Just then, a woman came out the front door. She was a blonde, in her early forties. She had a backpack slung over one shoulder and a small duffel bag in one hand. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her clothes were wrinkled from hours traveling on a bus.
When their eyes met, Georgia knew that it was her mother. She was surprised to find she looked so young. Misty had been a teenager when she had Georgia, but in her mind, she had envisioned her mother being older somehow.
“Georgia?” the woman asked, stopping a few feet away.
“Hi, Mom.” She didn’t know what else to say.
The woman approached her cautiously. It seemed both of them were at a loss for how to handle this momentous event. Finally she dropped her duffel bag on the ground and lunged forward to wrap her daughter in a hug.
Georgia buried her face in her mother’s neck and hung on. She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes and hid them by letting them spill onto her mother’s sweater.
“Oh, my li’l Peaches,” her mother whispered as they continued to embrace. “Let me get a good look at you.”
They separated so Misty could study her daughter’s face. Georgia tried not to squirm under the scrutiny, focusing instead on the realization that her mother was really here.
“You turned out to be so beautiful,” Misty said. “I was a pretty girl, but you…you are the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen in real life. Like a movie star.”
“Hardly,” Georgia said, awkwardly dismissing her praise.
“And you’ve done so well for yourself. Such nice clothes, so well-groomed. Seeing you on the news working for that big real estate development company… I was so proud.”
“Thank you.” Georgia was never comfortable with how she looked, but she’d worked hard for her success and would accept those compliments while she dismissed others. “Are you hungry? I thought maybe we could get some dinner.”
“You know, I’m really just tired from all the traveling. Would you mind too much if we just went back to your place and got some food delivered?”
Georgia smiled. Perhaps she had gotten her love of takeout from her mother without knowing it. “That would be fine. There’s a great Chinese place near my house, or an Italian eatery around the block.”
“I love Chinese,” Misty said with a smile and picked up her duffel bag.
That must be genetic, too.
“So, where are you parked?” Misty asked, looking around the parking lot.
“Oh, I don’t have a car. I stay in the city, so I usually ride the train.” Misty’s disappointed expression caught her off guard. Georgia quickly realized that she was probably tired and not really interested in navigating any more public transportation today. “But I can get a taxi,” she added.
The smile returned to Misty’s face. “That would be wonderful. I got hit by a drunk driver a few years ago and shattered my pelvis,” she said, shuffling from one foot to the other. “I can’t stay on my feet for too long or it aches.”
Georgia’s eyes widened. She didn’t even know how to respond. Instead she called for a taxi, and they rode back to her apartment in relative silence. Once they stepped out of the cab, she could tell that Misty was in a state of awe. She looked up at the tall building Georgia called home as though they were about to step into a lush European castle. They walked through the nicely appointed lobby with Misty seeming unsure quite where to look. The marble floors? The shining brass elevator doors? The giant floral arrangement at the front desk?
“I don’t think I’ve ever been anyplace this nice before,” Misty said as they entered Georgia’s apartment. Her gaze ran over the pieces of art on the walls and the entire wall of windows on the one side that overlooked the Chicago cityscape. “I’m afraid to touch anything,” she said, clutching anxiously at her backpack.
“There’s nothing to worry about. Just put down your things and relax.” Georgia took her duffel bag and set it in the living room by the couch. “Unfortunately I don’t have a guest room. I’ve never actually had a guest, so we’ll have to make up the sofa bed for you.”
“Okay. It’s nice of you to let me stay with you at all. Hopefully it doesn’t aggravate my back condition.”
“What happened to your back?”
Misty sighed. “Honey, after the life I’ve lived, there’s something wrong with every part of me. You don’t want to hear my sob stories. You’ve got plenty of your own, thanks to me, I’m sure.”
“No, really,” Georgia pressed. It was hard not knowing anything about her mother aside from what was in her file. “What happened?”
She put her backpack on the ground and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. The movement pushed up the sleeves of her shirt, exposing a sad collage of scars across her pale skin. “About ten years ago my dealer had his thugs come for me because I owed him money. They pushed me down the stairs at my apartment complex. They had to put some screws and pins in my spine, so I have trouble sleeping sometimes.”
“That’s terrible.”
Misty just shrugged it away. “Like I said, you don’t want to hear about my life. I’m sure there’s a part of you that hates me, and I don’t blame you for that. But being taken away from me was probably the best thing that ever happened to you. I’m pretty sure that anyone else would’ve been a better parent than I was. That’s why I never…” She hesitated, her face flushing red with emotion. “That’s why I never tried to get you back. I thought you were better off without me. And I was right. Just look at you now. You’d be a mess like me if I’d fought to get you back. That’s why I let all of you go.”
Georgia swallowed hard. She had grown up thinking her mother had never cared for her. From the sound of it, the opposite was true. Her mother had stayed out of her life because she cared. Part of what she’d said confused her, though. “What do you mean, all of us?”
Misty’s gaze dropped to the floor. “You have a younger brother and a sister, Georgia. I should’ve told you that before.”
Georgia was nearly blown off her feet. A brother and a sister? All this time she’d thought she was alone in the world, and now she found out she had siblings she never knew about? “Where? Tell me about them.”
“There’s not much I can tell you. I’m sorry. I was so drug addicted by then that they took the babies from me right after each of them was born. They were both adopted, so I don’t know their names or where they ended up. I might have been messed up, but by then I knew giving up my rights would allow them to have a real family and not end up in the foster system like you. I should’ve done the same for you, but they told me it was harder to place an older child. By then you were five or six. I’ve got a lot of sins to pay for,” Misty said.
Georgia’s knees grew weak beneath her, and she slipped down into the nearby armchair before she fell. She’d known she would learn a lot about her mother and her early years with her, but somehow she hadn’t anticipated this.
“I’m sorry for that, Peaches. I’m sorry for all of this. That’s why I wanted to come here, to see you. To tell you how bad I feel about everything that happened in your life. It’s a part of my recovery, one step at a time. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I needed to come anyway.”
“I think we’ve got a lot of talking to do while you’re here,” Georgia managed.
“That we do.” Turning away, Misty patted the cushions of the couch. “I think this will be comfortable enough. It’s a really nice couch. It’s got to be better than the cot at the shelter.”
Georgia felt a pang of guilt for putting her mother on the couch. She got to sleep in a nice bed every night; she should let her mother do it while she was here. “You know what, Mom? Why don’t you take my bed upstairs? It’s a nice memory foam bed, so you’ll be comfortable. I can sleep down here.”
“Oh no,” Misty argued. “I didn’t tell you all that t
o make you feel bad.”
“Really. It’s not a problem. Let’s take your things upstairs and I can show you around.”
Her mother followed her upstairs to the loft bedroom that overlooked the living room. The large bed took up the center of the space with a luxurious en suite bath. Georgia set her bag down on the foot of the bed. “Hopefully you’ll be comfortable up here.”
Misty looked around and slipped out of her sweater. That exposed even more scars, blended in with a swirl of tattoos that disappeared beneath her short-sleeved shirt. “They’re track marks,” she said, noticing Georgia looking. “Well, not all of them. Some of them are leftover from my cutting phase.”
Georgia knew her mother had a heroin problem, but she hadn’t heard about the cutting. “You cut yourself?”
She nodded. “Yes. That was from my younger years. I was a messed-up kid. Cutting myself made me feel better. It was my only release. At least until I found drugs and sex.” She shook her head and ran her palms over her bare arms. “I should’ve stuck with the cutting. I didn’t hurt anyone but myself.”
Georgia couldn’t help giving her mother another hug. She was the parent, the one who should be comforting her daughter, but in reality, Misty was just a lost child. Georgia wasn’t sure she wanted to know about what set her down this path of self-destruction, but she knew she wanted to help her make a different life for herself.
“You’re turning things around,” she said. “You’ve got plenty of time to live a different life.”
“Do you think so?” Misty asked. Her gray eyes, exactly like Georgia’s, were red and brimming with tears.
“I know so.”
NINE
“The results are back.”
Carson had opened the front door of his loft expecting to see Georgia, but instead he found Graham and Brooks standing there. Graham was holding a large envelope. All thoughts of his dinner plans with her evaporated when he realized what it was. He had been awaiting and dreading this moment all week.
“Have you looked at the results yet?”
“No,” Graham said. “I practiced an amazing amount of restraint because I thought it was best that we all look at it together.”
“With alcohol,” Brooks added, holding up an expensive bottle of tequila in one hand and a bag of limes in the other.
“That’s probably wise,” Carson noted.
Stepping back, he let his brothers in. He expected them to want to rush to the results, considering how hard they’d worked to uncover the truth and how long they’d waited. But they took their time. Graham poured shots while Brooks sliced up a few limes. Carson just watched anxiously, tapping his fingers on the quartz countertops while he waited.
There was something final about reading the lab report, like the end of an era. For their whole lives, their father had been a mystery to them. Carson was certain that each of them had entertained private fantasies about what their father was really like and what he would say to them if they ever came face-to-face. It was possible that this envelope could shatter those fantasies once and for all. If the test results came back positive, the mystery was over and they were left with the cold, hard reality of Sutton Winchester being their father.
If the results were negative, they had to start back at square one. This time with no leads to follow. The only evidence they’d found pointed to Sutton. If he wasn’t the answer, Carson was at a loss for where to look next.
As he looked down at the envelope, their mother’s words echoed through his mind. You’re better off without your father in your life, she’d said. What if she was right? This was their last chance to change their minds.
“Are you guys sure you want to do this?” Carson asked.
“Are you serious?” Graham asked.
“Yes, I’m serious.” Carson picked up the envelope and held it up. “Once we open this thing, there’s no going back. Mom kept our father out of our lives for a reason. Maybe it was the right decision.”
“Maybe, but we’ve come too far to turn back now,” Brooks argued. “Besides, Sutton will have the results, too. It’s too late to change our minds. We’re going to find out one way or another.”
“You’re right,” Carson admitted and tossed the envelope back onto the counter. And it was true. They were past the point of no return.
Graham handed a shot out to each of them. “Let’s do one to take the edge off before we open the results. What shall we drink to?”
“The truth,” Carson offered. Good or bad, at least they’d finally have that.
“The truth,” his brothers repeated in unison. Together they all drank their shots of smooth tequila, not even needing the limes when they were through. They sat their shot glasses down and one by one, their gazes returned to the unopened envelope.
“Hurry up and open it,” Brooks said at last. “The suspense is killing me.”
“Who wants to read it aloud?” Graham asked as he slid his finger beneath the seal and opened the envelope.
“You do it,” Carson said. “You’re the one who made this happen.”
Graham pulled out two sheets of paper, one with Carson’s results and one with the twins’ results. “Okay. Let’s start with Carson.” His gaze danced back and forth across the paper for a moment, making Carson’s stomach tangle into knots as he waited. Not even the tequila could tame it.
“The alleged father, Sutton Winchester, cannot be excluded as the biological father of the child, Carson Newport, since they share genetic markers. Using the above systems, the probability of paternity is 99.99%, as compared to an untested, unrelated man of the Caucasian population.”
“We were right,” Brooks said.
Carson didn’t know how to react to the news. He’d braced himself for this moment, part of him hoping Sutton wasn’t his father and part of him hoping he was, just so he’d have the answer at last. Well, now he had it. He was that old bastard’s son. He’d known in his heart that he was, but having the official confirmation just sealed it in his mind.
The man he’d been looking for his whole life, the one his mother warned him about, had been right under his nose the whole time. Sutton had always treated him like a nuisance. The Newport Corporation and its owners were just an annoying fly buzzing around the King of Chicago’s crown. He’d never once treated them like anything else, certainly not like his own children. It was one thing not to be able to publicly acknowledge your illegitimate sons, but to deliberately handle them like pebbles in his shoe their whole lives…
“Carson, are you okay?” Brooks asked.
He realized that he’d been holding his breath and let it out in one big burst. “Yes.” He reached for the tequila bottle and did another shot without them. “Let’s read yours and get this over with.”
Graham shuffled the papers in his hands until he could read the second report. “The alleged father, Sutton Winchester, cannot be excluded or confirmed as the biological father of the children, Graham and Brooks Newport. The children’s samples were tainted or mishandled, containing foreign contaminants, and must be recollected and retested for final results.”
“Mishandled?” Brooks exclaimed. “Are you kidding me? After all this?” Now it was his turn to reach for the bottle and take a shot.
Graham just shook his head. “I guess we need to go back tomorrow and get swabbed again.”
“And while we wait for those results, we can plan how we want to move forward,” Carson said, trying to distract his brothers from their disappointment. “We know at the very least that I’m his son, so we can do some contingency planning.”
“No,” Brooks says. “We can’t wait. We need to jump on these results, especially if he’s as sick as Georgia makes him sound. Sutton has gone long enough without receiving his comeuppance. He needs to pay for abandoning us. He needs to pay for using and tossing our mother
aside. He may be our father, but this is war. It’s best to attack while the opposing side isn’t expecting it.”
Graham gave a curt nod in agreement, making Carson’s stomach start to ache again. “Let’s set up a meeting with the Winchesters for tomorrow.”
* * *
Georgia was surprised to brush past the Newport twins as they got off the elevator in Carson’s building and she was getting on. They gave her a polite wave but didn’t stop to say hello. They both had a cold, calculating look in their eyes that worried her. What had happened? She got the feeling her date with Carson would be different from what they’d planned.
She waited patiently after ringing the doorbell. When Carson finally answered, the expression on his face worried her even more than his brothers’ scheming scowls. He looked heartbroken. His mouth was drawn down into an uncharacteristic frown and his face was flushed. His eyes looked a little red and his brow was furrowed in thought.
“Hey, Georgia,” he said in a flat tone. “I have to apologize in advance. I’m not going to be very good company tonight. Do you mind if we don’t go out?”
“We can stay in,” Georgia said and pushed past him into his apartment. She got the feeling he wanted to turn her away, and she wouldn’t let him. He needed someone to talk to, and she was going to be the one whether he liked it or not.
She set her purse down on the counter beside a half-empty bottle of tequila and three shot glasses. That explained the flushed face and red eyes. Then her gaze ran across the paperwork and the lab logo across the top. He’d gotten the results of the paternity test.
Georgia didn’t need to read the papers. She could tell by the look on Carson’s face that Sutton was the father he’d never wanted. Turning to face him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up into his green eyes. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Eventually. I just have to forget about everything I know to be true and adjust to a world where a man like Sutton could produce a man like me.”
Saying Yes to the Boss (Dynasties: The Newports) Page 10