Ryan was right. That particular hashtag started on social media after word got out that he had a girlfriend. A bigger person wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did, but apparently I liked the world knowing he was off the market.
Ryan had also been right about Derek’s father being sick. Damian Huntington passed away a few days after Derek had been killed, and the company ended up going to his cousin, just like Derek had feared. It was the first time in the history of the firm that it didn’t go to the Huntington heir, and I was actually grateful that the cycle had been broken. As far as I knew, no one from the company knew Matson even existed, and since I gave him my last name and Derek wasn’t listed on his birth certificate, there would be no reason for anyone to suspect he had a son.
• • •
I waited almost a full month after the accident to see if Mrs. Huntington would reach out to me after everything that happened. When she didn’t, I decided to be the bigger person. As much as I disliked her family, I knew she was grieving and had lost her whole world within the span of a few days. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through, or how alone she must have felt. She deserved to know she had a grandson.
I knew she still lived in the same house they’d lived in when Derek and I were in high school, so I dropped a condolence card in the mail to her, along with a recent school picture of Matson.
Mariana Huntington showed up on my doorstep the same day she got my card, expensively dressed, her shoulder-length brown hair perfectly styled, and tears in her eyes.
“Sofia, I had no idea. Derek and Damian said you were pregnant, but they told me you didn’t have the baby. They said they paid you off, and I never questioned them or thought about it again. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t know?” I was bewildered how she couldn’t have known. It also made me incredibly sad that I’d wasted so much time hating her for being able to stay away from us for so long when it hadn’t even been true.
“No, I didn’t. Can I come in?” she asked as she wiped her eyes.
I held my front door open and allowed her inside before offering her some tea. We sat at my kitchen table and cried together over all the time we’d lost due to miscommunication.
She absolutely lost it when she learned what the men in her life had been up to behind her back. The poor woman had been completely left in the dark about the ugly inner workings of the Huntington men.
To be honest, I think she preferred it that way. Mrs. Huntington wasn’t stupid, but I think staying blissfully unaware of her family’s dirty dealings helped keep her sane and her conscience clear. She slept peacefully at night, and I couldn’t—no, I wouldn’t—blame her for that.
She left that day with the promise to keep in touch.
When I decided a few days later to tell Matson who she was, he was so excited.
“I’m going to have three grandmas? That’s so cool!”
My heart swelled at his reaction, especially the fact that he’d included Ryan’s mom as one of his grandmas already.
Ryan warned me that our moms had bonded while I was in the hospital, but I had no idea just how much. His mom accepted Matson and me like we were blood relatives, and my family did the same for Ryan. It never ceased to amaze me that family dynamics like this existed.
• • •
Three quick knocks sounded at my front door before the doorknob turned, alerting me to the fact that Jess and Claudia were here. They’d been stopping by without warning for days now, often enough that I’d learned to expect them.
“Did you miss us?” Jess asked as she walked in.
“It’s like I don’t know what to do without you two anymore,” I teased back before giving them each a hug.
These women were both so welcoming, accepting, and nice, I understood completely why Frank and Nick loved them. I felt
like I’d been initiated into a secret club that revolved around the Fisher brothers, and I never wanted to be out of it.
“Aunt Jess?” Matson yelled from his room before he careened down the hall and into her arms, giving her a big hug as she swung him around.
Matson had a huge crush on her. “I like her yellow hair,” he would say every time she left, and would run to the kitchen table to draw a new picture of her. There were yellow-haired drawings all over my house.
“I’m starting to get a complex, little man,” Claudia whined, and Matson dove into her arms next.
I stared at them, grinning from ear to ear, wondering how in the world my life had changed so drastically in such a short time. Our family had grown so big, and yet I hadn’t realized we had such a small one before. I’d always thought that my heart and Matson’s were full, our lives fulfilled and our family complete, but having all this love and these wonderful people around us made me see just how much we’d been missing.
We were the luckiest people in Santa Monica, and I hoped that never changed.
My Future
Ryan