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

her, and went back to watching their son.
    Their son . She closed her eyes. Why couldn’t Malcolm still be her son alone?
    “Why did you take up teaching?” he asked, breaking the silence.
    She lifted a hand to hold back the hair the wind had whipped from her braid. “Partly because of the time off. Malcolm doesn’t have to be in day care nearly as much as he would if I didn’t have such long holiday breaks. Plus, my schedule isn’t erratic the way it would be if I were stillwith the Chamber. Remember how often I had to travel, or speak to groups in the evening.”
    “Yeah.” He was frowning now. “I can see that.”
    “I really do love teaching.” Well down the beach, a couple walked hand in hand at the water’s edge. Malcolm had stopped to watch sandpipers darting after the waves just as he’d done, although quicker to make their retreat. “Now I can’t imagine how I let myself get sidetracked after college. I think it’s what I was meant to do.”
    “What grade do you teach?”
    “This year, fifth. It’s a great age. They’re just starting to flirt with puberty—”
    “And each other.”
    She laughed. “And each other. Oh, so ineptly. But they’re also still children. They’re good readers, the math is advanced enough to be interesting, they’re open to exploring new stuff. This year I’ve extracted a video camera from the district and the kids are taking turns filming a news show. You wouldn’t believe how much more passionate they are about reading the newspapers!”
    “What about the shy ones?”
    “They enjoy being behind the camera. The kids consider that as cool as being the newscaster.”
    He merely nodded.
    After a minute, Rebecca asked, “What about you, Daniel? I gather business is strong?”
    “Can hardly keep up with demand.”
    “Are you still a workaholic?”
    “More so.” He flicked a glance at her. “You moderated my tendency.”
    “Really? I didn’t feel as if I had any influence on you whatsoever.” She’d hated knowing how little impact shehad on him. Sometimes, when he was on the phone talking business and she interrupted for some reason, he’d give her this blank stare, as if he didn’t even remember who she was. Daniel Kane liked having a woman in his bed. He even enjoyed some stimulating discussion. Her best guess, there at the end, was that he was ready for a fresh viewpoint in those discussions, not to mention some new adventures in bed. Out with the old, in with the new. She had quite passionately not wanted to meet her replacement.
    He was quiet for a moment. “You had more than you thought.”
    Tempted to ask when he had ever done anything differently to please her, Rebecca kept her mouth shut. He was probably five girlfriends along. Did he even remember her particular quirks or wants?
    Instead she asked, “How’s your brother and nephew?”
    “Adam died just this winter. A stroke.”
    “But…he wasn’t old enough!”
    “Fifty-eight.” His gaze had become brooding and Rebecca doubted he saw Malcolm anymore. “It was hard on Joe.”
    “I can imagine.”
    “He’s remarried. His new wife is pregnant.” Still, he wasn’t looking at her. “I told Joe. I mean, about Malcolm.”
    She nodded. Now that his brother was gone, Joe was his only family. She hated to imagine what Joe had said about her.
    “He married his first wife because he was pregnant.”
    Slowly Rebecca turned to face him. “But the marriage didn’t last.”
    “No.”
    “Having a child together isn’t enough.”
    Frowning, Daniel said, “It seems to me we had other things going for us.”
    She’d thought so, too, once upon a time, when she fell in love. Before he lost interest.
    “Does it matter now?”
    “Probably not.” He shifted to watch Malcolm again, leaving her chilled. Had he dismissed her, just like that? But she saw that Malcolm was running toward them, and Daniel said, “Hey, buddy. What did you find?”
    “See? This rock sparks.” He frowned and sounded it