Paige nodded, eyes bleak. “Promise you won’t tell Archie anything about this. He doesn’t know. And hecannotfind out.”
“I won’t breathe a word.” He took her hand, squeezing it. “I can keep a secret, Paige.”
“I know.” She let out a shaky breath, shoulders slumping. “And you deserve to know the full truth.”
“Only if you want to tell me.” Her hand was cold. He wrapped his fingers around hers, enfolding her in as much warmth as he could. “But not here.”
She stumbled a little as he pulled her toward the door. “Where are we going?”
“This doesn’t sound like the sort of conversation to have across a desk. Or over one.” He guided her out of the office. “And you’re always more relaxed outside. Come on.”
He would have liked to take her into the woods, where she seemed most comfortable, but it would be too dark for human eyes. He headed for the lake instead, stretching out his pegasus sense to make sure no one else was around. Finding a quiet spot on the shoreline, he guided her to sit on a flat rock.
“Just breathe for a minute.” He sat next to her, picking up a pebble so he’d have something to do with his hands. “Take as long as you need. There’s no rush.”
The lake murmured softly against the shore. Paige stared across the glimmering water, her hands clenched in her lap. He kept quiet, waiting. Slowly, the tension drained from her body.
“I love my mom.” Paige’s voice was as quiet as the rippling water. “And I’ve always looked up to her. You have to understand that, before anything else. She’s an amazing woman.”
He turned the pebble over, rubbing his thumb across the water-smoothed surface. “She must be, if she’s anything like her daughter.”
“You can’t imagine how hard her life has been. She’s never had any support. She grew up in care, with foster parents more interested in collecting a paycheck than actually looking after kids. My own father abandoned us when I was just a baby. But she gave me all the love she’d never had herself. We didn’t have much when I was growing up, but I always had her. That was enough.”
“Family comes first,” he murmured. “I’m beginning to see where you get that from.”
“All I ever wanted was to make her life easier. I had such big plans…” Paige let out a hollow laugh, staring into the darkness. “Well. I should have known better.”
There was certainly one curveball life had thrown at her, though he still couldn’t guess where she was going with this. “Archie?”
“It started when he was born. Well, a bit before then, in fact. When my mom broke up with his dad. My mom was so cautious about letting anyone into our lives, I never even met the guy. I guess he must have known right from the start that she wasn’t his mate, so it was never serious for him. But for a few short months, my mom was happy. Happier than I’d ever known. Until one day I found my tough, strong, unshakeable mother huddled in the shower, sobbing her eyes out. Saying was that it was over, and she was never going to see him again.”
He clenched his fist on the pebble, so hard his bones ached. “Did he know she was pregnant?”
“She didn’t know, at that point.” Paige’s voice cracked. “At first, I thought she was depressed over the breakup. And then, once her pregnancy became obvious, the doctors said she was just hormonal, and she’d feel better once she had the baby. But she didn’t. It was like something in her justbroke.”
He thought of a teenage Paige, barely out of childhood herself, trying to hold everything together as her mother had once done. Desperately trying to care for the most important person in her life, as her world inexplicably crumbled around her.
Dropping the pebble, he shifted position, opening one arm in silent invitation. Paige hesitated for the briefest interest, then buried her face in the crook of his neck. He folded his armsaround her, feeling the soft hitch of her breath as he held her tight.
“You’ve been taking care of your family for a long, long time,” he murmured into her hair. “But you don’t have to do it alone, Paige. Not any more.”
Her eyelashes were damp against his skin. “I haven’t talked about this before. At the time, I was too scared to tell anyone my mom would go days without eating, or spend entire night pacing in circles, unable to sleep. I was terrified that if anyone discovered the truth, Archie would be taken away. I think that really would have killed my mom.”
He rubbed her back gently. “Did she get any better?”
“A little. For Archie’s sake, I think, and mine. Even when she couldn’t take care of herself, she always cared about us.” Paige pulled away, rubbing at her eyes. “But she was never the same, Conleth. She still isn’t. Even after all this time.”
He finally connected all the dots, and cursed himself for not seeing the whole picture earlier. “You told me once that she was sick with worry over Archie’s shifting. You meant that literally, didn’t you?”
“She has severe anxiety, and struggles with depressive episodes.” Paige let out a long breath, as though saying the words had been like setting down a heavy weight. “Stress always makes it worse. When Archie first started shifting, she fell apart almost as badly as when she broke up with his dad.”
He frowned. “Wait. You said Archie couldn’t find out about any of this. But if she’s still suffering that badly, how could you hide it from him?”
“It’s not that hard. He’s only a kid.” In the moonlight, Paige looked pale, and unspeakably weary. “When she’s having one of her bad days, I just tell him that Mom’s got the flu again, or that she’s been working late and needs to catch up on sleep. Mom and I agreed it was best not to worry him.”
“Have you ever tried to persuade her to see a doctor? I understand your fears about drawing the attention of social services, but you’re an adult now, not a teenager. It’s unlikely anyone would seek to remove Archie.”
And I would kick in their head if they tried,he didn’t add.His pegasus was a furious fire in his mind, raging to trample anyone who threatened their mate or her family. But right now, Paige needed solutions, not some useless display of protectiveness.
