Izzy bounced out of the room, and Bex sighed with relief. “Thanks. She’s full of beans tonight.”
“Hopefully that means she’ll wear herself out soon.”
Bex hoped so too, but she didn’t hold out a lot of expectation. Best case scenario, they could fill her with meat loaf and plonk her in front of the TV while they talked. She peeled back tinfoil and steam billowed out.
“Fresh from the oven,” Kat told her.
“You’re the best.” Bex strode over and hauled her friend into a tight hug. Kat squeezed her back. “Thanks so much for coming.”
“As if I’d be anywhere else.”
Izzy returned, and they had dinner at the table. When they finished, Bex convinced Izzy to watch Disney and color in her books while she and Kat sat side by side, each with a glass of wine, and talked in low voices.
“What’s up?” Kat asked. “I’ve been worried all day. You said it was something about Izzy’s dad?”
Bex checked her daughter wasn’t listening—Izzy didn’t know anything about her father, other than that he wasn’t in her life, and she didn’t plan to change that. “Yeah, his brother, Michael, is the new principal.”
Kat whistled. “Wow.”
“I know, right?”
Kat sipped her wine. “Rotten luck that he came to Haven Bay, of all places.”
“I had the same thought.” She just didn’t know what to make of it. “He knows I grew up here. Surely he was aware there’d be a good chance we’d run into each other.”
“Maybe he didn’t think of that as a bad thing,” Kat suggested. “Or perhaps it didn’t cross his mind at all. It’s been years, Bex. He might have forgotten, or thought it wasn’t a big deal. Plenty of people live in the same town as their sibling’s ex-partner and it’s no problem at all.”
“That may be, but…” She ducked her head closer to Kat’s and murmured, “How am I supposed to keep him from finding out about Izzy?” That was her number one fear. If Wesley or his parents learned of Izzy’s existence, it could spell the end of their comfortable life.
Kat bit her lip. “I don’t know if you can.”
Bex’s stomach sank to her shoes then kept on going, and an oppressive weight settled onto her shoulders. Tears burned in the backs of her eyes, and she blinked them away. She was Rebecca freaking Cane, and she did not cry in the face of adversity. If she did, she’d have blubbered herself into nothingness long before today. Life as a biracial single mother wasn’t a cakewalk.
“Do you think Michael would do anything to harm Izzy?” Kat asked, jolting her back into the moment.
Bex’s lips parted, and she stared at her friend. “What? Do you mean physically?”
Kat shrugged. “In any way.”
She considered the question. “Not physically. He loves kids, that’s why he works in a school. He’s not a bad guy. Although in saying that, we haven’t talked for years.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping. Did she think Michael would want to punish Bex for having a baby in secret? Possibly. He had seemed to side with his family when they demanded an abortion. But did she think he’d want Izzy to pay for her deception? Absolutely not, yet sometimes bad things happened even if they weren’t what a person intended. “I don’t think he would on purpose, but telling his family would have that same effect, so what do his intentions matter?” As far as she was concerned, the only thing that mattered was keeping her daughter safe from anything that threatened her wellbeing.
“Okay, so I’m playing devil’s advocate here,” Kat said, still speaking quietly even though Izzy was engrossed in coloring a pink and purple donkey. “What would be the worst thing that could happen if the Briggstons found out about Izzy?”
Bex had an answer ready because she’d pondered this same thing hundreds of times. “Option one: They’re furious at me for breaking my word and taking their money for something I didn’t do. They threaten legal action.”
“Pfft,” Kat scoffed. “Yeah, ’cause that’d go really well in court. From what you’ve told me, there’s no way they’ll do anything to make themselves look bad or jeopardize Wesley’s position in parliament. Admitting that he paid off his girlfriend to have an abortion would ruin him.”
“Technically, it was his mother who bribed me,” Bex reminded her. She still wasn’t sure whether Wesley knew anything about the money, although he’d certainly been relieved when she told him she was going to go through with the abortion they’d tried to pressure her into.
Kat waved a hand. “Whatever. You get my point. What’s option two?”
“Izzy becomes a politician’s dirty secret.” She watched her daughter bend over her book, her dark hair fluffed up in every direction, and her heart felt so full of love it could burst. As that beautiful girl’s mother, she would make certain Izzy never felt anything other than loved and wanted. “Or option three: Wesley falls in love with her and decides to sue for custody.”
This was the option that frightened her most. Wesley didn’t know Izzy existed, so he’d never technically signed away his parental rights, although in her opinion, he may as well have the minute he agreed with his parents that she should terminate the pregnancy. His betrayal had shocked her. But somehow, Michael’s apparent defection to their parents’ side hit her harder. They’d been close, and shared a similar set of morals. She’d expected him to be an ally. When he’d stayed silent and not stood by her side when she tried to fight against them, she’d lost the will to stand her ground, and decided it would be easier to give the appearance of going along with their plans.
Kat hummed in the back of her throat. “You’ve really thought about this.”
Bex rolled her eyes, because it was either that or scream at the unfairness of the world. How on earth could it ever make sense for a baby to be taken from her mother and given to a stranger because of a lack of paperwork? Yet it happened every day. “Well, duh.”