Page 32 of Her Righteous Protector

“Lemonade, Honey?” she asked Hannah.

“Yes, please. How was Zephyr today?” she asked her mom as Julie sat down at the table with two glasses of lemonade.

“All he could talk about was the t-ball set that you’d gotten him. Apparently, he only makes home runs; is that true?” Julie asked slyly.

“He hits the ball pretty far off the tee, and he loves to run the bases, so I can’t bear to tag him out,” Hannah admitted. She was tracing patterns on her glass in the condensation. She tried to think of something else to say, but she couldn’t.

Julie reached out and touched Max’s hand resting on the table. “You’ll never know how relieved my daughter and I are to know that Zephyr will get a chance to grow up knowing his father. I’ve prayed for this day. I just wish to God it could have been under happier circumstances.”

“If you were Meggie’s best friend, can you tell me why in God’s name she never reached out to me to tell me that I’d gotten her pregnant?” Hannah’s head jerked up as those first raw words were ripped out of his throat.

Christ, just how much pain would all of them have to endure?

“Or for that matter,” Max continued. “Can you tell me what I could have possibly done wrong that made her ghost me after our time in Tennessee?”

Hannah took a deep breath. She hated this.

“Mr. Hogan, you have to understand, Meghan’s life wasn’t easy. She had her demons.” Max pulled his arm out from underneath her mother’s hand.

“What do you mean by that?” Max frowned.

“I mean that she was fragile. Her life was hard, and it was important to be understanding,” Julie Woods tried to explain.

“Mom, let me answer his questions,” Hannah shook her head. “I know you loved Meghan like another daughter, but sometimes you made too many excuses.”

Hannah felt bobby pins drop to the floor as she ran her fingers through her hair in distress.

“You can’t speak ill of the dead,” her mother said firmly.

Hannah stood up. “Max, would you like to take a walk?”

Max stood up and nodded.

Hannah ignored her mother’s hurt look. They’d never agreed on this, but they always loved one another, and that was the important thing.

Max held the front door open for them. “Julie, lock up behind us, will you?”

“That’s not necessary, Max,” she called out.

“Humor me.”

For the first time today, Hannah felt her mouth twitch as she saw her mother come to the door to lock up behind them as they walked down the front porch steps. As soon as they got to the bottom, Max gently grabbed her elbow to stop her.

“Do you want to go inside and put on more comfortable shoes to go walking?” he asked.

Hannah shook her head. “We’re not going far. There’s a park down the block and across the street. We’ll sit on the bench.”

Max nodded.

Hannah didn’t say anything, just gathered her thoughts as they took in the fresh air. She really appreciated the fact that Max could do silence. Not a lot of people could.

When they got to the small park, they both veered to the one empty bench, and Max cleared off a section and then motioned for Hannah to sit down.

How could Meghan have ever blown this guy off?

“Have a seat,” Max indicated. She gave him a small smile then sat down. He looked at his watch. “So we have maybe forty minutes?”

Hannah bit her lip and nodded, she allowed her dark hair to shield her expression. Max sat down and tucked some of the dark strands of her hair back behind her ear.