Read Online Adam’s Boys by Anna Clifton - Free Book Online

muscle. And even if she could, she’d already done too much—Adam would want nothing from her now.
    In the end it was Henry who acted.
    Noticing the fully clothed man being buffeted in the chest by gentle waves, he left Pete immersed with the sea life they’d found, jumped into the water and dog-paddled his way across the pool. Adam was oblivious to his younger son’s presence until he’d sat down next to him, his warm, wet body pressing up against his father’s saturated cotton shirtsleeve.
    Only then did Adam drop his hands from his face to look down at Henry. Abbie could see her little boy talking to his father and placing a hand on his knee to comfort him. With that, Adam lifted his arm to wrap it around Henry’s shoulder.
    The two of them sat in silence for upwards of five minutes, watching Pete fossicking on the opposite rock ledge, oblivious to the catastrophic news that had his father besieged in a world of grief over the loss of his younger son’s first years of life.
    But then Adam enclosed Henry in both of his arms, pressed his lips against the top of the little boy’s head, climbed to his feet and walked purposefully out of the water.
    â€œMy car keys are up on the bench where we were sitting,” Adam tossed at Abbie as he walked past where she stood statue-like on the promenade. “Take the boys home to your place. You’d better keep Pete for the night too.”
    And with that Adam headed for the road and didn’t look back.
    â€œIs Dad really mad at us?” Pete asked uncertainly as he and Henry appeared at her side, staring after Adam’s hunched and lonely figure as he disappeared across the park.
    â€œNo, honey,” Abbie replied. “Adam’s not upset with either of you. He’s upset with me.”
    â€œBoy, you must have done something really bad,” Pete suggested, looking at Abbie with fascination in his wide, brown eyes. “He walked into the water with all his clothes on! I’ve never seen Dad do anything like that before!”
    â€œI did do something really bad. I didn’t tell him something important that I should have told him long ago.”
    â€œIs that why he’s so sad?” Henry asked.
    Abbie nodded as she fought for air. Because the two little boys at her side had seen within moments what it had taken her years to finally work out: her secret would crush their father completely.

Chapter Five
    â€œHello, darling! What are you doing prowling around the house like a caged lion?”
    Maeve McCarthy’s eventual appearance at her front door took Abbie by surprise, even though she’d been pacing the living room for well over an hour, willing her aunt to come home from her cards night as soon as possible.
    Nothing had eased Abbie’s frantic worry about Adam since he’d walked away from her at the beach that afternoon.
    In a mortified daze she’d managed to herd Pete and Henry under the beach shower and into his car for the trip home. Then finding her house empty as the three of them burst through its front door, she’d set about getting both boys into hot baths and pyjamas. An early dinner was next before putting them into her bed in front of the television as a special treat. By the time Maeve finally walked through her door, both boys were sleeping peacefully, exhausted from the excitement of their big day.
    â€œMaeve, thank goodness you’re home! Do you mind if I leave the boys with you?” Abbie babbled helplessly as she fell upon her aunt in relief. “They’re asleep upstairs and I have to find Adam. I’m not sure what time I’ll be home.”
    â€œPete’s here, is he? Yes, of course you can go, but what’s wrong, darling? Is everything all right? Will Adam be back to get Pete tonight? This is all very confusing!” Maeve declared finally, running a suspicious eye over her wild-eyed niece, clearly wondering how her nervy mood and the