Page 113 of Tempting Rowan (Trace + Olivia 3)

He shook his head, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “Take today off. Get your stuff, come back, unpack, and get yourself settled. Make a home for my nephew,” he grinned.

How could I argue with that? The man knew how to guilt trip me.

I nodded. “I won’t be long.”

“Take your time,” he shrugged, tapping his fingers on the stair railing. “We’ll be fine here.”

I didn’t reply. I was overwhelmed by Trace’s generosity, especially considering I’d kept Tristan a secret. Trace was an understanding guy, though. He didn’t hold grudges.

I wished Trenton were the same way.

I didn’t expect, or deserve, forgiveness for what I had done. Still, I would’ve loved to hear from him, something…anything. Hell, I would have been happy with an angry phone call at this point. I wanted him to acknowledge my existence. Selfish, I know, considering what I had done. But love made you that way. Even if the other person hated you, you still wanted them.

???

I packed up the last of our things. Jim wasn’t home, and I had no idea where he was, nor did I care. He was a piece of shit, and I was glad I could be rid of him and my mom. This was my chance at a clean slate. A new Rowan Sinclair was emerging.

I didn’t have to lie and deceive anymore—and that was a really good feeling.

I loaded the last of our things up and didn’t bother looking back at the house as I left. I was closing this chapter on my life, and starting a whole new one…I only hoped it got better.

???

“This is our new home?” Tristan asked as I opened the door to the apartment. He clutched his stuffed dinosaur tightly in his hand, his eyes taking in the new space.

Ivy looked around, much the same way, a Barbie doll dangling from her fingers.

After everything that had happened last night, I’d decided to indulge and taken them to Target to get a new toy and then out to dinner at a nice restaurant.

“Yep,” I turned on the light, “this is our new home.”

I gasped when I spotted the bunk bed. Trace hadn’t been kidding.

Tears pricked my eyes at his kindness. While I’d been gone, he’d bought a bed and put it together for the kids. Wow. To say I was touched didn’t even cover the way I felt.

“Are those for us?” Tristan’s eyes lit up when he spotted the bunk bed. He danced excitedly on the balls of his feet as he pointed at it.

“It sure is,” I smiled.

Tristan giggled, running for the bed. “I get the top!” He shrieked.

I knew Ivy would want the bottom bunk anyway, since she was afraid of heights.

I set the groceries I’d picked up on the counter and then began un-bagging them. I hadn’t gotten much, so it didn’t take me long to put everything away.

Once the food was in its proper place I scoured the bins for the kids bedding. I finally found it—in the last bin I checked—and forced them to vacate the bed.

Tristan pouted, upset at being evicted from his new favorite place.

“Don’t you want your sheets on the bed?” I asked when he kept staring at me with mopey eyes as I made Ivy’s bed.

He nodded. “I guess so,” his fingers tightened around his stuffed green and orange dinosaur.

My breath caught for a moment as I looked at him. I so desperately wanted to tell him the truth—so why not tonight? What difference would waiting make? It wasn’t like the woman he believed was his mom had ever acted as such. I was scared to tell him though. He was a child, and they could be so incredibly fragile. I didn’t want to cause him pain. I had only ever wanted to protect him, which had led to the adoption in the first place. That had been a major screw-up, so I didn’t want the same thing to happen again. I felt that waiting until he was older would only bring more heartbreak. There had been enough lies, and I’d carried them for so long. I was ending this tonight.

The new Rowan Sinclair wasn’t going to keep quiet.

I finished making their beds and turned on the TV that had been left in the apartment from when Trace lived here. There was also a couch, and a bed was in the bedroom. Everything else had been cleared away.

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