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"I hope you won't be upset with me, Daniel. We have something really good going on here.
"Me too, honey. I'm sure it'll be OK."
Daniel was a little nervous about what she had to say, but nothing was about to change the way he felt about her. He knew they'd ride it out, no matter what it was.
CHAPTER7
"So?" Daniel asked as soon as they entered the work truck.
He needed to know what Tina thought, and he needed to know right away.
"She's really great, Dad."
How she smiled at him indicated that she meant it, and he was overjoyed.
"Thank God," he sighed.
It was a little late when they got home, so Tina brushed her teeth and went straight to bed, but he got a big hug first and another reassurance that she liked Cassandra and Ben a lot.
He waited until she was sleeping to call Cassandra and closed the door to his bedroom for added privacy. Something told him it would be a long and possibly not child-friendly conversation.
Daniel lay back on his bed in only his boxers and dialed her number.
"Hello?"
"Hey, you," he smiled just at the sound of her voice.
"Hey."
She didn't know how to begin, so he waited as she figured it out.
"You know I'm divorced, right?"
"Right."
"It's a little more complicated than that, though. My ex-husband is a dangerous person."
"Did he hurt you?" Daniel asked, immediately sitting up in bed.
"Yes. I really hate to tell you this but if we're going to be together then you need to know. You have the right to know so you can decide if you really want to be with me."
"Of course I do."
"You may not after I tell you this . . . I lied to you about my name."
"Huh?"
"My name isn't Cassandra, it's Anna."
Daniel didn't know what to say; he wasn't angry. He was just confused.
"I'm so sorry, Daniel. I meant to tell you before our children met but it all happened so fast and when I tried to tell you the other day Ben had that accident and it got lost in the shuffle."
"Are you hiding? Is that why you gave me a fake name?"
"Yes . . . Cassandra is the name of my best friend from kindergarten. I didn't change Ben's name cause he could never keep it straight. I just told him that people would be calling me Cassandra now; he never calls me by my first name anyway. I'm just scared that my ex will find me."
"Tell me what this man did to you, honey."
