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“The night you learned…” She stopped to clear her throat She pressed her lips together, and did a slow blink, then looked up to face ers covered her lips as she took a stuttered breath “There were times I couldn’t look at him be…because of how he came to be So…so when you—he shouldn’t be punished for the sins of his father, Malcolm”

I stepped to Ginger and wrapped ht, or pull away, but she didn’t She cried softly and I ran my hand up and down her back while I tried to process what she’d said

Shawn didn’t just look like his father; he was re and brutal attack My idiotic statement and poor choice of words added to an apparent fear she had that we’d somehow treat him differently

Damn it Damn it Damn it

I closed htened my embrace I wanted to take it all Every ounce of pain andmyself to absorb it from her body and free her from it all

She pulled away “I just wanted to say my piece”

She turned to walk off, and I reached for her arm I expected her to pull away, she didn’t, but she also didn’t turn to look at me

“Do I get to say mine?”

“What ed because of e me back I’m physically and emotionally scarred Tainted” The last word she spoke was barely above a whisper

I gri word “Stop Okay? Just stop That was a terrible choice of word onto do with you or Shawn”

I turned her around, getting mild resistance, but she relented I placed er’s face With my thumbs I wiped the tears fro that these words were probably the most important ones I’d ever speak

“Shawn is my son DNA Conception None of that shit matters to me What does matter is him His mother And the family we’ve created Please believe that”

“I want to It’s part of why I came back” She pulled free “But it doesn’t matter The truth is I am tainted I am I’ve used the very same word to describeyou don’t want in your house”

I hated the way she stressed the word your

Running ure out the best way to dig myself out of this hole “This place This house is ours It’s row as a faive you that Me Callhis money to pay for it diminishes that That’s what I meant when I said I didn’t want him associated with it”