Heart Echoes by Sally John

here, so we went shoe shopping. We ran into a friend of Maiya’s who told us that Paul Hinson died in the quake.”
    â€œOh no. The math teacher?”
    â€œYeah. One thing led to another and another, and just now I caved in and let her call Amber, after I okayed it with Shauna. I set the timer for twenty minutes. I hate being a prison warden. Did you talk to him?”
    â€œLet’s sit down.” They settled onto padded chairs at the round patio table. He tried not to wince at the movement. Driving had been a challenge, but three days away from the school was his limit. Losing immediacy with the boys happened in a heartbeat. In his work, it was not something he could afford.
    He saw the strain on Teal’s face and stroked her hands clenched atop the table. “Yes, I talked to Jake. He showed up at my office like I asked him to do.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œHe apologized profusely, claimed he was in love, but promised not to contact our minor daughter. Teal, what’s wrong? You’re rattled over more than the Jake business and Maiya straining at the bit.”
    She shrugged, but her leg bounced like a jackhammer and then her face crumpled. “Yeah. She was asking about Bio Dad. More than ever. I guess all this trauma triggered something.”
    River went silent. Maiya’s birth father was a touchy subject between them.
    Touchy? It was a major sore spot that usually sparked an argument. The guy’s name was not even on Maiya’s birth certificate. River’s opinion had always been that Maiya should know his name and everything else about him that was age appropriate. Why hide so much from her? And him, for that matter. Keeping Bio Dad a mystery only aggravated Maiya’s emotions. It was a miracle she had not acted out more before now.
    River pulled at his collar. Heat was definitely growing underneath it.
    In the early days he had wanted to adopt Maiya. Shoot, he still did. But that would require Teal to contact Bio Dad and get his permission. She refused. Just absolutely refused. No matter how much she wanted that for River and Maiya, she said it was not possible.
    She couldn’t find him? No, she could probably find him. Then what? “I know what’s best for us, River. Please trust me.” End of discussion.
    River could not understand it. Obviously the guy had been a part of Teal’s life. Or maybe not. He sometimes wondered if it had been a one-night stand. Maybe he had date-raped her. River privately named him the sperm donor. Whatever the whole truth was, Teal kept it to herself.
    She said now, “I finally told her about him being in jail.”
    River exhaled the breath he’d been holding. This much he knew. “She’s probably old enough to learn that.”
    â€œBut I threw it in her face. Worse than the jail thing, I admitted that we didn’t love each other, didn’t have any feelings for each other. I had to nip her silly romantic notions in the bud. She needs to realize that there was nothing special between us.”
    River knew that as well. Maiya had been conceived a short while before Teal graduated from college. It was during her years of dark rage, when she fought tooth and nail to leave her family and make it through the world on her own. She was too busy, too focused to be promiscuous. Working two or three jobs, graduating in the top two percent of her college class. The guy remained an inexplicable blip in her tale of gaining freedom and independence.
    Teal leaned forward and rested her face on the back of his hand. “There was nothing even remotely special between us. What is she supposed to do with roots like that, River? How can she feel like anything except worthless?”
    â€œShe has you and me to convince her otherwise.”
    Teal looked up at him, her eyes too sad. “I don’t understand why you’re not enough dad for her. We never even could call you ‘stepdad.’”
    â€œOh,