Epilogue
SAMANTHA brOWN
“ M om, hurry up!” Sophia tugged on my hand, her dark curls bouncing as she skipped ahead. At thirteen, she still had a boundless enthusiasm for events like this — cotton candy, games, all her friends from school. The Spring Sparks Auction was the place to be in Minden in May.
I smiled at her. “I’m coming, kiddo. Slow down before you run into someone.” My shift at the library’s booth was done and Sophia was itching to socialize.
Sophia rolled her eyes but slowed her pace. “You always worry too much. It’s just Minden. What could possibly go wrong?”
Plenty, I thought but didn’t say aloud. That was my job. I was the one who had to protect her. She was innocent in the ways of the world. The way one mistake could change the course of your entire life.
We wove through the crowd, passing familiar faces. Some smiled and waved, while others paused for quick pleasantries. Sophia was the social butterfly. Had I been that way once? Perhaps. But that was a long time ago. More than thirteen years, in fact. Finding out you were single and pregnant at nineteen years old would do that to a girl.
The auction stage loomed ahead, and Sophia’s excitement ratcheted up another notch. “Can we stay for the firefighter auction? Please? I want to see who bids on them.”
I hesitated. The firefighter auction was always entertaining – the men were goofballs, honestly. But I got anxious being in the middle of a crowd. Like something would spiral out of control like it had—
I shook away the thought. This wasn’t Panama City and I wasn’t under the influence of anything.
Sophia was looking at me with those pleading eyes that made it impossible to say no.
“Fine,” I relented. “But we’re not staying long. I have a lot to do at home.”
Sophia grinned and pulled me closer to the stage. We found a spot near the back, where the crowd wasn’t as dense, and settled in to watch.
The auctioneer’s booming voice echoed through the square, drawing cheers and laughter from the audience. One by one, the firefighters took the stage, lining up along the back like some cheesy calendar spread.
Instead of looking at them, I was scanning the crowd when I heard the auctioneer announce a new name.
“Evan Mercer! He just moved here from Chicago and we’re lucky to have him joining the MRFD as a new firefighter? Do I have $50?”
My heart stopped.
No. No, it couldn’t be.
I turned toward the stage, and there he was. Evan Mercer, standing tall and confident, his expression warm and easy as he waved at the crowd.
The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet. My mind raced, the years unraveling in an instant. The memories hit me like a freight train—his smile, his laugh, the lights, and the deafening music.
The night that had changed everything.
I swallowed hard, my breath coming in short, shallow bursts. What was he doing here? In Minden, of all places?
“Mom? Are you okay?” Sophia’s voice pulled me back to the present. She was watching me with concern, her brow furrowed.
“I’m fine,” I lied, forcing a tight smile. “Just enjoying the show.”
Sophia turned her attention back to the stage, but my mind was spinning. This couldn’t be happening. Evan Mercer—the man I’d kept a secret from for thirteen years—was here, in my hometown.
The bids climbed higher, the crowd cheering as Evan’s time was auctioned off to the highest bidder. He seemed oblivious to my presence, his attention focused on the stage.
Good. He didn’t know I was here. Not that he probably even remembered me. It wasn’t as if he had ever called the number I’d given him. It had just been one night for him. One that I had lived the consequences of for thirteen years. I wouldn’t trade Sophia for anything. But Evan didn’t even know she existed.
But how long would that last? Minden wasn’t a big town. It was only a matter of time before our paths crossed, and when they did, he would see Sophia.
Sophia, who had his eyes. His smile. His curiosity.
I clenched my hands into fists, my nails digging into my palms. I had made my choice all those years ago, a choice I had agonized over. I’d looked him up. Evan Mercer. Eldest son of Sterling Mercer. I probably should have recognized the name when he’d given it to me. But I was nineteen. I wasn’t exactly reading the Wall Street Journal .
Telling Evan about the pregnancy had seemed impossible at the time. I didn’t know how to contact him. We were both young, our relationship barely more than a fleeting connection. And after I realized who he was? If the Mercer family found out about Evan’s indiscretion… They’d take Sophia away from me. And there was no way I would let that happen. It was better this way—for him, for me, for Sophia.
But now, with Evan here in Minden, of all places, the fragile peace I had built was teetering on the edge of collapse.
I glanced at Sophia, her face lit up with excitement as the auctioneer called for bids on another firefighter. She had no idea. No idea that the man walking down the stairs of the stage was her father.
A fresh wave of guilt washed over me, threatening to drown me. Sophia deserved to know the truth. Lord knew she’d asked enough questions about her father over the years.
Evan deserved to know the truth, too. But how could I upend his life now, after all this time?
The crowd erupted into cheers, jolting me out of my thoughts. I looked back at the stage just in time to see a woman in a sundress make her way forward. The crowd parted for her, their cheers growing louder.
“Sold! $500 to Miss Carla Putnam!” the auctioneer declared.
I knew Carla, of course. Seeing her with Eli Wells around town was nothing new over the last several months. They’d even come into the library while I worked one day for some sort of scavenger hunt date he’d created.
And now, she was walking up to Elijah Wells with a winning bid and a radiant smile.
My gaze shifted to Elijah, who stood off to the side, his eyes fixed on Carla with a look of pure adoration.
For a brief moment, my anxiety took a backseat to envy. The way Eli looked at Carla was…everything.
But then my eyes found Evan again, and the weight of reality came crashing back down.
I needed to get out of here.
“Sophia,” I said, my voice sharper than I intended, “we should go.”
“But the auction’s not over yet!” she protested.
“I have a headache,” I said. “Let’s go grab some lemonade and head home.”
Sophia frowned but didn’t argue. As we made our way through the crowd, I kept my head down, praying Evan wouldn’t see me.
This wasn’t just about me anymore. This was about Sophia, her life, and the secret I had kept for so long.
I had to figure out what to do—how to protect her, how to face Evan, how to tell the truth after thirteen years of silence.
But as I glanced back at the stage one last time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was about to change – again.
Second Chance Fire Station
Get Samantha and Evan’s story now in The One Who Changed Everything.
Available now!