“And Dax didn’t know that – ”
“Do you know that your mother had an affair with Walt Willard?” my dad asks bluntly.
My jaw drops. And there’s the bomb.
If he had told me this before last week, I would never have believed it. If he had told me a week ago, I would have been shocked, but hey, I wouldn’t have had to go to London to meet my asshole of a father. Emily was right, after all. I should have asked him. He knew all along.
I nod slowly. “I know. That’s why I had to break up with Dax.”
My dad gives me a puzzled look. “Because his father slept with your mother?”
“Because he’s my half-brother,” I say before sitting back on the couch. “Small fucking world.”
I wait to hear a gasp from my father after he puts it together. Instead, I hear a snort.
“The hell he is.”
My eyebrows crease. What?
My dad meets my gaze. “Walt Willard isn’t your father.”
I sit up. “What?”
Then why did he say he was? Or did he think he was? Yet my dad is saying he isn’t.
“So you’re – ?”
“I wish it was me, but it’s not, either,” he says.
Alright, now I’m confused.
“I guess I should explain. I told your mom we’d have to eventually, but she disagreed with me. For her, you were the greatest surprise, the greatest gift. You were hers, ours and no one else’s.”
“But you’re saying I’m not?”
What? I’m adopted?
“Your mother did have an affair with Walt Willard. Our marriage wasn’t doing so well. We were fighting about everything and she got tired of it and took off, left me with Sarah. Frankly, I didn’t think she’d come back. But she did, and she promised she’d never leave again. I decided to give her one more chance, and months later, she got pregnant. We were so happy. It was like God was giving us his blessing for us to continue our marriage. But your mother lost it at eight months. The baby just stopped moving inside her womb. She was devastated and blamed herself for it, said it was some kind of punishment.”
I shake my head and clutch my chest. “Poor Mom.”
Is that why she tore the picture and put away those gloves? Because she was devastated at losing her baby? The one in the ultrasound picture? But if that isn’t me, where did I come from?
“But as fate would have it, that same day she was going to have our dead baby taken out, there was this young woman who died in childbirth. Her uncle didn’t know what to do with the baby. He said the woman’s parents were gone and that he was too busy playing in a band. He asked if we wanted to adopt the baby. Your Mom agreed at once. Just like that, you were ours. You were the baby we were supposed to have. You were our rainbow baby.”
Again, my jaw drops. No. This is the bomb. This is something I never suspected or expected.
I look at my dad. “I’m adopted?”
He nods. “I’m sure the papers are in the attic somewhere.”
Okay.
He places his hand over mine. “But hey, your mom and I loved you like our own daughter. In our minds, you were. Even Sarah loved you like her own sister.”
Is that what she was trying to tell me before she died?
Tears brim in my eyes. I’m adopted. I was accepted, raised, loved by a wonderful family.
“I wish I could have known sooner,” I tell my dad. “I wish I could have thanked Mom and Sarah.”
“There’s nothing to thank them for. Besides, look at what you’re doing now. You’re taking care of Shanna for them both. For me. So you see, everything works out.”
They took care of me even though I wasn’t their flesh and blood, and now I’m taking care of a baby who’s not my flesh and blood. And Dad.
I give him a hug. “I love you, Dad.”
I know he’s not my real father, but in my eyes, he’s the only one. And I’m so glad he’s not a jerk like Walt Willard.
Wait. If I’m adopted and Walt isn’t my father, then…
I pull away. “Dax isn’t my brother.”
“No, he isn’t,” my dad agrees. “I can’t believe you thought it was true.”
Me neither. All this fighting and crying, it was over nothing. We can be together. We should be together. We should never have broken up. God, I’m such a fool.
Can Dax ever forgive me? But wait. What if he sees that article and he believes it? What if because of that, he decides to forget all about me like I tried to forget all about him? What if I’ve already lost him?
I shake my head. No. Dax and I broke up once because of a decision he made. He lost me once, but he tried to take me back. I’m going to do the same. I’m going to take Dax back.