by Lisa Suzanne
So I finally take control with Will’s hand still firmly clutched in mine. I clear my throat. “About a month ago, I got a weird letter in the mail from someone in Maine. We went to check it out to see if what the letter said was true.”
“What did the letter say?” Emily asks, and Adam’s brows furrow in concern.
“It was from a woman who, um, said that she’d been married to Dad and that they had a kid together before he met mom,” I say, blurting out my words and directing them at my brother. “I figured it was a lie and she just wanted money from me, but it had a photo attached to it.”
“What sort of photo?” Adam asks.
“A wedding photo. The guy in the picture was unmistakably Dad.”
“So you went to meet her without saying anything to anyone?” he asks, and I sense a slight hint of anger in his tone.
“I did. I needed to find out for myself before I burdened anyone else with whatever this was,” I say. I clutch Will’s hand a little harder.
“And what was it?” he asks.
“She and Dad were married. We have a sister. Her name is Amanda.”
Adam’s face blanches. “What? But...how?”
“She had an affair with Dad’s dad,” I say, not calling him grandpa because is he really your grandpa if you never had any sort of relationship with him? “Dad found out and left her and the baby.”
“What?” he asks sharply. “Dad wouldn’t do that. Have you talked to him about this?”
I shake my head. “I wanted to bring it up to you first, so we could go talk to him together.”
“You mean confront him together. Fuck that, Amber. I’m not a part of this. I trust Dad, and whatever you think you found out has to be a lie.” Adam’s tone is final, and Emily places a hand on his bicep as a means to calm him down.
“Are you kidding me?” I practically yell. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see them. You didn’t talk to them.” Tears fill my eyes. “And you didn’t have to be the one to field their request for money that you don’t even have. So screw you for acting like you’re not a part of this.” My voice shakes as the tears tip over.
Adam sits silently as he shakes his head. “This is ridiculous, Amber. It’s a lie.”
“Then let’s go talk to Dad right now and find out the truth.”
“Fine,” he says, his teeth clenched. He stands. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 42: AMBER
My heart races as Adam drives to Mom and Dad’s house.
It’s weird how they have no idea that we’re coming over. They have no idea what I know, and they have no idea that we’re about to confront them with this news.
Does Mom even know?
I bet she doesn’t. I just don’t see her keeping something like this from me.
By the time we pull into the driveway, I’m a nervous wreck. Will tries to be comforting with a hand on my leg or with his fingers twined through mine, but it’s not helping.
My brother is setting me further on edge with his erratic driving and his total distrust of what I learned. I thought if nothing else he’d be indifferent—I didn’t really think he’d get mad at me.
But I’m not sure that’s what this is. I think he’s mad about the whole situation in general. And you know what? So am I.
When my mom answers the door, she looks a little shocked to see the four of us standing on the front porch. “Hey, guys,” she says. She opens the door wider and we all step in. “What’s going on?”
I half expect Adam to tell them Emily’s pregnant, but it seems like that announcement might have to wait.
“Is Dad home?” Adam asks.
She nods. “In the family room,” she says, and we follow her through the front hall and into the family room, where my dad’s sitting innocently in a recliner and has no idea the tornado we’re about to unleash in this very room.
“Amber has some questions for you,” Adam says, and my dad mutes the television before he puts down the footrest of the recliner and stands.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
“Is it true that you were married before Mom and Adam and I have a sister?” I blurt out the question without preamble.
He stares at me for a beat, the color draining from his cheeks, and then he glances at my mom, whose face is impassive.
He sighs and sits back down, rocking a little in the recliner. “Why would you ask me that?” he asks carefully.
I clear my throat. “Karen Wilson sent me a letter with a picture of you and her on your wedding day. I went to see her when Will and I were on our road trip.”
Will waves his hand in the air like he’s greeting my parents hello, and God he’s so awkward sometimes.
“You went to see her?” my dad asks, shock evident in his tone.
I glance at my mom, whose face is still impassive. Impassive seems good, though. At least she’s not mad. Maybe she did know all this.
I nod. “I also met Amanda,” I say softly.
My mom walks over to my dad and pats his shoulder. “Just tell them,” she says, indicating that yes, she has known all along.
He presses his lips together, and when he speaks, his voice is soft. “It’s true that I was married before I met your mom.”
Except I’m not sure that makes it any better. That means they’ve both kept this secret from us our entire lives.
“You were married before Mom?” Adam asks. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us? And we have a sister?”
My dad sighs again, and he shakes his head before he leans forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him. “You don’t have a sister,” he says. “You have an aunt.”
My brows shoot up. “What?” I ask on a gasp.
He nods. “I met a woman while I was on vacation. We had an affair.” He looks beyond embarrassed to be having this conversation with his kids. “She got pregnant and told me it was mine even though I didn’t think it could be. I was safe, but there’s never a foolproof, guaranteed way of knowing, right?”
He pauses, and I’m not sure if we’re supposed to say something or not. I don’t. Neither does Adam.
“Turns out she actually had an, uh, affair with my father around the same time, but she never told me that,” he says, and my heart drops down into my stomach at the same time relief swells in my chest. “Neither did he. I married her because that’s what you did when you got someone pregnant, or, at least, that’s what my father told me you did. Only he’s the one who got her pregnant, not me. I found that out shortly after she had the baby. I was away on a work trip, and when I arrived home early, I walked in on her and my father. I asked some questions, had a test done on the baby, and learned the truth. I actually met your mother that night when I went to a bar to drown my sorrows, and the rest is history.”
I sit down on the couch—or, rather, my legs seem to give out. “Why didn’t you tell us about all that?”
He purses his lips. “To be honest, Amber, it’s an embarrassing part of my past. I married someone I didn’t love. I was cheated on by my wife and my own father. I didn’t think anyone ever really needed to know. I met your mother, and she’s the woman I married because of love, not out of obligation. She’s the one I had two wonderful children with out of that love, not by lies. She’s the one I built a life with. What happened in the past, well, it’s in the past. I learned a long time ago that Karen is a master manipulator, and she and my father were a good match in that regard.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurt. “I got this letter and I didn’t know what to do and I went and met her. I’m sorry for uncovering secrets you didn’t want uncovered. I’m sorry I brought up a painful part of your history.” I feel like I should give him a hug or walk over to him or something, but I don’t. I stay glued to my spot. “And I’m sorry I believed her,” I whisper.
“It’s okay.” He looks up at me, and I’ve never seen my dad look so vulnerable. It’s weird to think that parents have a history, too, but I guess they do. Once in the past th
ey were where I am now—at the start of something that could be wonderful and amazing, and one time they had all these questions about what was right for them and where they’d end up in the future.
And even though my dad clearly went through some difficult times, he ended up okay.
He glances over at my mom, and she smiles warmly at him. I look over at Adam, who’s clutching Emily’s hand as he looks back and forth between my mom and dad.
“Are you guys okay with all this?” my mom asks.
Adam shrugs. “It’s all kind of a shock to just find out your parents have actual histories.”
My mom laughs. “Someday I’ll tell you all about my ex-husband, too.”
My eyes bug out, and she holds up a hand. “Kidding, kidding. I just had to break the tension in here. It’s something I found out the night I met your dad, and we didn’t start dating until his divorce was finalized. It never mattered to me because I knew he loved me. And then we had you two, and it just wasn’t important enough to bring up.”
“Why’d she lie and say she was our sister?” I ask.
“She wanted the baby to be mine,” my dad said. “I had the test done, and I shared the results with her, and she refused to believe any of it. She’s been pretending for all of Amanda’s life.”
“Does Amanda know?” Adam asks.
My dad nods. “I sent her the results when she turned eighteen. But I have no idea how much her mother has manipulated the situation over the years. My father left them money when he died and it wasn’t my problem to deal with.”
“She wants more money now, I guess,” I say, glancing at my brother.
“Dad?” he says.
My dad looks over at him.
“I think I’d like to help them out a little,” he says. “Would that be okay with you?”
Emily squeezes his arm, and my dad just sort of stares at him for an awkward beat.
“Why?” I ask bluntly.
He glances over at me. “Because even if she’s not our sister, she’s our aunt. Even if this Karen lady is crazy, it sounds like Amanda doesn’t really have anyone else. I understand what happened is tough, but she’s still family.”
“She’s a stranger,” I say.
“She doesn’t have to be,” my dad says softly. “It’s up to you guys if you want to get to know her. For my part, I’m staying out of it. I washed my hands of that past a long time ago, but I’m not going to tell you what you can or can’t do.”
“Family is the most important thing to me,” Adam says firmly. “And that’s why I need to tell you all something.”
All eyes turn to him, and I already know what’s coming.
“Emily’s pregnant,” he announces.
My mom gasps, and my dad’s eyes widen. I giggle, and Will doesn’t seem to know where to look, and Emily’s face turns the shade of a tomato.
And then it clicks.
This is my family, and we’re more than fine. We’re more than okay. This house is filled with love and laughter despite any mistakes any of us have ever made.
As my mom squeezes Adam and my dad gently hugs Emily, I see our family suddenly expanding. As Will squeezes my hand, I feel my heart expanding, too, to make room for even more additions in the future.
Yeah, despite everything they went through, my parents ended up way more than just fine.
And so will we.
CHAPTER 43: AMBER
As soon as we get back to the MFB house, Will ushers me to his car.
“Where are we going?” I ask, as if I haven’t spent enough time in this Bronco over the last few weeks.
“It’s a surprise,” he says, and he shoots me a sly little smile.
“The last time you said that to me, we ended up at my grandparents’ house.”
“I’m not taking you there,” he says, driving past the entrance to the highway. “But I am taking you somewhere pretty special.”
About three minutes later, he pulls into a driveway of a modest house, and my heart starts to pound a little harder as I have a feeling I know where we are.
“Whose house is this?” I ask. I stare ahead at the brown front door, at the blue shutters on the windows, at the white siding that looks freshly power washed.
He cuts the engine and squeezes my knee. “My mom and dad’s.”
Yep, my intuition was right.
“Um, what?” I ask, nerves shooting through my chest. I flip down the visor and check my make-up in the mirror, smoothing my hair down as my anxiety levels shoot through the roof. I’m in jeans and a t-shirt. I’m not dressed to meet someone’s parents.
“My parents’ house,” he says, like that explains everything. “I want to introduce you to the most important people in my life aside from the guys of MFB.”
The sentiment is sweet, but still. “And you thought springing this on me as a surprise was a good idea?”
He shrugs, and I blow out a heavy sigh before I relent.
These are the kinds of surprises I guess I’m in for, and I suppose at some point I just have to get used to that fact.
We get out of the car and walk to that brown front door.
He doesn’t bother ringing the bell. He just barges right in. “Ma? Pop?” he yells.
He calls his parents Ma and Pop. That’s not just something out of the fifties. It’s frickin’ adorable.
A woman with fiery red curls who looks like an older female version of Will appears in the hallway. “William!” she says. She’s bubbly and full of enthusiasm, and he leans down to kiss her cheek. Her eyes move to me, and she has the same turquoise shade to her irises as her son. “And you must be Delilah.”
All the air deflates out of me.
Who the hell is Delilah?
“Gotcha,” she says, laughing. She gives me a hug. “I’m totally kidding, Amber. But you should’ve seen your face. Priceless.” She pulls out of the hug and squeezes my biceps. “It’s such a pleasure to finally meet the girl my boy can’t stop talking about.”
I giggle. So they’re that kind of family...and it’s refreshing. I love his mom already.
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” I raise an eyebrow at Will. “You can’t stop talking about me?” I ask.
He shrugs and looks a little sheepish, and then a tall man with dark hair and dark eyes who looks nothing like Will appears from around the corner.
“William!” he says in the exact same tone of enthusiasm his wife used just seconds ago. The boys hug it out and his mom winks at me.
“Hey, Pop,” he says, and then he bro-pats his dad on the back.
“These are my parents, Connie and Bill. Ma, Pop, this is Amber.”
“We were wondering if he was ever going to bring you home to meet us,” Bill says, shaking my hand. “It’s like we embarrass him or something.”
“Just you, Pop,” Will says, slugging him playfully on the shoulder.
His dad shrugs. “Ah, well, that’s really part of a dad’s job description, isn’t it?”
It’s only then I smell something fantastic cooking. “Did you know we were coming?” I ask, and then I turn a glare toward Will. “Because I didn’t.”
Connie laughs and tosses an arm around her son’s waist. “Yeah, we knew. But that’s our Will. He loves surprising the people he loves.”
My heart warms as I follow Will and his mother into the kitchen, his father trailing behind us. Connie motions toward the table where salads are waiting for us. “I made spaghetti with meatballs. I hope that’s okay.”
“Mm, Ma,” Will says, rubbing his stomach, and it has a childish playfulness about it that might’ve bothered me a couple months ago, but now I just find it endearing. He pulls out a chair. “You know that’s my favorite.”
“I have garlic bread heating in the oven, too,” she says.
“Uh, Mrs. Rascowicz?” I say, nervously gripping the back of the chair Will nodded toward for me to take.
She looks over at me. “Call me Connie, hon,” she says.
“Okay, Connie,” I
say. I offer a small smile. “I, uh...I don’t eat carbs.”
Silence falls over the room.
Connie’s eyes bug out at me and an oh shit what now kind of look crosses her face.
“Gotcha,” I giggle. “I love spaghetti and garlic bread. You should’ve seen your face, though. Priceless.”
She laughs and smacks me in the shoulder. “Will, I approve. I think she just might be perfect for you.”
Will beams at me and I smile.
“Can I help with anything?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’ve got it. You two sit and start your salads.”
We sit, and we eat, and most of all, we laugh. God, do we laugh.
I feel like I fit in here. I’ve met the parents of boys I’ve dated before, and it never felt like this. When I met Ian’s parents, it was at a country club and I had to wear a dress. Will has way more money in the bank than Ian could ever dream of making in his sales position, and yet jeans and a t-shirt feels right here.
I’ve never felt so welcome, like I’m actually the person who was missing from their family dinners this entire time.
It’s like Connie and Bill have been waiting forever for Will to bring home a girl—but not just any girl, even though he’s never brought one home before. The right girl.
And I think he might’ve just gotten it right on the first try.
CHAPTER 44: WILL
I can’t help but watch Dax and Kylie as Brody gives his toast at the rehearsal dinner.
The gleam in Dax’s eyes and the sparkle in Kylie’s...I want that.
I have that.
I glance over at Amber, whose eyes are on the happy couple, too. She glances at Kylie’s drink—a tall glass of Sprite since she’s having a baby in a couple months. I watch as her eyes dart over to Emily, also drinking Sprite.
Her best friend is pregnant. It’ll only be a matter of time before baby fever hits her, too. She’s already told me she wants kids someday, and the more time I spend with her, the more I see it, too. I want that. With her. I want a family. I want to leave a mark on this world bigger than playing keys for a rock band. I want to leave behind a legacy that we create together, a legacy bigger than a charity or songs, but a family that we made out of love.