A Secret in Her Father's House, A Pregnancy Neither Can Hide novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Order

"Who told you?" Henrik said.

"Mom. She watched you from the upstairs window."

He shut his eyes.

"Sit down," Alana said.

He was already sitting.

He looked at her, and understood, and stayed where he was.

"Tell me why you didn't knock."

His hands tightened on the table.

"I got there at dawn," he said. "I'd driven all night."

"And?"

"I told myself I'd walk up to the door and ask Janice to let me see you. I parked, and I looked up, and there was a light in the second window."

"My room."

"You were at a desk. You were twelve, and you had your hair in a braid, and you were doing homework."

His voice was low.

"You looked so settled. I thought, she has a house with a clock in the hall and a mother who stays. I thought, I'll come in and take that apart."

"You didn't think I'd want to be asked."

"I thought you'd have to say no, and I'd have to hear it. I thought if I never asked, I'd never be told." He opened his eyes. "I'm a coward, Alana. I'm not a martyr. I'm a coward who sat in a truck."

She crossed the kitchen.

She stopped in front of him, close enough to feel the heat of him, and looked down.

She had never seen him look up at her from a chair.

"You've given me orders for two months," she said. "I followed them."

"Yes."

"And you thought it was because you're my father and you're in charge."

"Yes."

"That's what you believe."

"I believe it." His voice broke. "I believe you can't help it. I believe if I stopped, you'd stop, and I'd never know if you chose me or only obeyed."

"Then find out."

He stared at her.

"Stand up," Alana said.

He stood.

"Take off your shirt."

He pulled it over his head and let it drop.

"Your jeans."

He undid them and pushed them down and stepped out.

He stood bare in his own kitchen with the table lamp on his skin, and his chest rising fast.

"Now kneel."

Something went over his face.

It was not shame.

It was a slow, stunned opening, and his shoulders came down.

He went down on both knees on the kitchen floor.

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