There’s only one thing that comes to my mind, and no one knows.
Xander is holding me in his arms, and I turn into him more. “I’ll tell you something no one knows.”
“No one?”
I shake my head.
“Not even Vivian?”
I smile. “Why do you mention Vivian?”
“She told me today she’s been your closest friend since you were kids.”
“Almost for as long as I can remember.”
“But she doesn’t know what you’re about to tell me?”
“No.”
“And Piper and Quinn, they don’t know, either?”
“No.”
Xander’s bright eyes scan mine, and he wraps his arms tighter around me, enfolding me in safety. So I tell him.
“When I was eighteen, and they kicked me out of the orphanage, I got a folder of information about my family.”
“They kicked you out?”
“They don’t call it that, but it’s pretty much what it is.”
Xander kisses the top of my head. “Were you scared?”
“Yeah,” I quietly admit.
He kisses me on the cheek. “Where did you go?”
“Vivian and I had plans to live together, but we couldn’t afford to rent a place, so her parents let me stay with them until we could. The deal was that as long as we were both in school, we could stay.”
“Where did you go to school?”
“I had a full ride to the University of Chicago.”
“Of course you did, smart girl.” Xander beams at me.
“So, when I got my folder, it had relatives listed.”
Xander sits up more. “They werestill alive?”
I nod.
“But they never adopted you?”
“No.”
Wrapping his legs around mine, he pretzels me into his body. “Have you ever talked to them?”
“It was my mother’s side of the family. My grandmother, uncle, and aunt are all alive.”
