“Nothing yet. I actually got onto the computer tonight because I wanted to check with Brody to see if he had any more information. There hasn’t been a peep about the body the whole time I’ve been here. No one has even mentioned it.” With everything that was going on with Rose, sometimes Xander even forgot why he was in Cornwall to begin with.

His brother sighed with relief, but then his expression changed to one of curiosity. Heath’s light eyes, so much like his own, squinted at the screen, his nose wrinkling in thought. “What else is going on?”

Xander sat up straight and shook his head dismissively. “Nothing is going on. Like I said, it’s been quiet.”

“No,” Heath said. “You’ve got that look on your face. You’re lost in your thoughts and your right eyelid keeps twitching. You haven’t told me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell about the situation with Tommy,” Xander insisted.

“And what about things that don’t have to do with Tommy, Mr. Lie By Omission?”

Heath knew him too well. His brother could tell he had things on his mind. And he wanted to tell him. He needed someone to confide in. Since Heath wasn’t in Cornwall and wouldn’t be anytime soon, he might be a safe choice.

“Okay,” Xander said, “but when I tell you that this is a secret, I mean it. You can’t tell Brody or Wade or Julianne. Not Mom or Dad. No one. I don’t even want you telling your chick of the week that I’ve never even met.”

Heath’s eyebrows went up. “Wow. This must really be good. I won’t tell.”

“I mean it, Heath. You can’t breathe a word to anyone. No crossed fingers, no writing it down to get around ‘telling.’ This has to stay secret. I shouldn’t even tell you but I need to talk to someone.”

“I swear that I will not share this information with anyone via any means of communication, including Morse code, American Sign Language and pig Latin. If I so much as breathe a word of it, you can come to my apartment and take a baseball bat to my Super Nintendo system.”

That was probably as good as it would get with Heath. Their parents had bought him that Nintendo the Christmas before they died. “Okay. Brace yourself, because this is a big one. I’m a father. I have a ten-year-old son named Joey.”

Heath’s eyes grew wide on the screen. He did some math on his fingers. “Rose?” he asked.

Xander nodded. “I just found out.”

“Holy crap,” Heath said, running his hand over his hair in disbelief. “Have you seen him?”

“Yes. He doesn’t know I’m his father, though. Rose and I decided to wait.”

“To wait for what? You’ve already waited ten years.”

“It was her suggestion. I don’t think she’s ready to deal with the town gossip and press scrutiny when it comes out. Neither am I, frankly. It would help if we could wait until after my book tour. Maybe even after my reelection campaign. It’s not a huge scandal, but combined with some other factors, it might give my competitor an edge.”

“You’re going to make that little boy wait a whole year to find out the truth because it might look bad in the papers?”

When he said it like that, it sounded horrible. “I wanted to make it official, but filing any kind of paperwork would send up red flags. I’m used to the press interfering in my life, but they’d swarm all over Rose. She didn’t ask for that. Life is different for a politician. We’re scrutinized for every little thing.”

“So what? You weren’t caught in a public restroom with an underage transvestite hooker.”

Xander sighed. “Yeah, but I’m the face of the Fostering Families charity. I spend all my time preaching the virtues of taking in needy children. I wrote a book on it. How would it look if it came out that I had a child I’d abandoned?”

“How can you abandon a child you didn’t know about?”

“Somehow the press would find a way to hang me for it. By the time the truth came out and everything blew over, it would be too late to undo the damage. If my book tanks, Fostering Families won’t raise the money they need. If I’m not reelected, I no longer have the platform to help them. They can’t survive without my support. Even if I decided I didn’t care about being reelected and I chose to move back to Cornwall and work on the farm, I couldn’t let the people at the center down.”

“You’re not the only person responsible for keeping that charity afloat. It doesn’t rest solely on your shoulders.”

“It feels like it. I just need some time. Time to spend with Rose and Joey without the press breathing down my neck. Time to figure out how to handle this. I might be able to spin the whole situation in a way that won’t hurt my public image, long-term.”

“You worry too much about what people think. You’re just like Jules that way.”

“I have to worry. I’m on a career fast track, Heath. The party has a lot of faith in me and my future. There’s been talk...” His voice faded out. He hadn’t mentioned this to anyone before; he didn’t want to jinx it, but it mattered. “There’s talk about me being a major force in the party someday. I’m being groomed for bigger and better things. This might not be a big deal for a small-potatoes congressman no one has ever heard of outside his district, but that kind of visibility leads to higher scrutiny. Would I ruin my chances with a secret love child? Will the House elect a Speaker with that background? Would the public elect a president whose First Lady has a father in prison? I don’t want any of this to get out until I know how I want to handle it.”

“First Lady?” Heath perked up. “Prison? Back it on up. Start with the First Lady thing. That’s a pretty big leap to take. Are you guys serious? You haven’t even mentioned her in years.”

“No, we’re not serious. We’ve been on one date.” Somehow it felt like more than that, though. As if the years they were apart were just a heartbeat in time. He had to fight to keep reality in perspective. And his hands off of her when they were together. “Yeah, I’m attracted to her. She’s even more beautiful than I remember. Being with her again felt...like old times. Like I was almost a teenager again. I want to see more of her. I don’t know what ‘more’ entails, but considering she’s raised my son alone all these years, marrying her might be the right thing to do.”

“Wow, you romantic, you! Just what a girl wants to hear.”

“You know what I mean! I would’ve done it eleven years ago if she had let me. I guess that’s why she kept quiet.”

Heath sat silent on his computer screen for a moment before throwing out the big question. “But do you love her?”

“I did once. I very well might again. I know I’ve never loved anyone else. I’ve regretted letting her walk out of my life, and knowing the truth, now I regret it even more. I know I care about her and I care about our son. I don’t want him to be embarrassed about how he grew up.”

Heath took it all in with a curt nod. “As usual, you have everything very thoroughly thought out. I’m sure you’ll know what to do and things will work out for the best. Just don’t do something crazy and elope. Eloping is always a bad choice. It’s typically born out of a spur-of-the-moment idea, which is usually poor judgment in retrospect. It’s a heck of a lot easier to get married than it is to get divorced.”

Xander almost wanted to laugh at the sage words of his brother. “You speak like an expert in poor judgment.”

“Learn from my mistakes, bro. I am a master of rash decision making. Believe me when I tell you that if you were to elope and Mom finds out, she will strangle you with the ribbon she uses on her Christmas wreaths. Just picture that anytime you think of running off and not including her in it.”

“Thanks. That wasn’t my plan, but I’ll be sure to keep that disturbing image in mind.”

“You’re welcome. Now what’s this about Billy in jail?”

Xander sighed and set his laptop on the coffee table. “Hold on,” he said. “I need to get a drink first.” He went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of his favorite beer. If nothing else, it would make telling the story easier. If he’d known he was going to spill his guts to his brother, he would’ve gotten a drink when they first started talking.