“I love you more.” I pinched his cheek. “I have to run to the store and pick up some things for the party tomorrow. Stay with your dad.”
“I will.” He smiled.
Parker
I grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and handed Gabriel one. Beach?” I asked.
“Beach it is.” He grinned.
We sat on the sand, by the shoreline, like we had since he was a child. It was our sacred place to talk.
“I know, Dad.”
“Know what, son?”
“About Mom’s past.”
I looked at him in disbelief.
“It wasn’t hard to figure out. I put the pieces together over the years when she’d be gone for a couple of days, or when she’d come home, and I’d noticed a spot of blood she missed. Plus, I saw the room. She was in there one day, and went to the bathroom, and left the door open. I started doing research but couldn’t find anything. It’s almost as if she never existed.”
“She technically didn’t.”
“How did you two meet? Because I know it wasn’t at Harrison’s like you two told me all these years.”
“We did meet at Harrison’s. We spent the night together, and she disappeared in the middle of the night. The following day, when I was leaving work, she stuck a gun in my back and told me that if I wanted to live, I had to go with her.”
“What? That’s crazy.”
“I know.” I breathed out a laugh. “Some bad people were after me because of a client. She protected me. She saved my life. The rest is history.” I smiled.
“So, she’s an assassin?”
“She was. Now, she serves up justice. Just like you will now that you’re a defense attorney.”
“And if someone comes after me?” he asked.
I hooked my arm around him. “You have nothing to worry about. Your mom will take care of it. That, I can promise you.”
“She’s quite the badass.” Gabriel smiled.
“She is, son. She truly is.”
Paigeand I climbed into bed. We needed all the rest we could get before Gabriel’s graduation party tomorrow.
“Gabriel and I had quite a talk down at the beach while you were gone.”
“Oh yeah? About what?” Paige asked.
“You. He knows, Paige.”
“I know he does.”
“What a second? You know and couldn’t tell me?”
“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I suspected.”
“But you told me at his graduation that you weren’t ready to tell him. But you already knew he knew.”