting him when in every practical sense, it’s the truth.”
Maybe in the moment, but practicalities would change if Axel ever needed a blood relative or his family’s complete medical history. Besides …
“I had …” He stopped. Tried again. “I had a right to know.”
She dipped her head and braced her arms on the seat, as if staying calm required all of her energy. “We were both young and making bad decisions back then.”
The admission that she’d made a mistake took him by surprise, and the arguments he’d been brainstorming died.
She parted her tense lips. “But years have passed, and what might’ve been right in the moment back then isn’t the right thing now. The circumstance has changed.”
The waitress passed, balancing a tray crowded with entrees.
Matt had hoped to learn the truth about Axel from Nadia. Beyond that, he hadn’t known what to expect. Perhaps he’d hoped she’d make demands of him. She’d ask for money or make a comment about him being a deadbeat who didn’t want to see his son. Either would’ve been an opening for him to get involved.
But Nadia gave very little. Almost as though, what she most hoped for was …
“He’s not supposed to know about me, and I’m supposed to pretend I don’t know about him. Is that it?”
A slight lift in her eyebrows confirmed.
Only then, as his hopes tumbled into a canyon, did he know he couldn’t live with that. He should’ve reacted differently when Lina had tried to brainstorm this situation with him. What would she advise?
She might’ve argued for his right, as a father, to be in his son’s life.
But what kind of father had he been to date? Did that kind of father have rights?
The canyon deepened into an abyss.
“He has a good life.”
And, in her opinion, Matt’s involvement would make that less true.
“There must be some way … something I can do.”
