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She certainly hadn’t approved of Becca’s family. Once again, the priority had been keeping them under her nose and out of trouble. Only it hadn’t quite worked the way she’d hoped.
Taking a sip of the freshly brewed tea, he waited for his mother to get comfortable before he spoke. ‘I need to talk about Gabby Walters.’
‘I thought you might.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Grace fiddled with her teaspoon. ‘What would you have done if you’d known?’
‘Asked Becca to marry me.’
‘She was sixteen. Far too young to make a commitment like that. What on earth were you thinking, Morgan?’
‘I was a nineteen-year-old male. What do you imagine I was thinking about?’
‘There were always condoms in your bathroom. I expected you to use them. You were too young to take on so much responsibility.’
‘And she wasn’t? She was sixteen and pregnant. Way too much responsibility for a girl not out of school.’
‘We helped. Your father and I. Right from the start.’
‘But you couldn’t tell me.’
‘I know you, Morgan. You would have ruined your life, tying yourself down with a wife and family when you were starting out. Besides, you weren’t well.’
Not well. A nice euphemism for a complete mental breakdown.
Grace never liked to refer to it. A combination of too much study, a crisis of faith over Brittany’s death and Becca’s betrayal.
He thought back to that time, struggling with his studies, medicated. Failing. He’d been so damned ashamed. It had only added to the spiral.
Those months all seemed rather vague from this distance. He’d blamed Becca. Would he have been as ill if he hadn’t been so devastated by her betrayal? Perhaps the stress of learning he’d be a father at nineteen would have had the same effect. The chronic depression had dogged him for years as it was. Would parenthood have helped or hindered his recovery?
He’d never know for sure.
‘How do you know Becca would have chosen to marry me? She’s not married and she’s close to thirty. Not exactly rushing into anything, is she?’
Grace snorted. ‘Not marry you? What planet are you on? A girl like that. Of course she would have married you. It’s probably why she got pregnant.’
‘Seriously, Mum. You’re blaming Becca for getting pregnant now? It was the usual thing. Contraceptive failure. I guess neither of us were experts on condoms because we certainly used them and she still got pregnant.’
Grace closed her eyes, brow creased. ‘It’s a long time ago. I don’t remember exactly what I thought about the reasons behind her being pregnant. It was all about damage control.’
‘I would have wanted to know. Becca should have told me. Not let me assume it was someone else’s child.’
Meeting his eyes, his mother nodded wearily. ‘She tried to. We … I convinced her it wouldn’t be wise.’
‘You …’ Hot rage balled in his throat. His mother had done this to him. The woman who was supposed to love him. To want the best for him. ‘You stopped her?’
‘Once we explained, she agreed it was the right thing to do. We promised to help out. Babysit mainly. She wouldn’t take money. She’s proud.’ He recognised a note of surprise and a touch of respect in his mother’s voice.
‘Did you blackmail her into keeping silent?’
‘Of course not. She understood our position. Because of her father.’
‘What’s her father got to do with it? He’s been dead since before I left town.’
‘Not Rodney Bujold. Her birth father, Doug Walters. He did the same thing and killed himself because of it.’
