AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She moved to take the seat beside him on the swing. She was too far away, but he’d deal with that later. Right now he needed to get her talking.
“Come on, spill. Is it your ex-asshole?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“My mom came here the summer before I was born.”
He worked on connecting the dots.
“She used to write in her diary about absolutely everything that happened in her life.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be back.” She regained her feet and disappeared.
Minutes later she was back, carrying a worn blue book. “I need you to promise to keep this to yourself, Ford. But I do want to talk to you about it.”
“I promise,” he said solemnly.
“This is the book from the year she came here, and there’s an entry that says she met this guy called Asher and his sister Robyn. They spent the summer together, and she talked about how he made her feel. Like he was special. And they… Um…”
“Did the wild thing?”
“That. Anyway, Mom left here not knowing she was pregnant, but she was and the dates match up. I mean there could have been another place, but the time line fits for here.” She was talking fast now, as if she needed to get it all out.
Ford whistled. “And you came to Ryker Falls to be closer to Lyntacky?”
“Not really. I wanted to leave, and the position did sound awesome. I told myself today coming in here that I wouldn’t do anything about this. But when you’ve spent your entire life wondering where you come from and who your father is, it’s hard.”
“I bet. Does it say in there if she told him?”
“No.” She opened the book and a paper fell out.
He reached to pick it up.
“I took a DNA test.”
“Sounds logical considering you may need it one day.” He handed it back to her.
“It says in the book”—she closed it after putting the DNA test back inside—“that Asher was going away to study and had big plans. She came home with a part of him inside her. That it was just a summer thing. They were going in different directions and lived thousands of miles apart, so there was no point in complicating things.”
“Which could mean she came home carrying his child or the memory.”
“I know. I did ask my grandparents. They said it was Mom’s choice to have me and raise me alone. That telling him, my father, would have complicated everything, and she didn’t want to do that to him or her.”
He’d always known who he was. Known his dad was a strong man he could lean on if he needed to. Mom was no different and good at hugging and talking to him straight when he needed it. They’d just always been there, and he couldn’t imagine what it would be like not to have them in his corner.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to cause trouble for anyone. If I start asking questions, that may happen.” She was sitting on the edge of the seat now, clutching the book.
“But you could have family here, Autumn. Brothers and sisters, and if not that, then aunts and uncles. Maybe even grandparents. Don’t you want that for both you and Ritchie?”
“Of course I do!” She shot him a glare. It was dark, but his eyes had adjusted and he could see her clearly. “You don’t think I haven’t spent hours wondering if I wasn’t alone? Haven’t wondered if a father would have raised me differently from the two people who did? They loved me, but they didn’t really understand me.”
“I’m sorry.”
