Free Adam’s Boys by Anna Clifton Page A

You don’t. And rest assured that you haven’t shown me a modicum of emotion from the moment you walked out of my life all those years ago. But like it or not, I’m the mother of your child. And if you think I’m going to reach agreement with you on matters concerning Henry in that bloodless, ‘this is the way it is—take it or leave it’ way of yours, then you can forget it. That’s no way to responsibly parent any child.”
    â€œOh, is that right!” he scoffed in cutting derision, his powerful arms locking more tightly across his chest. “Then tell me, in which part of the pantomime in which you concealed a child from his father did you behave like the responsible parent?”
    â€œI know I should have told you!” Abbie hurled at him, the anguish and tension building over the last few days finally erupting. “But when you washed me out of your life, I knew the last thing you would want was an unplanned pregnancy with a girl you never wanted to see again. And even though I intended to tell you—even though I went all the way to London to find you—once I saw the endless photos of you and Ellen and your perfect marriage spread all over the newspapers, I just couldn’t go through with it—not then. Your name would have been mud—the public would have despised you forever, and so would Ellen’s family. But I’ll be honest; I wasn’t only thinking of you. I was thinking of myself too, because I was frightened. I didn’t want my life reduced to nothing more than the tart who took advantage of the golden-haired boy of London society during his three week stay in Sydney. And I certainly didn’t want Henry’s life being reduced to your nuisance illegitimate child.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t have been like that!” Adam snapped, and at that moment Abbie knew she’d finally cracked him, his anger zipping like Catherine wheels around the room as he began to pace backwards and forwards as though half-demented.
    â€œThat’s exactly how it would have been!” Abbie threw at him in breathless conviction, pacing by his side in a vain attempt to catch his eyes that were fixedly averted from hers. “Maybe not for you, but for everyone around you whose opinion you valued.”
    â€œSo even if that’s your excuse for not telling me at first,” Adam retorted incredulously, “how can you ever justify your motives for keeping him from me after that?”
    Abbie paused, digging deep for complete honesty. Although it was all too late Adam deserved at least that.
    â€œThe truth is that I didn’t have a day arrive which seemed to be the right one to tell you about Henry. Maeve and I were managing and Henry was thriving. And to be honest, for a while I thought you might come … Anyway, that’s all in the past. The fact is, it wasn’t until Henry was seriously ill with meningitis that I finally woke up to the terrible thing I’d done to you both. The very day I returned to work after he’d recovered, Justin told me you were coming back to help him with the Sydney office. That’s when I asked him to take me to the Incipio ball.”
    â€œJesus, Abbie!” Adam moaned in despair, ceasing his pacing for a moment to stare at her in agonised disbelief. “Henry had meningitis and I didn’t even know it? And all I’m really hearing from you is that you assumed I wouldn’t want my own son in my life, that you didn’t want people to think badly of us, that you got used to not telling me. It’s all about you, isn’t it, Abbie? But what about Pete and Henry? You’ve kept them from each other their whole lives! And what about me? I’m the one who didn’t share Henry’s first smiles, his first words, his first steps …” But Adam stopped then, a strange choking sound preventing him from saying another word.
    â€œI know what you and the boys