She bit the inside of her mouth and wiped a tear away. “I know if I ask him something, he’s going to tell me the truth. And I know thatshouldbe a good thing, it should, but a very wise woman once told me never ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to. If I ask him, he will tell me the truth.”
A visible wave of relief washed over Zion, and his shoulders relaxed.
Poppy was confused at Zion’s reaction. “What did you think I was going to say?”
“I thought you were going to say it had something to do with his nuerodiver?—”
“No!” Poppy cut him off before he could even finish. “No, that’s…Ilovethat about him. He’s the smartest, most incredible… I love how his brain works. I wish I were half as smart as he is. He’s amazing, he’s not like every other person, and that’s…I mean, his brain is perfect. Why would you…how could you think that?”
“As a black, bisexual man, I am someone who is very familiar with discrimination, prejudice, and ignorance. You’d besurprised how many people say, think, and do things you wouldneverthink they would say, think, or do.”
Poppy knew that Zion was right. She wasn’t looking at it from that perspective. “You’re right. Sorry, I just, no. I would never…” Poppy’s stomach dropped when a thought hit her. “You don’t think AJ thinks that. Do you? I mean, he knows I would never…”
“Have you talked to him about that?” Zion sighed. “Let me guess…no.”
Okay, yeah, they really did need to talk.
The knock sound reverberated off the door as AJ waited on the other side. This was the first chance he’d gotten to speak to Deacon alone since Thanksgiving. Poppy was at a yoga class, so he knew he had at least an hour before she got back. He’d been giving her space since her announcement. She’d had a lot of visitors, and both her body language and actions made it clear she didn’t want anyone suspecting he was the father.
The door opened, and Deacon appeared surprised to see him.
“Everything okay?” he asked, looking past AJ.
It didn’t surprise him that he would be looking for Poppy since AJ hadn’t said more than two words to the man.
“I need to speak to you.”
Deacon nodded, opening the door wider. “Sure, what’s up?”
AJ heard cartoons playing in the background. He wasn’t sure what Tabitha knew and didn’t know, and he didn’t want to say anything that would upset the child.
“I think it’s better if we speak out here, in private.”
Deacon’s assessing stare gave nothing away as he casually glanced over his shoulder. “Tabby, I’m gonna be outside for a sec, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy!” her tiny voice replied.
AJ retreated a single step backward, allowing space for Deacon to move onto the porch, which he did. When the door clicked shut, he squared his shoulders and stared AJ directly in the eyes. He understood the posturing, although there was no need for it. All AJ was trying to do was get to the bottom of his reason for hiding his identity.
“I had someone look into you.”
Deacon did not verbally respond. The only indication that he’d heard AJ was the tiniest flare of his nostril.
“Why haven’t you told anyone who you are?”
AJ could see Deacon was assessing whether or not AJ actually knew what he was talking about.
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t come here by accident. You were adopted, and your birt?—”
“I didn’t know I was adopted until my thirtieth birthday,” Deacon cut AJ off. “When I received my inheritance, it came with a letter from my parents explaining how I came to be raised as their child. My mother, mybirthmother, worked for the family. She got pregnant and hid it from everyone. She went into labor early, and there were complications. She knew who the father was, but he was married with a family, so he wouldn’t be able to be in the picture. She was hospitalized after losing a lot of blood, and she asked the St. Claires to raise me as their own. They’d always wanted a baby, but were unable to have one. She passed away five days after I was born. They promised her that they would not tell me about my parentage until I was old enough to handle the truth, which they all agreed was thirty years old.
“When my parents died last year, I used public sites to trace familial DNA and found Michael Davies. I learned he’d passed away but that I had siblings. I wanted to meet them, to get toknow them, but I didn’t want them to, I wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t just, I had to be certain that?—”
“You didn’t want them to try and take advantage of you for your money,” AJ stated bluntly.
Deacon sighed, it appeared to AJ that it was in relief. “Yes. And I know that I should have said something sooner, especially to Poppy. I truly was shocked when she called about the nanny position. I didn’t see that coming. I really did just want a referral. Her wanting the position was just a bonus. But before I told her, I wanted to meet everyone first. I knew Roger peripherally for years but had never met Phoebe. Once we all hung out on Halloween, my plan was to speak to everyone after Thanksgiving dinner, but between Poppy’s news and Yaya and Mr. Santino’s announcement, I didn’t feel like it was the right time. Also, I didn’t want to do something that would hurt Teresa. Michael was married to her when he had an affair with my mom.” Deacon quickly amended, “I know that he also had affairs with Poppy’s mom, Kerri, and Liam’s mom, Celeste, but this is a new affair that I don’t think she knows anything about. Especially since my mom’s gone. She can’t speak to her or ask her questions.”
