changes nothing.” Bronson narrowed his eyes. “You want to spend time with my mother and try to form some sort of bond, that’s up to her. I’m not feeling very brotherly.”
“Bronson.” Victoria came to stand beside him, placing a delicate hand on his arm. “Don’t say things right now that you don’t mean. We’ve all sustained a shock. Let’s just think this through, let it all settle and then we’ll decide how to proceed.”
He glanced down at his sister who had a loving heart for everyone. “Tori, my feelings won’t change for him just because we share a mother. I’ve never trusted him, and I’m not going to be buddies with him. You and Mom are free to do what you want with this newfound relationship, but I want no part of it.”
Unable to stay in the same room with the tension, the lies and the hurt, Bronson turned to leave.
“No,” Anthony said. “I’ll go.”
Bronson looked over his shoulder. “What?”
His illegitimate brother crossed the room. “I’ll go. You three have a lot to discuss and you don’t need me here. I realize I’m not part of this family, and it’s certainly not my intention to break anything up. I know this will take a lot of time to deal with.”
Bronson was shocked at Anthony’s gracious action, volunteering to leave. He wouldn’t have thought the man would step aside at a time like this. Bronson was grateful … though he wouldn’t admit it.
He nodded to Anthony, who then turned to Olivia. “I hope I can call or stop by again soon.”
Olivia’s face lit up as a smile spread across her face. “Anytime, my darling.”
“Goodbye, Anthony,” Victoria said with a tender smile.
Anthony spared Bronson one last look before leaving.
Bronson turned back to his mother. “You’ve always known?”
Olivia lifted her chin. “Yes, and I’m not ashamed of my actions because I’d do the same thing again to give my child the best start at life.”
Anger, confusion and hurt spread through Bronson. He wished he had somewhere to place the blame, but he didn’t want to castigate his mother. In his heart, he knew his mother had made the hardest decision of her life, and making her pay for it nearly forty years later wouldn’t fix anything.
“Oh, Mother, I wish you’d said something.” Victoria wrapped an arm around their mother’s shoulders. “The pain you must’ve felt all these years with all the turmoil between Bron and Anthony. Why didn’t you at least tell us? We never would’ve told a soul.”
“Because if Anthony never came to me, I would’ve died with this secret.” Olivia smiled at Victoria. “I do have him in my will, and I even had letters to each of you that you were supposed to receive if something happened to me. I gave specific instructions for you to read the letters well before the reading of my will so you wouldn’t be as stunned.”
“Letters, Mother?” Bronson asked, resting his hands on his hips. “I never took you to be afraid of anything, yet you couldn’t tell us this?”
Those sparkling blue eyes that had dazzled the camera for decades turned to him. “To be honest, I didn’t want either of you to be disappointed in me. I was human. I met a man I thought I loved, got pregnant and knew I was in no position to raise or care for a child properly. It wasn’t until a couple years later I met your father, and I told him everything before we married. He tried to get me to reclaim Anthony then, but I couldn’t do that. I’d given him up to a loving family, and I refused to tear them apart.”
Bronson swallowed, unable to even fathom giving up a child. He’d lost one and thankfully had the chance to be a father again. But to willingly give the baby up so he could have a better life?
He wrapped his arms around two of the most important women in his life. “You’re the bravest woman I know,” he whispered to his mother. “I’m glad you don’t have to carry this secret anymore. Just please don’t expect me to change overnight.”
Olivia clutched his shirt at his back and hugged him to her side. “I won’t, son. But promise you’ll try to make amends with Anthony. For me.”
For his mother he’d try anything. But first he had another woman in his life to deal with.
Mia opened her door to a very tense, angry Bronson. The muscle ticking in his jaw, the thin lips and narrowed eyes were all directed at her.
Her heart stopped and she knew the secret was out. Now was possibly her one and only chance to salvage their relationship and prove that her love for him was never in question.
“You saw your mother?”
“Would you ever have told me, Mia?”
Mia’s gaze darted down to her bare feet, then back up. “No.”
“My mother said the same thing,” he whispered. “Betrayal from all sides. This secret just gets better and better.”
A flash of pain tore through Bronson’s eyes before he pushed past her and entered her house. With a heavy heart and a sickening pit in her stomach, Mia shut the door and followed him.
“Your mother knew?” Mia asked, shocked.
He spared her a glance as he moved into her living area. “She’s known the whole time.”
Bronson stood looking out on to her patio, his back to her. “You want to tell me again that there was never anything between you and Anthony? Why your loyalty is stronger for your previous employer than the father of your baby?”
She would not fight. There was no reason to start arguing, Mia told herself. He was hurting and looking for a place to lay blame, and she was in the path of his destruction. She had to be strong to keep this relationship afloat on these rocky waters.
“I’ve never lied to you about my involvement with Anthony,” she told him in a soft voice. “I love Anthony like a brother, and I saw him struggle with this secret. I happened to stumble across the information just about a week before I was set to leave and come work for your mother. I assure you, more than once I wished I’d never known the truth.”
“But you did.” He turned, hands on his hips. “You knew the truth that would change my life. You slept with me, made a child with me and professed your love for me all the while knowing this.”
How could she deny anything?
“Yes.”
He threw his arms in the air, his voice boomed through her house. “How can I trust what you say, Mia? How can I ever trust you to be open and honest with me? You of all people know how important family is.”
Okay, that was low, but she refused to let him pull her into a fight, refused to throw away this family she’d already come to love.
“Bronson, family means everything to me, too.” A soft flutter
