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“You mean my secret to tell” Hisan eyelash “I won’t drag out the details You boys never knewa man of God, Elmore Bennett wasn’t a nice man He ruled his home with the Bible in one hand and a hickory switch in the other

“I fell in love with your father when I was fifteen years old I had to see hiood Long story short, I got knocked up at age sixteen I was scared to death to tell my mother But I did, and she ie, called hter wasn’t supposed to get pregnant, especially by a McKay He swore I’d be eternally damned if I tied myself and a child to that heathen family To save face, his and h school at a Christian academy in Colorado, when in truth, he shippeda brainwashed during nancy was a source of sha look “Please understand times were different back then”

Gavin nodded and drained his shot

“I had a healthy boy Then they whisked him away to his adoptive parents I never knew the details of where he ended up My folks never spoke of it and I didn’t tell a soul”

“Not even Dad?” Quinn asked

She shook her head “When I ca, four years later, it was if Charlie and I hadn’t been apart We still loved each other and we ht away How could I tell hiive the baby a better life; there was no going back No tracking the boy down and taking him froht

Dad leaned over and ain control

Chase picked up his shot and his stomach protested when the whiskey hit

“After a few years, we started having you boys and… Well, ot about that sweet baby boy I held in le day went by that I didn’t wonder about hiood Pray he was loved”

Gavin’s eyes were on the shot glass he rolled between his fingers

“So I was shocked when your Aunt Kiht Jed was loopy on pain nant My father bragged to Jed I’d rather give the baby up than have it raised in a godless home as a McKay Which was a total lie, but Jed must’ve believed it After Kimi told me that, I finally understood why Jed never liked me and why he refused to live with us”

“Aunt Kimi never told Uncle Cal?” Chase asked

“No But she told your Aunt Carolyn”