Her Secret Sons

"I'll be wasting my time and your breath if I--Pepper Forrester, on a warm June day to everyone within earshot in Tulips, TexasMen were Pepper Forrester's downfall--and her salvation. For the past thirteen years Pepper had lived in the north with her aunt Jerry, bringing up her twin sons. They were thirteen now, and they were her salvation. She had two brothers, Zach and Duke, who were both happy to disrupt her life, although mostly with charm and well-meaning opinions. Her brothers were also her salvation. The twins'father--the man responsible for seduc-ing Pepper out of her good sense and virginity--was Luke McGarrett, the only man she'd ever loved. As to why Pepper loved him, there was an obvious, yet painful answer: he'd been glib, sexy, hot. She'd said yes--and therefore he'd been her downfall. But that was the past. It was time to bring closure to her life, so she'd chosen to return to Tulips, Texas, to confess the secret she'd kept all these years: she had done her own bit to increase the tiny town's population on the sly. But while she would be proud to introduce her sons to friends and family alike, Pepper hoped that no one would suspect Luke was the father. She comforted herself by thinking about how he had taken off after high school to find his way in the world, never to be seen again, and only heard from infrequently. Pepper packed the last box, looking around at the place where she and the twins had lived for the past thirteen years. They'd been happy here, and yet to her, Tulips and the Triple F ranch were home, sweet home. She looked forward to the move home even though she knew her brothers were going to be mad and hurt that she'd kept their nephews from them. Duke and Zach had been adamantly opposed to their own women having a baby without them--no child of theirs would be unaware of who their father was! Unbeknownst to them, Pepper had done just that--deprived her sons of their father. She wasn't proud of it. This would be a shock for everyone. The citizens of Tulips considered her to be an intelligent and responsible person. Pansy Trifle and Helen Granger, town elders, members of the Tulips Saloon Gang and two of her dearest friends while she was growing up, would be stunned. Bug Carmine and Hiram Parsons, two of the local men who kept Tulips running, would have plenty of thoughts on the matter. Pepper dreaded the confession. Thirteen years wasn't long enough for people's memories to fade. Back then Pepper had been a bright-eyed girl who'd recently lost her parents, and Luke had been her hero. She'd fallen so deeply in love that still, after all these years, she wished their relationship had been more than a high school dream. Too bad he'd turned out to be such a rat. Pepper had been an excellent student, determined to get into college and then medical school. Imme-diately following her high school graduation, after Luke had made his own departure from town--and before she really began to show--Pepper had fled to the North. Her aunt Jerry loved her in spite of every-thing, and helped her out with the twins while Pepper attended classes. She felt guilty for keeping the boys from their father, but knew from her brothers that Luke had never returned to Tulips, not even for a holiday. That salved her conscience somewhat. She'd recently purchased a house in Tulips, as well as a building she'd converted into a medical clinic to service the small town. It was her way of giving back to the people who had taken such good care of her over the years; it was her way of return-ing with grace and honor and hope for belonging. "Come on, boys," she said, "it's time to go home." "I guess you're sure this is the right thing to do," Toby said. "No. I'm not." She locked the door behind them. "But now I have my own clinic and so we're moving to where my job and your family are.Leonard, Tina is the author of 'Her Secret Sons ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373751570 and ISBN 0373751575.