Page 56 of Best Kept Secret

He stiffened and was glad she was looking at Annie and not him.

“Plus, she’s your sister, and I want to meet your family.”

“I’d like that too,” he said. She looked at him with surprise. “What? You don’t believe me?”

“No. I mean, yes. I believe you,” she said and smiled.

While they’d been talking, Annie had grown restless. He recognized the signs and knew it was time for her to eat. “I need to warm her bottle,” he said.

“I’ll do it.”

“That’s okay. You keep holding her. I’ll be right back.”

He stood up, took the diaper bag, and went into the kitchen. He pulled the bottle out of the insulated pack and placed it in the microwave. Then he leaned against the kitchen counter and sighed.

You’re such an idiot. Why didn’t you just tell her? Then he recalled her expression when she’d said, “I believe you.” Would she still believe in him once she knew the truth, or would it be the end of them?

He’d dug such a deep hole that he wasn’t sure how he was going to climb out of it, but he’d made up his mind. He was going to tell her over the holiday weekend, when he’d have plenty of time to explain.

The microwave beeped, and he jumped right back into the role of dad. He returned to the living room with the warmed bottle and stopped in his tracks. Kelsey was pacing back and forth and singing softly to Annie, who looked up at her with intense concentration, as babies do. In that moment, she looked like she could have been Annie’s mother, and the thought made him unsteady.

“There you are. She was getting fussy, so I decided to walk with her.”

“What were you singing?” he asked as he handed her the bottle.

She sat on the couch, cradled Annie, and brought the bottle to her lips. “If I tell you, you can’t laugh.”

“Like you didn’t laugh about my crossword puzzles?” he teased.

“Fine. I tried to think of a song with baby in the title, and the only one I came up with was that one by Britney Spears.”

“You mean ‘Baby One More Time’?”

“You know it?”

“Of course. Who doesn’t?”

“Oh good. Now I don’t feel so bad.”

He laughed. Then he sat beside her, partly to supervise the feeding of Annie, but mostly just to be close to her. With her hair up, her neck was exposed, and he gently stroked it with his fingertips.

She gave him a look that was part warning, part pleasure. “You probably shouldn’t do that,” she said halfheartedly.

“Do what?”

“Rile me up while I’m feeding Annie.”

He liked how she responded to the simplest touch, and he enjoyed teasing her. “Does Annie look she minds?”

Kelsey glanced at the baby and smiled. “She just looks happy.”

“That’s how I want you to feel too.”

“I do,” she said. “And I want to make you feel good too.”

“You’re doing it just by sitting next to me.” And holding my child, he thought but didn’t say.

“I should probably burp her now.”