Ana graciously offered to watch Blue while I met my dad for dinner. It wouldn’t do any good to bring him. She was right that he fed off my anxiety and fears, and I didn’t want him stressed.

I arrived early dressed in black slacks and a white blouse, something I could have never worn if Blue had come with me. Dad didn’t put up with tardiness, or very much else, for that matter. For a man who had made lots of mistakes in his life, he sure was intolerant of others.

It was one of the reasons I hadn’t let him know about Blue. He was supposed to be a religious man who embraced the sinner and not the sin, but Dad was the most judgmental man I knew.

In all honesty, I should have come clean at the start, but no matter how hard I tried, I still wanted to make the man proud. He was my father, after all.

Tripp’s Steakhouse wasn’t a fancy place, but they did serve a good steak. The host sat me at a table in the center of the room. It was the perfect place to watch people, but it wasn’t private by any stretch. Maybe its exposure would keep Dad’s outburst in check when I blurted out the truth.

After ordering a club soda, I waited. It didn’t take long for him to show up, and by the look on his face, he wasn’t too happy. I was about to make his day worse. It would all be over soon, I told myself. Sure, he would disown me. I had a kid out of wedlock and totally lied about it. Whatever he had thought of me yesterday would be so much worse today.

Still scowling, Dad sat in the chair across from me. “Can you believe they have that New Age Bible at the hotel? They’re basically heretics.”

“You know, Dad, just because people don’t believe what you believe doesn’t mean they’re wrong.”

“Sure, it does. There’s only one way.” He flagged the waitress over and ordered a glass of red wine.

“Your way, right?” I smiled and tried to play it off like I was joking, but I knew I wasn’t. It was his way or the highway. I’d chosen the highway a long time ago.

“Where’s that man of yours?” Dad looked around the restaurant as if Silas was hiding in a corner.

I took a deep breath and tried to put the right words together in my head. The proper delivery could always smooth the rough edges. “There’s something you should know about Silas …”

“He’s always late,” Silas said, as he walked up to the edge of the table. He was dressed in a pair of khakis and a blue button-down shirt. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Sexy scruff. He pulled preppy off without a hitch. Turns out that Silas was like a chameleon and blended in with whatever. He leaned over and gave me a kiss. It was a sweet, lingering kiss on my lips. “Go with it,” he whispered before he stood up. Then he turned toward my dad and shook his hand.

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Faraday.” He turned toward me with an expression that said, let me take care of this.

“Good to see you, son. You know timeliness is next to godliness.”

“Says the man who didn’t run into traffic on his way.” Silas took a seat to my right and pulled his chair close to mine.

While Dad looked over the menu, I leaned in and whispered, “What are you doing here?”

“You’re welcome,” he replied and gave me another brush of his lips.

The problem with this ruse was that it felt too good. Sitting here with Silas felt so right, but in a wrong way because there was no truth to it at all. It only prolonged the inevitable: telling Dad that I was a single, unwed mother.

“What brings you to town, sir?”

Dad sat taller when Silas called him sir. “If Grace went to church, she’d know that Father Bradley fell and broke his leg. Since he can’t bring Communion to the homebound or visit the sick in the hospital, the deacons in the diocese are filling in. I’m here for a few days to do my part.”

Silas nodded his head. “My foster family was Catholic. We went to Mass every Saturday night.” I couldn’t decide whether that was the truth or whether Silas said that to make my father happy.

Whatever it was, it worked. Dad was smiling for the first time since he’d arrived. “Grace, I’m liking this man more each minute. I might even forgive you for not inviting me to the wedding.”

Silas turned to my father and gave him his full attention. “Sir, about the wedding.”

I held my breath and waited for him to say that there hadn’t been one.

“You not getting invited was my fault. I was desperate for Grace to marry me.” He reached up and touched my cheek with such tenderness that I wanted to melt. “Look at her. Who wouldn’t want her at home waiting for him?” He dropped his hand and looked back to my dad. “I was going back to a war zone. If I were going to die, I wanted to die a happy, married man.”

I saw the tension twitch in his jaw as he recited the lie, but I was sure Dad didn’t notice it at all. He was still stuck on the sirs and the mention of weekly Mass.

“I wish you luck with that.” My father sipped his wine. His expression was blank, but I knew he had to be thinking about my mom.

Silas raised a brow and reached over to place his hand on mine. “Grace is an amazing woman. She’s a wonderful mother.” Silas sipped from my club soda since his order hadn’t been taken yet. “We didn’t tell anyone because we had planned to have a wedding and invite everyone, but then little Blue slipped in and things changed.”

God, the man was a master with my father. The way he spoke, I almost believed his story. In fact, I closed my eyes and wished that it could have been true. Something about Silas Savage made my heart flutter, and he wasn’t even kissing me.

When the waiter came over to take our order, I was grateful for the interruption. Food was always a good conversation starter. Bad or good, I could always talk about food.

Yet I didn’t even need it as a fallback topic—the rest of the night went smoothly. Silas talked about his tours in Afghanistan, then I talked about the virtual-assistant company that I’d started six months ago. Of course Dad talked about the church, but by the end of the night, I could honestly say I’d had a pleasant time and I owed that to Silas.

When Dad left, he gave me a hug—the kind of hug that I’d craved for years. It was the type that said, I’m proud of you. He shook hands with Silas and told us he needed to get to the hospital to deliver Communion to the sick, but that he hoped to see him again soon.

As I watched him pull away, guilt poisoned my happy mood. I’d done nothing but extend the deadline to reveal the truth.

“Thank you,” I said to the sexy man who stood next to me. “I appreciate you sacrificing time with Ryker to rescue me.”

“You’re not getting out of it that easy,” he said. “I just pretended to be your husband and Blue’s father, and I didn’t even get to sleep with you first. I think you owe me a drink.”

I agreed. Though really, I probably owed him a lot more than a drink.

He led me to Ryker’s car. “We’ll leave yours here and pick it up on the way back.”

I had no arguments. This was my first time out with a man since I’d become pregnant. Those diner dates with Nate didn’t really count because I was more interested in the chocolate cake than the man. “Where are we headed?”

Silas opened the door and helped me inside the car before he raced around to climb into the driver’s seat. “I wanted to visit this bar called Spurs. It’s about twenty minutes outside of town.”

Since I hadn’t been to many bars in the past year, I was game to visit someplace new, but there were closer places than Spurs. In fact, we could have gone back in the restaurant and had a drink there.

When we pulled up, I was surprised he’d chosen the place. It was straight out of the movie Easy Rider with its row of motorcycles out front.

We walked inside and sat at the bar where we both ordered a beer. I’d pumped enough today to get me through the night, so I didn’t have to worry about getting Blue tipsy. He didn’t mind the bottle as long as it was food.

“Why this place?”

“It’s where my parents met,” he answered. “I’ve never seen this place before, actually. I was just a kid when they died. Couldn’t exactly head to a bar. But I thought about this place a lot. Wanted to see what it looked like.”

I felt overwhelmed. I knew the Savage story, and it wasn’t pleasant. Three orphaned boys put in an unfair system. One went to jail, the second went in the Army, and the third hasn’t yet been found.

I didn’t deserve to be here with him in this important moment. Ryker would have been a far better choice than me. “Wouldn’t you rather spend this moment with someone else?”

He lifted his hand in the air and waved me off. “Who else is there?”

“Maybe someone you know better than me.” The truth was, I knew about Silas’s story, but I knew very little about the man.

He twisted in his seat and gave me a sly smile. “But sweetheart, we’re married.”

“Only in our lies.” I watched the bubbles float from the bottom of my mug to the top.

“Then let’s learn some truths.” His leg rubbed against mine and sent a tingle up my spine. “I say we play Never Have I Ever. You know how to play?”

That one was easy. You said never have I ever and then finished the sentence with something of your choosing. Anyone who’s done that exact thing has to take a drink and loses a point.

“I get to go first.” I figured I needed to get the upper hand on this game. “Get your ten fingers up.” Silas raised his hands, and so did I. I started out with something I had never done: “Never have I ever run to save my life.”

Silas folded in his thumb and took a drink of his beer. “I’ve run from a lot of things like sniper fire and foster fathers.” There was a lot more in that statement that wasn’t said. “My turn.” He chewed his lower lip and said, “Never have I ever had an STD.”

I watched for him to drop a finger, but he didn’t. Happily, I couldn’t claim that one either. “The only time I ever had unprotected sex was the time I was gifted with boy Blue.”

“You’ve got some shit luck.”

“Or maybe it’s good luck. His father was an asshole, but he’s amazing. My turn.” I thought of a dozen things that I wanted to know, but I could only choose one. “Never have I ever had a one-night stand.” I lowered my finger and reached for my beer. Silas did the same. We were equally matched with our moral fiber.

We went back and forth asking mostly sexual questions like “Never have I ever had sex with more than one person at the same time” and “Never have I ever paid someone for sex or been paid for sex.” Neither of us lost a point with those. I said, “Never have I ever cheated on someone I dated,” and that was a no for both of us. It was nice to know that Silas was faithful if he was committed.

He said, “Never have I ever been the other woman or man,” and raised an eyebrow curiously when I folded a finger down. I had to be honest. While I hadn’t known that Trenton Kehoe was married at the time, the fact was, I’d still slept with him.

After I explained my story, Silas shook his head sympathetically. “What a dick,” he said.

“Never have I ever been a victim of a crime.” I don’t know why I said it but the minute the words came out Silas’s face turned white. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

He took a long drink of his beer, gulping until it was empty. After asking the bartender for a refill, he spoke again. “Ryker killed our foster father for me. He went to jail for six years.”

Just as he was picking up his fresh beer, my phone rang. It was Ana, and it wasn’t good.

“Grace, you need to come to the hospital. Blue is sick.”