Love Inspired January 2014(261)

                “I can tell when someone is lying.” He leaned down slightly and peered right into Stacy’s eyes. She backed up a step, brow furrowed, as one hand nervously reached up to wind blond strands around her finger. “Trust me.”

                For a moment, it looked as though she might believe him. Panic took over once again, and her lips parted. But instead of revealing truth, she slammed the mask securely back in place and turned her mouth into a sarcastic grin. She shot a pointed look at the dorm behind her leading to Tonya. “Guess we’ll see about that.”

                * * *

                Emma sat at the long kitchen table inside the main house later that night, legs crossed in her favorite pair of lounge pants. A mug of hot chocolate that Mama Jeanie had graciously prepared for her sat at her side, while Tonya’s, Katie’s and Stacy’s files were spread open before her.

                She slowly flipped through the pages as a carved wooden cuckoo clock ticked above her head, reminding her she’d been here for a while already and didn’t have much to show for it. She’d been able to get away from the dorm for a bit since Faith had come to stay the night as backup for Tonya, who had been excused from the rest of the evening’s activities. Max told her, though, if she couldn’t keep up the next morning, she had an E.R. trip in her immediate future—even if her parents had allowed her to skip it today.

                She turned another page in Tonya’s file, hoping to find insight that could point her in the right direction. It was weird looking at Max’s careful, handwritten notes in the margins. Too bad she couldn’t get a true glimpse of Cody’s file. When she’d gotten close enough to be tempted earlier, all she’d seen was the contact page of Cody’s information, before her conscience caught up and she’d shut the folder and put it away. She really wanted to read what Max had written during their counseling sessions, and gauge any of Cody’s potential progress for herself. She was so desperate to know what to expect when they went home in a few weeks. Was the fact that Max wasn’t keeping her up-to-date a bad sign? Or just protocol?

                Her eyes lingered on the stack of files again. But no, she couldn’t interfere like that. It wasn’t her place, and those choices wouldn’t exactly draw her closer to her son. Besides, she’d already seen more than she knew what to do with—a typo. And not just any typo, but one regarding Cody’s birthday.

                Her stomach flipped like it had when she’d seen it. A blessing in disguise? Now even if Max suspected, he wouldn’t be able to prove it....

                Or was it just one more item to add to her guilt-ridden list?

                The desk lamp she’d borrowed from the living area cast a dim glow across her paperwork. She picked up her mug of cocoa and swirled it gently, watching the marshmallows float in an easy circle by the rim and wishing this whole situation hadn’t grown so complicated. Somehow, she’d lost control of her own son, yet been put in charge of three incredibly different young ladies—not to mention been dropped straight into the daily presence of the exact man she’d gone to great lengths to avoid for over a decade.

                Who said God didn’t have a sense of humor?

                If she weren’t so jaded, she’d examine that a little further. She didn’t really believe God was laughing at her or had arranged these circumstances at her expense. Rather, she believed in punishment. Judgment for sins. Living out the consequences of bad choices. Hadn’t she done that her whole life? She’d sacrificed so much to keep her pregnancy a secret, and then to keep Cody’s father’s identity a secret—because she should. She deserved to pay for her mistakes. As the saying went—she’d made her bed.

                But had those sacrifices cost too much?