“Do you think I could meet her?” Sure, I’d had her for a waitress and seen a glimpse of her at the party, but I hadn’t known who she was at the time. Now that I knew, I wanted to meet my half-sister.
“I don’t see why not,” Calum said. “I’ll set something up,” he added as headlights lit up the bench I was sitting on. I turned my head, seeing Dare step out of his rental.
“Okay,” I said. “And…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Dare sooner. Don’t be angry at him…I asked him to keep it a secret.”
“Why?”
“I guess I was afraid you’d be angry, and I know Dad will be when I tell him…”
“Fuck what Dad has to say about this,” Calum said darkly. “Just do what makes you happy, Connor.”
“I will, I am,” I told him, drawing in a breath. “We were planning on telling you soon, but…well. You’ve had a lot going on.” That hadn’t changed, if anything, my brother’s plate was more loaded than ever.
Harper called out in the background, asking how long Calum would be. “Look, we’re about to watch a movie…I promise I’m okay. I’m just angry, and the best solution I have for that is to focus on the good. Luckily, that just got a hell of a lot easier for me to do with these two in my life.”
“Glad to hear that. I love you, Cal. See you Monday,” I said before disconnecting.
Dare joined me, silently dropping to sit beside me on the bench. He wrapped his arm around me, drawing me close to his side, and pressed a kiss to my forehead. He didn’t speak, didn’t try to get me to open up about the impromptu family meeting and what it had meant, and yet I found I wanted to tell him all about it.
“The waitress…Raina…she’s my half-sister,” I finally said, tasting the truth on my tongue for the first time. Dare said nothing, he just drew me closer as I continued speaking, “She’s biologically my father’s. She’s…Calum’s twin sister. Technically, she’s more related to Cal than I am.” The tears now came. It felt silly, crying over such a ridiculous thought, but somehow…this made me feel on the outskirts of my family. A stranger among them.
“Wait, what?” Dare frowned, looking for me for clarification. “They’re twins?”
“Yes.” I nodded in affirmation.
“How…what?” Dare frowned, trying to come to grips with what I was telling him.
“Mom isn’t biologically Calum’s mother. The birth mother showed up one night with Calum and said she couldn’t take care of him,” I said, blinking away tears that obscured my view of the water.
Dare let out a low whistle. “That’s crazy. I take it that’s why Cal was so pissed off?”
“Yeah. He’s livid, but my parents said they didn’t know about Raina, that if they had…they would have taken her too.”
“I believe that,” Dare said, and I nodded in agreement. I believed it too, I had seen the raw truth of it in their eyes. They were heartbroken, that was plain to see. But whyhadthey lied about it?
Try as I might, I couldn’t wrap my head around it, and I knew I wouldn’t until they answered more of my questions—and Calum’s.
“I’m tired,” I confessed, feeling it in the marrow of my bones.
“Let’s go then,” Dare said, standing and holding out his hand to me. I took it, grasping it as I stood. We held hands as we walked to his car, me trapped in my head and him letting me be there.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
Dare
The next morning,I awoke in the guest room at Frank’s house. Connor was curled up beside me, her arm draped across my chest and her head resting on my shoulder instead of the pillow. My arm was asleep, but I didn’t want to move.
After getting back to Mahone Bay, we pretty much headed straight upstairs to bed. Connor was drained from all the drama, though I know she had trouble shutting her mind off to fall asleep.
She’d spent the greater part of the evening tossing and turning, while I’d spent it holding her, staring at the blue flower wallpaper on the wall, thinking about how crazy things had gotten for both her and Calum, but especially Calum.
Frank’s death had a domino effect that had unleashed a chain of events that blew the lid off almost three decades of old secrets.
These secrets were always here, waiting to be discovered…but it took coming home for everything to boil over at Cal’s feet. I felt bad for him, and for the first time ever I was thankful my family wasn’t so huge. It was just my mom and me, with no secrets between us.
“Good morning,” Connor whispered, drawing my attention away from the blue petals. She was peering up at me, her emerald eyes sparkling.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I kissed her nose, and she smiled wider.
