His Heart for the Trusting by Lisa Mondello Read Free Book Online Page B

was how hard it must have been for her to leave him here.  I can’t
imagine what she must be thinking right now without him.”
    “You don't know
Lillian.  I'm surprised she even chose to have Jonathan.”
    Sara snapped
her head toward him in surprise.  “And that would have been easier on you,
right?”
    Mitch sighed. 
“That's not what I meant.  I'm not doing very well at all explaining myself
tonight.  All I meant is that I know Lillian. I can't see her saddling herself
with a kid.  It doesn't really surprise me that she chose to leave him with
me.  And I keep thinking of what he'll feel about all this when he grows up
wondering why she left him.  I mean, what do I say?”
    “You tell him
the truth.”
    Mitch took a
sip of the tea and grimaced at the bitter flavor.  “The truth isn't pretty.”
    “Do you even
know the truth?”
    As he reached
for the sugar bowl on the table and started spooning sugar into his cup, he
said, “I know enough.”
    Sara chuckled
softly.  “Mitch Broader, you're so all-fired sure of yourself.”
    “No, I'm not. 
You've seen firsthand how very unsure I am with Jonathan.  I don't know how
people have kids without feeling like complete imbeciles.  How do these kids
ever survive to adulthood with parents like me who don't have a clue?  I mean,
you need a license to drive a car, but you can have a kid without any
instruction at all.  All kids should come with manuals.”
    “No one is born
a parent.  It's a learning process.”  She gave him a crooked smile before
sipping her tea.  Then she said, “It's nice to hear you talking about him like
that.”
    “Like what?”
    “Your son. 
You're his father.  You've accepted it.  I thought that wall you had up was
going to stay there forever.”
    Mitch
shrugged.  What could he say?  “It's not like I have a choice.  He looks just
like me.”
    “It's more than
that, and you know it.  You're already falling in love.”
    Yeah, he was,
Mitch realized.  But Jonathan wasn't the only one who was stirring his feelings
and twisting him into knots.  Sara was doing a pretty good job of it herself.
    “We were
married.  Lillian and I,” Mitch said quietly.  He didn't know why, but it was
important for Sara to know this, even though it was something Mitch had vowed
to strike from his memory.  Some lessons were learned the hard way and his
whirlwind relationship with Lillian definitely qualified as hard.
    Sara seemed to
shrink in her chair.  “Oh.  I just assumed.”
    “Yeah, I
figured.  It's not something I like to talk about much.”  He stole a glance at
her, trying to read her expression, but came up empty.
    “And Lillian
didn't tell you she was pregnant?”
    “There wasn't
much time for that.  The marriage lasted all of two weeks.”
    “Two whole
weeks?  You're not much for longevity, are you?”
    Mitch winced
and then rubbed his neck with his hand.  “Ouch.  I had the marriage annulled. 
It was a crazy time.  I came home early with roses in my hand after meeting
with my grandfather's attorney.  I expected to find my wife waiting.  Instead,
I was broadsided after finding another man's shoes parked where my boots should
have been.”  He'd known Lillian since they were both kids, having grown up on
the same street block in Baltimore.  They’d hung out together with the rest of
the crowd from the neighborhood and he’d even had his first real kiss with
Lillian.  He was a long way from those days now.
    Sara's eyes
drifted closed.  “I'm sorry,” she said quietly.
    He gave an idle
shrug.  “I'm okay with it now.”
    “No, I mean I'm
really sorry.  For the...terrible things I was thinking about you.  It wasn't
my place to judge.”
    He sighed, his
voice tight when he spoke.  “You thought I ran out on Lillian, didn't you?”
    She nodded
apologetically.  “It's so cliché, and I shouldn't have assumed.  Mandy never
mentioned you were married.”
    “You talked to
Mandy about me, huh?”
    She