When the Heart Lies - By Christina North Page 0,110
his hands together. They gazed at each other with worried expressions. She felt weak and wordless. When she looked away and didn’t say anything, he went and sat beside her, taking her hand.
“Maybe I should just start by showing you something.” She stood and walked to the closet, and upon turning back, she met his confident eyes. They gave her courage. She grabbed the small stool, stepped up, and reached above the door ledge, retrieving a small key. Her heart galloped along at a brisk pace, no longer from fear, but from the anticipation of freedom from years of carrying a heavy burden alone. Strong enough to face herself and her future, whatever her future may be, she reached beneath the bed and took out the large photo album. She’d been assembling it for years. After climbing into bed on her knees, she scooted toward the middle and patted the space next to her, encouraging him join her.
He kicked off his shoes and sat next to her, leaning against the headboard.
“I’ve wanted you to have this for a long time. Instead, I left, afraid of the truth the album held. By the time Nick and I split up, I couldn’t even open it. But you have to know—what I’m going to show you is also the reason why I had to come home. She turned her head away and was successful at blinking back a few tears. With her head still turned from him, she handed him the key.
He took the key and opened the album. Lingering at times, he turned the pages. She watched as he flipped them slowly. In his face, she saw sadness mixed with an occasional hint of a smile. He closed the album filled with photos of him and Max and threw the key into the wastebasket beside the bed. Her secret was no longer locked away and hidden.
“Thank you. This is perfect, all I’ve thought of for years. I didn’t know for sure if you knew.” He reached around her and drew her close.
Not able to hold back any longer, she buried her head in his chest, sobbing. She held him tight, feeling she might float away down a river of tears if she loosened her grip. “I’m not positive.”
He lowered his eyes. “I am. Max is our son. I presumed as much the day you and Nick told us you were going to have a child. A week after he was born, I had no question about him being my son. I had Nick’s DNA done at the same time. The samples were easy to get.” He pulled her head to his chest and tucked it beneath his chin letting out a large sigh. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to do. You should’ve never had to shoulder this secret on your own. I didn’t want to rip your life apart. I thought that if or when you knew, you’d come to me. You and Max are everything to me. The longer time went on, the more difficult bringing the topic up became. Angela surmised Max was mine; I don’t know how. Max and I are close in ways she must’ve questioned. She started hunting around, obviously. Somehow, she got into my personal safe and found the DNA reports. I’m sure now that her finding out is what started the ordeal with Wayde. She obviously fed him all the stories about your brother. Set the whole thing up perfectly.”
“That must have been why she wanted me gone and went to such great lengths. If I had a husband like you, I might even be able to understand why. There was never a right time to tell you. I was afraid for all of us, but mostly for Max. In our hearts we both did what we thought would be best for everyone.” She looked away and then met his gaze again. “We were wrong, weren’t we?”
They held each other silently for a long time—her sobbing, and his expression sinking with every tear that fell. Secure in his arms, he took her back to a time when she thought she couldn’t bear another day of the loneliness she endured with Nick. A time when Xavier worried and cared for her every day when Nick wouldn’t—until she felt like living again. After her suicide attempt, he would check on her daily. Concerned that people would find out, Nick had insisted only family stay with her. Mostly, she was alone. Her mind wandered, back to