Page 39 of One Small Secret

Moira is a he now. I get what she's saying but seriously, do we have to keep this up? Just for some stinking reality TV show?

Ruben’s voice is soft. “Is he mad about the picture?”

I laugh. “No. Not mad at all.”

Ruben’s arms tense around me. “What do you mean?”

I wipe a tear that managed to escape my left eye and smile up at him. “He . . .” I make the same emphasis as Mom did as I glare at her. “Loved the picture. Is tickled pink about it.” Mom grabs my phone as if there are answers in there. “He thinks Ruben should probably take care of me and Axley for the next three months to life.”

Ruben stiffens, and I don’t blame him. He glances at my phone. “Is he…in prison?”

Mom snorts and I shake my head because I’m pretty sure Moira is on some fancy beach ordering piña coladas and batting her eyes at some dude named Andre. “No, definitely not in prison.”

Andrew clears his throat from the doorway to the dining room. “It isn’t a bad idea.” Everyone stares at Andrew, but no one says a word. The house is silent.

Ruben is the first to speak. “What isn’t a bad idea?”

“I know most of you have been ignoring your phones today,” Andrew says, “but a friend of Daphne’s just put out a statement saying Ruben’s relationship with Daphne has been fake. Her friend said she never understood why Daphne would agree to fake date anyone until she saw the photo of the three of you. Everyone is speculating that your past few relationships have just been a cover to protect your real family.”

Ruben doesn’t loosen his arms around me when he fires back, “What? Which friend?”

Andrew shrugs as if this mess is all in a day’s work for him. “We can worry about that later. The thing is, the public loves it. They want this story to be true.”

I wipe my face on Ruben’s shirt and then turn to Andrew. “People want Ruben Palmer to be married to some nobody with a child?”

Andrew shakes his head. “Not a nobody.” He pauses in a dramatic way only a salesman can. “His woman. His child.”

“You cannot be serious,” I say.

“But he is Ruben’s child,” Ben pipes up from the dining room.

“No, Grandpa, he's not.” Ruben’s chest rumbles while he talks. I don’t think him holding me is helping Ben’s grasp on the situation. I straighten and Ruben lets his arms fall to his side.

Andrew paces. “That does complicate things.”

“It complicates things?” I'm about to go ape wild all over this house. First Moira, and now Andrew, think Ruben should take responsibility for Moira’s baby and I cannot deal with this anymore. “Ruben, how much do you trust Andrew?”

“Literally with my life.”

I narrow my eyes at Andrew and he straightens. “Will you be able to keep whatever I tell you confidential?”

Andrew looks at Ruben. “I’m very proficient at keeping secrets.”

I put a hand on one hip. “That isn’t an answer.”

“Yes, I will.”

Okay. This ends now. I glance at Ben first, and then at the rock of a man beside me. “Ruben and I will not pretend Axley is our child. We can’t. Axley isn’t even my baby.”

If I thought the silence was loud in the house before, now it's deafening. Ben shuffles forward after a moment and looks back at Axley, still happily making a mess of his custard in the antique high chair Ben either pulled out of storage or had delivered by helicopter on Christmas day. His gray eyebrows furrow and he shakes his head. “But…what about his ears?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

After the briefest of meltdowns, considering the absolute insanity of our situation, Ben gets us all to sit back down at the table, where I finish explaining the whole story to everyone. Andrew, who has been taking notes, eyes me and Ruben. “I think the two of you need to talk. I’m ready to run with the story of your hidden family and fake relationships if you are. But I need your go-ahead.”

I shake my head. “What do you mean, ready to run with the story? I just told you Axley isn’t even mine.”

Andrew nods. “But you also said Axley’s mother wants this story to run.”

---