Until Lexi

“Noah is Mercy’s father,” Riley repeats with a smile, handing Penny the results.

“I don’t understand what any of this means,” she says, reading over them.

I take the paper from her, looking over it as Riley explains. “Mercy and I share enough genetic markers to be related, but there aren’t enough markers in common for us to be half-sisters. That means Noah’s dad couldn’t have fathered Mercy.”

“Which means Noah must have,” Penny concludes.

“Right.”

“It also proves the relationship between you and Noah,” Jake says, speaking up for the first time since we got home.

“And subsequently, Adam and Felix,” Riley agrees, nodding her head. “Now you can finally tell Adam.”

“Thank fuck,” Jake breathes out.

We all laugh, but we don’t find the situation funny. Not really. We’re more than aware that we asked a lot of Jake. He spent a long time looking for answers, and when he finally had them, we asked him to keep quiet.

“What are we gonna do?” Penny asks in a whisper.

“We need to tell Noah,” Riley says. “He deserves to know the truth.”

“But how? This isn’t news you should break over the phone. We can’t call him up and drop this huge bomb on him. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“None of this has been fair for anyone,” I point out. “But you’re right. I don’t know Noah, but I can’t imagine learning something like this over the phone.”

“We’ll break the news to him in person,” Riley says.

“We can’t just drive to North Carolina, Riley,” Penny argues.

“Why not?”

“Mercy has already been through so much… What if he reacts badly? What if he doesn’t want her?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Jake insists, gaze locked on Penny. “Noah would never deny her. He’s not that type of guy. He’s going to be shocked, sure, but he’s gonna want to know her. He’ll want to be in her life, and he’ll be a damn good father to her.”

“I know,” she says, shoulders slumping. “Noah’s a good guy.”

Riley and I share a look, knowing how Penny feels about Noah. We know where her hesitation stems from, but we can’t allow it to keep Mercy from her father.

“I’ll go,” Riley volunteers.

“You don’t have to do that,” Penny says.

“I kinda already have.”

Now she has everyone’s attention, and when she realizes it, she sighs.

“I was curious, okay? I’ve made a couple of day trips to check things out. It’s not a big deal,” Riley says, defending her actions.

“It kinda is,” I tell her. “Not that you went, but that you kept it from us. When did you even have time?”

“It’s not that far, and there’s been so much going on here that no one even noticed I was gone.”

Her words cut kinda deep, but she’s right. I sure as hell hadn’t noticed.

“I didn’t introduce myself or anything, I didn’t even talk to him. I went to the bar where he works and scoped him out a little bit. He was only there once. I kept missing him.”

I want to be mad at her for keeping secrets when we’ve all seen the impact they can have, but at the end of the day, it isn’t worth my anger. We’ve got more important things to deal with.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “Things were crazy here. Hope was… Hope. Penny had her hands full with Mercy. And you—”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. We can’t fault you for being curious about Noah,” I tell her. “But please, no more secrets.”

She nods, and it’s enough.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Penny pipes up, finally putting her two cents in. “If we all go, it would probably feel like an ambush.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Riley says. “I figured if I drive out there, I can introduce myself and then find some way to tell him about Mercy. It’ll give him time to process without shoving Mercy in his face. We can decide where to go from there.”

“Then again,” Penny says, hesitating. “Shouldn’t I be the one to tell him? I’m Mercy’s legal guardian. Maybe we should all go.”

“If you go, I go,” I tell her. “You’d need all the moral support you can get when you see Noah for the first time in years.”

Jake’s eyebrows shoot up at that, and I know he’s curious about what I mean. I didn’t tell him about what Penny revealed to us about her feelings for Noah. It wasn’t mine to share.

“Penny,” Riley groans. “You literally said we shouldn’t ambush him.”

“Well, I—”

“Ladies.” Jake’s deep voice silences the entire room. “I’m sorry, but… can I offer my opinion?”

“Please,” Riley says. “You know Noah better than any of us.”

While that may not be entirely true given Penny’s history with him, I don’t speak up to contradict her.

“You’re right. You shouldn’t tell him over the phone. It’s going to be a hard conversation to have, and Noah’s gonna have a lot of questions. You may not even be able to answer them all,” he says, and he doesn’t need to explain why. Those answers may have died with Hope. “I could always let Adam tell him, but I can see it’s something you all feel should come from you. I respect that. An ambush might be a bit too much, so Riley’s idea has merit. She has a legitimate reason to show up to talk to Noah. Even though he doesn’t know her, hearing he has a five-year-old daughter might be better coming from her since they’re family. Family is an important thing to Noah… to all of them.”

After listening to Jake, Penny looks resigned.

I know she has conflicted feelings where Noah is concerned, but we’re about to permanently alter this man’s life. We can’t let her emotions rule every decision. Jake is mostly unbiased, so I trust his opinion on how he thinks we should handle it. He knows the importance of bringing these people together, but he only has everyone’s best interests in mind when speaking of the best way to go about making it happen.

“Then I’m going,” Riley insists. “I’ll drive out there, have a heart-to-heart with my long-lost brother, and then break the news to him about Mercy. Once I get a feel for the situation, we can worry about when, where, and how we’ll introduce the two of them.”

“Oh, god. We still have to tell her,” Penny groans, dropping her face into her hands.

Riley gently nudges Penny with her shoulder. “We’ll do it together,” she tells her. “…after I talk to Noah. Let’s take this one step at a time.”

“Mercy will be fine,” I tell Penny softly, knowing that’s what she’s worried about. “Someone recently told me that I’m resilient, that I can handle more than I give myself credit for. I think the same can be said about Mercy. She may only be five, but she’s a strong little girl. She can handle it.”

Jake’s sudden chuckle draws all eyes toward him.