Page 5 of Light in the Dark (Heaven and Hell Duet 2)

I twist, making sure my hold is firm on Sawyer, and see Idaline standing behind my mother in the doorway of the bathroom. “Rushing you to meet my parents,” I answer. “Idaline, this is my mother, Jennifer. Mom, this is Idaline. Mom was just leaving.”

They exchange pleasantries, which is fine, until I hear my mom ask, “You don’t mind if I stay for a few minutes to chat with you, do you, Idaline?”

“Uh,” Idaline falters.

“Mom!” I snap harshly, startling poor Sawyer. He looks at me with wide eyes. “Sorry, buddy,” I apologize to him. “You heard what I said, Mom. Go home.”

She wiggles past me to kiss the top of Sawyer’s head, squeezes my shoulder, and says goodbye to Idaline on her way out. A moment later, Idaline kneels next to me.

“Was that necessary?” she asks softly as Sawyer goes back to kicking his legs and splashing water, his favorite thing to do.

“I told her I didn’t want you meeting them yet because I put enough on you already. It wasn’t right for her to put you on the spot like that. So, yes, it was necessary.”

She’s quiet for a moment before she rests her head on my shoulder. “So, I guess it’s okay for me to be glad you did that?”

I laugh. “Yeah, it’s okay. Do you feel better?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’ve already got him all clean, but I let him play for a bit afterward. He loves it so much. I can’t wait to take him to the pool or the beach.” Sawyer picks up a cup full of water, dumps it on his head, and looks at me while he belly laughs. “If only he loved baths this much when he was a tiny little thing. He would scream his lungs out until I put clothes back on him. It was the most stressful experience ever with him.”

Sawyer holds the cup out to me, so I do the same thing to him.

“You’ve been taking care of him all by yourself?” Idaline asks.

“My family helps if I need it, but otherwise, yeah. Pretty much since the day he was born. Lila didn’t have much to do with him before she gave up her rights.”

“I don’t understand how she could walk away from him. I mean, I know I’m having some anxiety about this whole thing, but this is her son. She carried him and gave birth to him. How does she not care for him?” She looks at me for the answer and I give her one.

“Because she’s heartless.”

With that, I drain the water and take Sawyer out to dry and clothe him. Afterward, I pick out a book and return to the living room where Idaline sits. The moment I sit in the recliner, Sawyer cuddles up to my side, crossing his feet at his ankles. We gently rock while I read the book to him. This is our nightly routine and always has been. He’ll be asleep in no time.

And within ten minutes, I’ve placed him in his bed, returned his book to its shelf, and come to sit next to Idaline.

“I know that you told me all I had to do was wait for your secret, but I still feel like you’ve betrayed me somehow. This seems too big, at least with Sawyer. If you didn’t want to tell me about Lila yet, fine, but you should’ve told me about Sawyer, FC.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t change it now and I handled it in the way I thought was best, even though I knew there would be consequences.”

She rests her head on my shoulder and takes my hand in hers. “What were you expecting?”

“For you to be upset at first, but then we’d reconnect and start on this journey together. I don’t expect it to be as easy as it sounds, but as long as you’re here and we try, I think we’ll work out.” When she doesn’t say anything, I add, “We can visit one another, get the hang of being in a relationship together, and once you’re ready, you can move here.” At that, she looks up at me. “I don’t want to take Sawyer away from my family.”

“I can’t believe we’re even talking about this,” she says, a touch of awe in her voice, as she shakes her head.

I smile. A part of me can’t believe it either. “Tell me a secret,” I request.

Her mood dives off a cliff with whatever she thinks of first. “I was fired this morning.”

“What? Why?”

“I didn’t give advance notice for my vacation and I didn’t care about their very real threats. I needed to come see you today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not a month from now. I’m not worried about it right now, but I’m sure it’ll hit me soon and I’ll have a panic attack about t

he fact that I have zero income coming in.”

Oh, my Idaline. This is not good news. She doesn’t give me a chance to comment on this development because she asks for a secret in return. What I want to say comes rather quickly. “Sometimes, I look at Sawyer and feel nothing but guilt.” I’ve been dying to share this secret with her for ages and now, I can. It’s not a nice, pretty secret, but it’s a real one and it’ll do for our purposes.

Idaline sits up and looks at me. “Why?”

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