AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I was young and selfish. My life was about meaningless hookups. I wanted her, and she didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t love her. So I told her I did.” He swallowed hard. “We were together a few weeks. Maybe a month. When I was ready to move on, she was devastated.”
Bree’s eyes were misty. Her expression relayed both disappointment and compassion. “What happened to her?”
“She was an American expat, too. She returned to America. At the time, I was a selfish little prick. I thought, good riddance. I had no idea…” He winced, his eyes not meeting hers. “I had no idea she was pregnant with my son. A few years later, a fellow classmate contacted me. She’d run in to my ex, who told her about the baby. Our baby. She’d given him up without notifying me. I was devastated.”
“Where’s his mother now?”
“She’s an international-aid worker stationed at one of the largest refugee camps in Uganda.”
“Have you talked to her since you learned about your son?”
Wes’s jaw clenched involuntarily at the thought of confronting Janine. He shook his head. “It’s a conversation I can’t imagine going well.”
Bree studied a photo of Gray being pushed on a swing by his adoptive mother. “How’d you find him?”
“It’s one of the few times I readily accepted help from the Westbrooks. Liam helped me find a detective, who tracked down my son. When I found him, he was in a loving, wonderful family with good parents. I didn’t have the heart to disrupt their lives.”
“So how’d you get the pictures? The detective?”
“He dug up everything he could find at the outset. A lot of the pictures were on his adoptive parents’ social-media pages. I have him do a checkup twice a year, just to make sure everything is okay with my son.”
“He’s so handsome. Just like his father.” Bree smiled faintly as she thumbed through the book, and Wes felt as if she’d given him a lifeline.
She hadn’t condemned him or walked out in disgust at the pig he’d been back then. When she reached the end of the book she closed it carefully and set it on the coffee table. She stood in front of him, opened her arms and embraced him.
He hugged her tightly, overwhelmed with a sense of relief and gratitude.
“I’m so sorry.” She kissed his head. “It makes sense now, how you feel. But, honey, you can’t punish yourself for the rest of your life. What you did was wrong, but you’re not the one who gave your son away. And look at the effort you put into finding him and into making sure he’s safe.”
Wes didn’t speak. Pain, shame and regret swirled inside him, along with a deep affection for her. Bree’s warmth and compassion soothed his soul.
Made him feel human again.
“You aren’t the person you were then, Wes. Let go of the guilt and forgive yourself. I know your son wouldn’t want you to torture yourself this way.”
“What makes you believe that?”
“Because I’d give anything for my bio mother to love me even half as much as you love your son.” Her voice broke, tears running down her cheeks.
Wes pulled her onto his lap and kissed her. A kiss that started off tender and sweet. Two people comforting one another over their loss and grief. It slowly heated up. Her kiss became hungrier. His hands searched her familiar curves. Her firm, taut breasts filled his hands.
His tongue danced with hers, the temperature between them rising. He’d missed the feel of her. The taste of her warm, sweet skin. He wanted to lose himself in the comfort of their intense passion. But not before he’d told her everything.
He pulled his mouth from hers, their eyes meeting. “There’s something you need to know.”
Bree stared at him, her chest heaving, her face filled with apprehension. “All right.”
“I love you, Bree. And I’m not just telling you that because you said it first. I’m saying it because it’s true. I’ve waited my entire life to feel like this about someone. I’ve been miserable without you. I’m afraid I was an awful best man during Liam’s stag weekend.”
Bree grinned.
