Read Online A Mother's Secret by Janice Kay Johnson - Free Book Online Page A

how little she really knew him. It had been particularly foolish of her to fall in love with a man so unwilling to share his innermost self.
    All but dancing with impatience, Malcolm waited just until they caught up, then hurried ahead again. By the time Rebecca stepped off the hard-packed trail onto the gravelly beach, her son was already crouched and picking through the pebbles.
    “Look at this one, Mom!” he said excitedly, holding up a dark red stone, worn smooth by the water.
    Daniel inspected it. “I think that’s jasper. You have a sharp eye.”
    “Mom always just says they’re pretty. She doesn’t tell me their names.” Malcolm looked at him with respect.
    “I took some geology classes in college,” Daniel explained. “I like knowing how the earth was formed. Plus, I always wanted to be a builder, and it’s smart to understand the ground you’re excavating.”
    Her son looked crafty. “Do you have a bulldozer? I have a toy one, but I’d really like to ride on a real one.”
    Rebecca opened her mouth, but Daniel beat her to the punch. “We might be able to arrange that someday. With precautions. Heavy machinery isn’t safe for children.”
    “That would be great!” Future plan finalized, he asked, “Can I go look at the tide pools now, Mom?”
    “Yes, but remember…”
    “I can’t pick anything up,” he said with exasperation. “I know .” He darted ahead.
    There was that sound again. Rebecca turned to see the grin lingering on Daniel’s mouth.
    He caught her eye. “Easy to picture him as a teenager.”
    She huffed out a laugh of her own. “Some days, painfully easy.”
    They followed more slowly. With the tide well out, the rocky pools that interested Malcolm were a safe distance from the waves. Rebecca pointed to a sandy nook up against the cliff that would protect them from the cold wind and suggested they put down their blanket and lunch basket there before they continued toward the water.
    Daniel surprised her again by squatting beside Malcolm and studying the starfish and urchins and crabs that lived in the tide pools with an intentness to equal her son’s. She stood back watching them clamber over the rocks and discuss what they saw. Their camaraderie inspired an uncomfortable pang of jealousy. Malcolm didn’t even seem to notice that she wasn’t at his side. Daniel was apparently more knowledgeable and therefore captivating.
    She joined them when they walked down to the water’s edge, where Malcolm chased the fingers of foam until, inevitably, he got caught and shrieked as the water poured over his feet.
    Rebecca sighed. “I should have made him take his shoes off.”
    “Some discomfort will teach him a lesson,” Daniel said unsympathetically.
    “Parents generally try to save their children from suffering unnecessarily,” Rebecca pointed out tartly.
    Malcolm squelched over, his face crumpling. “I don’t want my shoes to be wet, Mom.”
    “I know, sweetie. But you’d have cut your feet on the rocks if we’d taken them off earlier.”
    In the volatile way of a child, a moment later he was over his unhappiness and went back to chasing the receding waves until another one caught him. This time, he shrieked with laughter.
    “He’s a good kid,” Daniel said, surprising her.
    He was watching Malcolm, not looking at her. In running shoes, jeans and a bulky cable-knit sweater, he seemed younger today, his face more relaxed. The wind had disheveled his hair and he stood rocking back on his heels, his hands in his pockets.
    “I told you he was happy.” The minute she said it, Rebecca realized how he would interpret that.
    Daniel glanced at her, his expression cool. “Yes. You did.”
    “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
    “Didn’t you?” he murmured.
    “No. I didn’t,” she snapped. “I meant just what I said. He’s a happy kid. Well-adjusted.”
    She couldn’t tell what Daniel was thinking, which further annoyed her. He simply turned, as if dismissing