Diamonds are Forever

by Michelle Madow

  “How could she have known for that long and not told us?” she asked. “Why would she do that?”

  “Madison found out early in the school year—around late September,” Adrian said. “Her parents convinced her not to say anything, but apparently it was tearing Madison apart so much that they couldn’t force her to keep the secret anymore. They called me and told me it was time for us to tell you the truth, but it was right after you’d found out about Britney. Like I said earlier, I couldn’t imagine telling you something this huge while you were still grieving for her. So Madison’s parents explained it to her, and told her that I would break the news to you when I felt you were ready.”

  “It wasn’t up to you to decide when you ‘thought we were ready,’” Peyton said. “You should have told us the moment we moved here, when we were at dinner that first night. You shouldn’t have kept this from us in the first place! How could you think it was okay to never tell us that we have another sister?”

  “I’ve already explained all of that.” Adrian somehow remained calm, despite Peyton’s yelling at him. “Looking back on it now, there’s a lot I would have done differently. The guilt I felt after Britney was killed was more painful than anything I’ve ever experienced—it felt like I’d killed her myself. I couldn’t think clearly for years. Not one day passes when I don’t look back and wonder if I could have prevented what happened, so she would still be alive today. Seeing the three of you again reminded me of how I failed as a parent.” His voice wavered, and Rebecca took his hand in hers, which seemed to give him the strength to continue. “I rationalized my decision by making myself believe that keeping all of you—including Madison—away from me was the best way to keep you safe. But pushing you out of my life was just as bad. Maybe even worse. Because I should have been in your lives, I should have told you about Britney and you should have been raised knowing Madison was your sister.”

  “But that’s not what happened,” Courtney said.

  “No.” He shook his head sadly. “It was a mistake. But I can’t change the past. And we were on such a great track after winter break, and it’s gotten better with all the Sundays we’ve been spending together. Didn’t the three of you have fun riding horses through the mountains last week?”

  “Yeah,” Courtney admitted. Sure, Peyton hadn’t layered her clothes enough for the cold weather and had to wrap herself in the tour guide’s dirty blanket, Savannah had almost fallen off her horse while taking a selfie and they were all sore for days afterward. But they’d had fun, especially when Adrian had surprised them by showing off how he could stay on a cantering horse while throwing a hand up, rodeo style. At the end of the day, the tour guide had taken a picture of the four of them together, and no one looking at it would have been able to guess that they’d first met their father months ago.

  “When you told us about Britney, you promised us it was the last secret,” Peyton said.

  “I know,” Adrian said. “That was before Madison’s parents told me she’d found out the truth.”

  “How did she find out?” Courtney asked.

  “They did blood testing in one of her science classes,” he said. “Apparently her father had mentioned his blood type before, and when Madison tested hers, she realized the results were impossible. She approached her parents about it, and they had no choice but to tell her the truth.”

  “Interesting.” Courtney might not like Madison, but after spending time with her in the tutoring center, she knew she worked hard and was smart. She did respect her for that.

  “So you’re only telling us because Madison found out on her own?” Peyton asked, glaring at Adrian. “If she hadn’t found out, you would have kept it secret forever?”

  “I’d considered telling you before,” Adrian said. “But yes, Madison finding out was what pushed me to tell you now. I know you might not be able to immediately accept it. But I hope that over time, we’ll be able to overcome it and be a family.”

  “That is such a load of shit.” Peyton stood up with so much force that the couch moved backward. “I can’t deal with this anymore.”

  She stomped to her room and slammed the door, leaving them all staring in her wake.

  “Well, that went better than expected,” Adrian said, breaking the silence. “What about the two of you? What are your thoughts?”

  Courtney glanced at Savannah, who had been alarmingly silent through the majority of this conversation. Her younger sister’s eyes were glazed over, and she was running her fingers over the hem of her shirt.

  “It’s probably best if you give us some space.” Courtney barely realized that she was speaking—it was like she was watching herself in a play or movie instead of it being real life. “This is a lot to process.”

  “All right.” Adrian cleared his throat and finished his water. “I can respect that. I know that Madison and her parents are hoping to talk to you—Madison wanted to do it tonight—but they’ll understand if you want to wait a day or two.”

  “But we don’t think you should wait past Sunday,” Rebecca added. “It’s best for you to speak with her before seeing her in school on Monday. That’s why we wanted to tell you first thing after school.”

  “As long as Peyton agrees, we’ll do it on Sunday,” Courtney said. Sunday was their usual “father/daughters” day, but there was no way they would be in the mood for that after what they’d just learned.

  “We’ll leave the three of you to talk.” Adrian stood up and straightened his jacket. “I really do hope we’ll be able to find a way to work through this.”

  “And remember that we’re right down the hall if you need anything,” Rebecca said.

  “Thanks,” Courtney said, the word feeling hollow. “But I think we need space right now.”

  “We’ll be there if you change your mind.” Rebecca placed her hand gently on Adrian’s arm. They said they would see them Sunday, reminded them again to come by if they needed anything and left.

  The door shut, and the living room was silent.

  “How can Madison be our sister?” Savannah asked, her voice small. “She hates us.”

  “She didn’t know we were sisters when she first met us.” Courtney tried to rationalize the situation, even though it made no sense to her, either. Sisters or not, she couldn’t forget about the way Madison had acted toward them when they first got to town. “Although it would be nice to think that she would have felt something. Some kind of sisterly connection. But Madison is just so...”

  “Hateful?” Peyton’s voice echoed from the hall, and she joined them in the living room. “Bitchy? Smug? Catty? And a million other terrible words. I wonder what she’ll have to say for herself on Sunday. Because nothing will make me change my mind about her.”

  “You were listening from your room?” Courtney asked.

  “Obviously.” Peyton rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want to be around Adrian anymore, but I wanted to know what was going on. Add it to the list of things he’s lied to us about. Madison Lockhart is our half sister? Yuck.”

  “I know,” Courtney said. “But since she’s found out—which Adrian said happened around the end of September—can either of you think of anything blatantly mean she’s done to us?”

  They were silent for a few seconds, thinking.

  “She didn’t tell us she was our sister,” Peyton said. “She’s known since September, and she didn’t say anything. That’s messed up.”

  “What if she didn’t say anything because she doesn’t want to be our sister?” Savannah asked.

  “Adrian said Madison wanted us to know the truth,” Courtney said. “Her parents lied to her, just like ours lied to us. We might not have much in common with her, but we do have that.”

  “So you’re going to trust her and forget about what a bitch she’s been to us, just because she shares DNA with us?” Peyton asked.
<
br />   “I never said I would forget how she treated us,” Courtney said. “But it might not hurt to give her a chance.”

  chapter 11:

  It wasn’t long before Sunday morning came, and while Peyton had no interest in impressing Madison and her family, she did take extra time getting ready. Black leather pants, ankle boots, a leather jacket, smoky eyeliner, and she was ready to go. She wanted Adrian to see how angry she was. To know she wouldn’t forgive him.

  If only her insides didn’t feel like a trembling mess.

  She walked over to her desk, uncapped the Sharpie lying next to the calendar, and Xed out February 8—yesterday—which had the number 112 written on it. Which meant as of today, there were 111 days until graduation, when she would be out of here and free to do whatever she wanted. And despite letting Courtney send in that application, it wasn’t going to be college.

  What was it that Jackson had said when she’d told him she wasn’t going to college? That she’d always struck him as more of a “gap year” type.

  She still had no idea what that meant, so she opened her laptop and typed gap year into the search bar.

  A gap year seemed to be what it sounded like: A year off between high school and college. One of the reasons listed for taking one was because of being “burned out of classroom education.”

  That was exactly how Peyton felt.

  She read more about gap years, but then someone knocked on her door, and she closed out of the browser.

  “Peyton,” Courtney said, opening the door a crack. “They’ll all be here soon. Are you up?” She came inside and did a double take when she saw that Peyton was awake. “Wow,” she said. “I was expecting to have to drag you out of bed. Not to find you up and dressed.”

  “It’s not every day that we find out the bitchiest girl in school is our half sister,” Peyton said, pushing her laptop away. “I wanted to be armed and ready. And this—” she motioned to her all-black leather outfit “—is my armor.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.” Courtney yawned, and Peyton noticed the dark, baggy circles under her eyes—she must not have been able to sleep last night. “I just can’t picture Madison as our sister. Me, you and Savannah—we’ve been through so much together. All Madison has done is give us trouble.”

  “You were the one who thought we should give her a chance,” Peyton reminded her.

  “I still think that,” Courtney said. “But that doesn’t make this any less nerve-racking.”

  “There’s three of us and one of her,” Peyton said. “We’ve got this.”

  They walked into the living room, where Savannah was sitting at the table, finishing up a plate of pancakes. It was too early for Peyton to be hungry, so she made a cup of coffee.

  At ten o’clock on the dot, Adrian and Rebecca entered the condo. Before the door shut, Peyton glimpsed someone with dark hair in the hall—Madison. Peyton’s hands shook, and she gripped her coffee mug tighter.

  “Good morning,” Adrian said, running his fingers over the table in the foyer. “I’m glad you’re all up and ready.”

  “The pancakes smell amazing.” Rebecca took a deep breath and smiled.

  “I couldn’t touch my French toast, so it’s there if you want some,” Courtney offered.

  “I would, but French toast isn’t on my prewedding diet.” Rebecca stood straighter and sucked in her stomach. “It was egg whites and fruit for me this morning.”

  “You don’t need to lose weight,” Savannah said. “You’re already super tiny.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “But I’m hoping to stay that way through April.”

  Peyton looked back and forth between the two of them. How were they talking about wedding stuff right now? “Let’s cut it with the niceties,” she said. “We all know what’s about to happen, so let’s get it over with. Bring her in.”

  “Since Brett’s at his dad’s for the day, we were hoping to all talk in his condo,” Rebecca said. “Madison and her parents are waiting there now.”

  “We thought everyone should be on neutral territory,” Adrian added.

  “I would rather them come here.” Peyton crossed her arms, staying firmly in place.

  “Me, too,” Savannah chimed in.

  Adrian took a deep breath and clasped his hands behind his back. “Madison’s nervous enough as it is,” he said. “I don’t think this is asking too much.”

  “You don’t think you’re asking too much?” Peyton repeated, her eyes wide. “You had nothing to do with us until last summer. You didn’t tell us about Britney until Thanksgiving, and you didn’t mention that we have another sister until two days ago. So yeah, I think you’re asking too much. If we want Madison and her parents to come over here, then they’re coming over here.”

  “They’re already in Brett’s condo...” Rebecca glanced worriedly at Adrian.

  “Then they can get up and come over here,” Peyton said. “They’re capable of that, right?”

  “Come on, Peyton,” Courtney said, her eyes welling up “Let’s not start fighting before we even see them? Please?”

  “Fine.” Peyton gave in, not wanting her sister to cry before this even began. “Brett’s condo it is. Let’s get this over with.”

  * * *

  Adrian opened the door to the condo, and as he and Rebecca led the way inside, Madison and her parents stood up from the couch. It reminded Peyton of those historical movies that Courtney liked, when people stood whenever royalty entered. Madison’s eyes darted around—focusing everywhere but on Peyton and her sisters.

  “You girls know Madison.” Adrian cleared his throat and walked to the center of the room. “These are her parents, Dr. John Lockhart and Dr. Leena Lockhart.”

  Peyton studied Madison’s parents while Courtney said the obligatory “Nice to meet you.” Madison’s dad was on the shorter side, with a large nose, thick brown hair and kind eyes. Her mom had olive skin, shiny black hair and stunning green eyes. Madison’s dark hair and naturally tan skin were clearly from her mom. But she had deep blue eyes—the same as Adrian, Peyton, Courtney and Savannah. And while Savannah and Courtney had softer facial features, like their mother’s, Madison had the same defined bone structure as Adrian...and as Peyton.

  How could they have missed the resemblance? Sure, Peyton had noticed that Madison’s eyes were a similar color to hers and her sisters’, but she’d chalked it up to coincidence.

  She’d certainly never thought that they could be sisters.

  “Why don’t we sit down?” Rebecca said, somehow managing to smile despite the ridiculous amount of tension in the air.

  Madison and her parents had already claimed a couch, with Madison between them, as if they were protecting her. Peyton and her sisters took the couch across from them, with Courtney naturally in the middle. Rebecca and Adrian happily sat in the chairs.

  “At this point, everyone is up to date on the situation,” Adrian said. “No one knows more than anyone else.”

  “So what are we supposed to do now?” Peyton leaned back and crossed her arms, purposefully avoiding Madison’s gaze. “Hug each other and become one big, happy family?”

  “We know there’s been some tension between you girls.” Rebecca twisted her gigantic engagement ring around her finger. “Adrian and I—and John and Leena—were hoping you would talk with us about it so we can help you work through it.”

  Peyton bit the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing. No way would they tell the parents about how Madison had kissed Damien to hurt Savannah, given Courtney a hard time about her summer fling with Brett and taken the picture of Peyton and her teacher at the bar. And they definitely weren’t going to talk about how they’d been convinced that Madison had written that post about them on campusbuzz, so Peyton and Savannah had blackmailed Oliver into trying to take Madison’
s virginity, only for Peyton to tell Madison the truth at the party, which had resulted in the fight that had left Oliver storming out of there drunk and totaling his Maserati.

  Madison had her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised—she must also be thinking there was no way in hell she would talk to their parents about their drama. At least they were on the same page about something.

  “We just have different groups we hang out with in school.” Courtney spoke calmly and slowly, which Peyton knew meant she was choosing her words carefully. “We don’t know each other well. It’s all very...awkward.”

  “Imagine finding out months ago and having to keep quiet about it until now.” Madison finally spoke for the first time since they’d entered the condo.

  “I can’t imagine that,” Peyton said. “Because if I’d found out, I would have said something—no matter what.”

  “Why did you stay quiet about it for all that time?” Courtney asked Madison.

  “A few reasons.” She glanced at her parents, and they nodded for her to continue. “Mainly because when my parents first told me that Adrian’s my biological father, I thought he wanted nothing to do with me.”

  “Which isn’t true,” Adrian said.

  “Right.” She crossed and uncrossed her legs, not looking at him. “But it was what I thought, and it hurt. So I did what my parents wanted and stayed quiet. Plus, I doubted that you all would even want me as a sister. But I kept seeing the three of you around school, and I couldn’t keep it secret anymore. I talked to my parents, and my mom called Adrian to let him know that we wanted to tell you all the truth. But that was right after you found out about Britney, so Adrian didn’t want to drop something else on you.” She lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry about what happened to her.”

  “Thanks.” Courtney’s voice wobbled, and Peyton squeezed her hand for support.

  “Anyway,” Madison said. “If I’d known from the beginning that we were sisters, I would have reached out. I’m sorry for anything that might have been taken the wrong way since you all moved here. I never meant to hurt any of your feelings.”