"Once Ms. Gill and I are married, I'll convince her to adopt you. But until then, you can't let her find out about you or your mother."
The boy nodded obediently.
The ground dropped out from under me.
The first baby he'd been talking about wasn't me.
It was his illegitimate son.
……
"When are you going to let Herbert Hayward call you 'Dad' for real? If this keeps up, it's going to mess with his head."
An unfamiliar voice. A woman's.
I hadn't even recovered from the shock of my fiancé having a child when I saw a face I didn't recognize and yet somehow did.
My heart seized.
I knew her.
Janet Hayward. Herman's ex-girlfriend.
I'd seen that face years ago, young and fresh in an old college group photo.
Now, looking more carefully, Herbert really did share their features. The resemblance was unmistakable—sixty percent theirs.
Two years. Two full years, and I hadn't noticed a thing.
So all those times his friends had teased him about his "epic love story" with his ex, it had been real.
Back then, Herman had looked me straight in the eye like an earnest schoolboy and sworn up and down they were just joking.
Promise after promise. Oath after oath.