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“Brian,” he said.
“Where are your parents Brian?”
As I said it, a skinny blonde appeared from behind the side of the house.Had she been looking in my windows?
“Oh, hi!” The woman came over to the boy and placed her hands on his tiny shoulders. She was fair skinned and also had blue eyes.
“Hi. Can I help you?”
“Yes, uh we came by looking for Brenton.” She pointed towards his house. “But he’s not home and wouldn’t you know it? I’ve lost my keys to the house. We don’t really have anywhere to go. We were waiting on his front porch when I noticed your car here. I thought I’d see if someone was home.”
“Um, alright. What can I do for you?”
“Well, it’s just extremely hot out there. Could we bother you for a glass of water?”
I was apprehensive to let them in, but I convinced myself it was just the pregnancy hormones making me paranoid.Wait—had she said she had keys to Brenton’s house?
“Oh, sure. Of course.” I opened the door wider to let them in. “Come on in. You can wait here until Brenton gets back if you’d like.”
I led them back to the kitchen and poured them each a glass of water, eyeing the woman with suspicion. The blonde woman was looking around the house, then eyeing me back.
“So, um, how do you know Brenton?”
“I’m his fiancée. And this here,” she looked down at the boy. “Is his son.”
I dropped the pitcher of water. It fell to the ground and shattered, water spilling everywhere. His son?! I looked back at the boy and into his blue eyes. I recognized that face. He looked just like Brenton had in that photo with Mr. McLean and Dudley.
“Ah!” The child screamed at the broken glass.
“Shit.” I looked from the child back to the woman. “Oh, sorry. I mean shoot.”
“Oh, it’s fine. He’s heard it all before.”
I got down on my knees and began picking up glass.
“Um, you said fiancée? Brenton McLean’s fiancée?”
“Sure did. Brian and I have been on a little vacation, but we’re back now.”
“Right. If you’ll excuse me,” I said after cleaning up my mess.
I ran upstairs and began hyperventilating.Fiancée,I thought to myself.He had a fiancée. And son.This boy wasn’t Aiden. He was too young and he had introduced himself as Brian. This was a different child with a different woman.
I texted Brenton, typing and retyping until I had decided what to say. I told him to stop by and collect some “stuff” that had been left for him when he got back.
I went back downstairs to find Brian still in the kitchen and his mother wandering the house.
“Excuse me,” I asked her. “What did you say your name was?”
“Oh, I didn’t. It’s Sabrina.”
My blood boiled and my heart rate spiked. I was enraged and at a complete loss for words. He had told me about Sabrina, about how terrible and negligent she had been, enough to see Aiden injured and make Brenton lose full custody. What he had not told me was that they had a child together. I wasn’t sure where the lies ended and the truth began, if there even was any truth to his words.
Not telling me about Candace and Aiden was very wrong, but understandable. He was worried about my reaction and didn’t want to risk looking bad if he brought his case back to court. But not telling me about a third child? This was no longer a coincidence, or a forgivable slip. This was a pattern and a toxic one at that.
I had been in an untruthful and toxic relationship before. I couldn’t believe I had let myself fall for it all over again. I thought Brenton had been dealt a few shitty cards, but in reality he just knew how to play them. He laid out the ones that would reel me in and then slowly revealed his jokers, or hid them up his sleeve.
