The Charade

by Judy Corry

  Mom nodded. "Yes. I had a little more to drink that night than I usually did, and so when everyone was leaving, I suggested we take things upstairs to my room and then…" Her cheeks colored, obviously embarrassed to admit all of this to her daughters. "Even though Brendon and I hadn't dated for long in high school, and we'd ended up dating each other's best friends for far longer, we always did have great chemistry. There was always a little spark brimming under the surface between us."

  "So you had sex and you got pregnant, and then what?" I asked, impatient for her to get to the part where she didn't tell us who our dad was for the last seventeen years.

  "Ava," Elyse chided me for my bluntness.

  But I just shrugged and said, "I'm just trying to hurry things along."

  Mom swallowed. "Okay, so yes, that’s basically what happened." She readjusted her legs, crossing the left over the right this time. "Anyway, I went home the next day and didn't hear from Brendon for several weeks. We hadn't necessarily planned on dating since I lived in Ridgewater and he had just been drafted to the NBA. I didn't think anything was up until about a month after the reunion when I realized that my period was late. I tried not to panic, since I was on the pill and was usually pretty good about remembering to take it. But then a few more days passed and my period still hadn't shown up. I took a pregnancy test and found out I was expecting.

  "I was pretty scared since I was a single woman and knew how my dad would react when he found out. He'd been supplementing my income when I first moved to the U.S., so I didn't exactly have the greatest job to provide for me and a baby when he cut me off. But I knew it had to be Brendon's baby because he was the only person I'd slept with since my previous boyfriend six months before. I figured that while it would probably be a pretty awkward conversation to have, he'd step up to the plate and at least help me co-parent, even if we weren't going to get married or anything like that.”

  My mom paused for a moment, and it was then that I noticed a shift in her demeanor. Up to this point, she'd been able to tell her history in a very matter-of-fact manner, but now there was something different in her eyes. An anxiety or fear as she relived the memory from what I now realized must have been a pretty scary time in her life.

  And I suddenly felt really bad for how I'd been so rude to her so far tonight.

  She'd only been a few years older than I was now. And I knew that it couldn't have been easy to raise Elyse and me alone. Couldn't have been easy telling her strict father that she'd gotten pregnant without a husband, and eventually being shunned because his black and white beliefs didn't make room for what he saw as a huge mistake—a huge sin—on her part.

  Suddenly, she looked so alone in that chair across from us all by herself, and I couldn't bear to let her tell the rest of her story while thinking I hated her.

  I reached over and tugged on her hand and made room for her to sit on the couch between Elyse and me. We wrapped our arms around her as she continued to tell us a story that must have been so hard for her to live through that it had taken her our whole lives to tell us about.

  "Sorry, girls," she whispered as she was nestled between us, kissing us both on the heads. "Sorry it's taken me so long to tell you this."

  I rubbed her arm and leaned my head against her shoulder, tears brimming in my own eyes. "It's okay."

  And suddenly, it was okay. Because even though not knowing who my dad was for all these years had been painful for me, at least I'd had my mom. At least she and Elyse had always been there for me.

  No one had been there for my mother.

  Mom let out a shaky breath. "It took me a while to get up the nerve to call Brendon and tell him everything. I was probably eight weeks along when I finally dialed his number. I was so nervous that when he first answered the phone, I just skipped through all the small talk and basically blurted out that I was pregnant and it was his, and that I didn't want to have an abortion if he was even thinking about suggesting it.

  "He was quiet for a long time after that, and I was worried he may have actually hung up on me, but then he finally said okay and that we would figure this out. He then told me that he had gotten back with Brianna and they were planning to get married since they were expecting a baby as well."

  My mom chewed on her bottom lip, then she solemnly said, "And then he told me that Brianna had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and it was why she'd broken up with him before, because she was freaking out about everything and not knowing how to undergo treatments while she was pregnant."

  "I'd heard she was sick," I whispered, remembering what Cambrielle and Scarlett had told me about Mack's mom and how the tumor had come back.

  Mom nodded. "Anyway, we didn't really make any plans for how he would be involved with my baby since his whole life had basically just exploded on him the week before. Me being pregnant would just add even more to his already heavy plate."

  "But we were still his babies," Elyse said, a hint of bitterness in her tone. "Just as much his as Mack is."

  "I know." Mom patted Elyse's knee. "I know." She drew in another shaky breath as if gearing up for the next part of her story. "After our initial phone call, I didn't get back in touch with him for a couple of weeks. I wanted to give him time to breathe and get used to the idea. When I was about ten weeks along, I went to the doctor to make sure everything was fine with the pregnancy. I'd had some spotting, so they did an ultrasound. That was when we found out I wasn't having just one baby, but two."

  "So now Mr. Aarden had three babies on the way. And a fiancée with a terminal illness," I said, thinking I had an idea of where this story may be going.

  Mom nodded. "I waited a few days to call Brendon and tell him the exciting and terrifying news. But he didn't answer my calls. I figured he was probably just overwhelmed with the cancer treatments for Brianna and the two babies he knew about. After another week of unanswered calls, I left him a message explaining that we were expecting twins instead of the one baby, and that I hoped he'd get back to me when he could.

  "When I didn't hear anything for another week, I decided to give Joel a call to see if he knew what was going on and how I could get in contact with Brendon. He told me that Brendon had been checked into the hospital for a little while because he was in a really bad place and his family was worried about him being a danger to himself. I could tell that Joel was trying not to say that me having twins was responsible for any of Brendon's troubles, but I knew that it was. And…" Mom pressed her lips together. With a shrug, she said, "It was getting pretty obvious that Brendon was in no place to help me or my babies out, so after hanging up with Joel, I decided to text Brendon that I'd had a miscarriage and that he didn't need to worry about my babies after all.

  "He got out of the hospital a week later and called me after getting my message. He told me he was sorry for my loss. He said he knew it was probably really hard on me, but I could tell he was relieved to have one less fire to deal with during that time."

  "So you just had us on your own and cut off all contact with your past because you couldn't let anyone find out the truth?" Elyse guessed.

  "I didn't know what else to do. I'd claimed you two had died before you were born." She held her hands out at her sides in a helpless gesture. "And yeah, the first few years sucked. They were so hard. But then…" She reached her arms around our shoulders and pulled us against her. "Then things got easier. You two were more self-sufficient and…I guess I just loved you so much and thought you were both so perfect that I didn't want to take a chance of telling Brendon the truth. I didn't want to risk having him reject you all over again. I just couldn't do it."

  "You think he’d have turned us away if you'd told him?" I lifted my head from her shoulder and studied her face. "We heard he was in here with you and Mr. Hastings earlier. Is he not going to accept us?"

  I knew he was in the middle of another crisis right now. His wife's health was as bad or worse than it had been all those years before.

  But my mom said, "No, you do
n't need to worry about that. I talked to him, and while he was pretty shocked on Monday when you walked into his house looking for answers, he does want to be a part of your life."

  We were quiet for a little while, all lost in our own thoughts. But after a minute or two, Elyse said, "I do have one more question for you, Mom." She lifted her head from our mom's shoulder and pulled away so she could look at her better. "If you were so determined to cut off everyone from your past to protect your secret, why did you send Ava and me to school here? Didn't you know it was super likely that we'd run into someone from your past who would put two and two together?"

  "I knew it was a possibility." Mom nodded slowly. "And while it scared me to death to know that my secret might come to light and there could be a lot of repercussions because of it, I knew you deserved to know the truth. I really didn't like keeping such a huge secret from you two." She looked at Elyse and then at me. "And though I knew it would probably come out sooner than later, I had no idea how everyone would take it. Obviously, I did freak out a little when Brendon called me Monday night to tell me that my two beautiful daughters had shown up at his house to ask him questions about their dad. But I knew that it was for the best and that everyone deserved to know the truth."

  "So he called you and not Mr. Hastings?" I asked.

  "Yes." She nodded. "He said he should have known you were his from the moment you stepped into his house because you looked so much like his sister, and the chances of me getting pregnant with twins twice was super slim. But since he'd believed my miscarriage story, he didn't put two and two together until he found out how old you were."

  "Well, I guess I'm glad you were daring enough to send us here for school," I said.

  My mom nodded and pulled Elyse and me against her sides again. "I'm glad I did, too."

  43

  Ava

  Dr. Aarden—Brendon—my dad came into the room a few minutes later.

  "Hi," he said, ducking his head down nervously as he looked at Elyse and me. "It's, uh, it's good to meet you two again." He seemed to study both my sister and me, like he was trying to figure out how to tell us apart. "I remember your names, but you may need to forgive me for not knowing who is who right away. Which one of you is Ava? And which is Elyse?"

  "I'm Ava." I stepped forward. Not knowing what else to do, I held out my hand for him to shake.

  He looked at it for a second before taking it in his and saying, "It's very good to meet you again, Ava." And when our hands touched, I felt an immediate sense of calm come over me.

  It could have all been in my head because since when did shaking hands with a forty-year-old guy make me feel anything? But it did feel almost like the energy of the universe was trying to tell me this guy was really my dad. This guy standing in front of me was the person I'd been wondering about my entire life.

  He felt like home.

  He narrowed his eyes and looked down at our hands, and it made me wonder if he felt it, too. The rightness of this moment. Like the universe had actually been conspiring for things to turn out exactly the way they had.

  Afterwards, he shook Elyse's hand next, seeming to study her with curiosity as well as she introduced herself. Then we all just stood there staring at each other for a long time, taking everything in. Mack's dad—my dad—suggested we sit down and talk.

  I shook my head as Elyse and I sat together, realizing it was going to take some time to adjust to calling this near stranger our dad.

  Dr. Aarden sat on the leather chair across from us since my mom had moved to a chair in the corner—letting us have our moment with him while still being there for support if we needed her.

  He cleared his throat and looked at us with his golden-brown eyes that matched mine and Elyse's almost exactly—so perfectly that I probably should have noticed the similarity the first time we'd met.

  His hair was slightly lighter than mine but had the same texture, fine but thick. And from how tall he seemed when we'd stood in front of him a second ago, I knew that I must have gotten my tall genetics from this man because he was at least six-foot six, maybe a little taller even.

  I was sure I'd be spending a lot of time over the next weeks, months, and years studying this man, trying to decipher all the similarities between myself and him. But for now, I would try to focus on being present in the moment and getting to know a little more about him.

  He cleared his throat to speak first, leaning slightly forward over his long legs. "So, I'm not exactly sure how to maneuver this new situation that we're all finding ourselves in, but before we get very far into our conversation tonight, I first want to apologize for not being there for you two for the past seventeen and a half years." He cleared his throat again. "Not being there for you three, actually."

  He glanced briefly at my mom. "And I guess your mom probably told you about everything that was going on back when she was pregnant and…" He tugged on the collar of his white polo shirt. "I just want you to know how sorry I am that I failed you all back then. I really am." He looked down at his hands, clasping and unclasping them, then back at us. "I'm actually really ashamed that I basically just let your mom disappear from my life. If I'd been a better man and actually tried to follow up with her on the miscarriage story, if I'd been man enough to try to comfort her or something like a decent human would, I might have been able to see what was really going on. Then the last seventeen years would have looked very different for all of you."

  "Don't blame yourself for believing me, Brendon," my mom said. "You did just what I hoped you would, so if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

  He shook his head. "Regardless of what happened in the past and the ways we could have handled it better, the fact is that we can't go back in time and fix things. But we can do better now. We can try to move forward." He paused for a moment before adding, "So if you're open to the idea, I would love to spend the next several months while you girls are at the academy getting to know both of you better. And then of course, hopefully continue to move forward from there."

  "You would?" Elyse asked, and when I looked at my sister, the raw emotion—the hopefulness in her expression—hit my soul deep. Because I wanted the same thing.

  "Of course." Mr. Aarden nodded as he took in the openness of Elyse's expression. "Of course I'd love to get to know everything about you." He moved his gaze to me. "Both of you."

  And we all must have gotten caught up in the same overwhelming emotion because we all stood up at the same time. When Mr. Aarden held his arms open to us, Elyse and I didn't hesitate to go to him. He set his strong arms around our shoulders and pulled us close, and it just felt…right.

  It felt right to finally hug my dad.

  I leaned my head against his solid chest and looked at my sister across from me with tears in my eyes. And when our gazes locked, her eyes had tears in them, too. Because we'd finally found our dad.

  And he was a good man.

  He wanted to get to know us. He wanted to love us.

  That was all we’d ever wanted.

  To have a dad who wanted and loved us.

  A sniffling noise sounded from the corner—Mom was all watery-eyed as well.

  Elyse and I went to hug her next. After we all had a good, happy cry together, we sat down again to make plans for how we would move forward from here.

  Mr. Aarden told us about what was going on in his life right then. While his wife, Brianna, knew that he'd slept with our mom after the reunion because he'd told her about it a long time ago, she would still be surprised to find out about Elyse and me.

  She was in a delicate condition right now. The tumor was causing more and more issues. "But I know you deserve to have a dad and I want to see what it's like to have daughters—two beautiful daughters," he said. "I'm planning to tell Brianna about everything tomorrow, and then see if we can arrange a time for you two to come over in the next week so all of us can get to know each other better."

  "Does Mack know about us yet?" Elyse asked.

  An
d it was then that I realized that not only were we gaining a dad and a stepmother, but we would also have a brother.

  A brother who I had liked from the instant I met him because of his charismatic personality.

  "I was waiting to talk to all of you first," Mr. Aarden said. "But I'm planning to tell him tomorrow."

  "Okay, cool," Elyse said.

  I watched Elyse release an anxious breath, and I realized what must be going through her head. Because even though she hadn't acted on it at all, she'd had a crush on Mack since we first came to Eden Falls.

  So instead of it being me, she was going to be the sister who'd had complicated feelings for our brother.

  Life was fun, wasn't it?

  But thankfully, for her and Mack's sake at least, she'd never said anything about it to anyone besides me.

  And of course I would keep it a secret. I of all people understood what kind of trouble could come from not knowing who you may or may not be related to when you came to the world of Eden Falls Academy, where the people were as beautiful and intriguing as the scenery around us.

  After exchanging numbers with our father so we could be in touch, we all left Mr. Hastings’s office a little bit different than we'd been when we'd entered. We walked past the ballroom just as the clock was striking midnight. When I peeked through the windows and listened to the sounds coming from inside, I realized that everyone was singing “Happy Birthday” to Carter.

  He was standing just a few feet away from the windows, a huge birthday cake with eighteen tall candles flickering in the dimly lit room. He must have noticed our movement from the corner of his eyes, because after everyone finished singing to him and he had blown out the candles, his eyes locked with mine and he mouthed something like, "Are you okay?"

  I nodded and sent him a small smile before mouthing back, "I will be."

  He nodded to let me know that he understood. And then he pointed to Dr. Aarden who was walking a few feet ahead of me and mouthed, "Is that your dad?"