Holy hell.My grandmother who’d ignored me practically all my life was sticking up for me. She was okay with all of this. How?
“This has gone on long enough. I will not stand by and let anyone make a mockery or degrade my family. Skye, you need to know the truth,” Grandma said, her tone firm.
“Grandma!” Shay snapped, anger radiating off him.
“Shay,” Dad called. “It’s time, son.”
Confused, I looked at these three people with pleading eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Skye,” Grandma neared me, her voice a softness I’d never heard before. “When Julie came into Logan’s life, I hated that she reminded me of my mistakes. Difference was, where my husband shunned me, Logan accepted Julie wholeheartedly and gave her a beautiful life. I’m sorry, child, for allowing that hate to filter down into the beautiful girl you’d become. Instead of harnessing a relationship with you, I created a barrier, one I regret from the bottom of my heart.”
Her words were sweet, but I couldn’t understand where it was leading. “What mistakes, Grandma?” I asked the question sitting at the forefront to my confusion.”
“Aunt Katie is not Logan’s sister. I had an affair that resulted in a child and your grandfather, when he found out, hated me. He disowned me and Katie, leaving Logan to support us.”
My eyes shifted to Aunt Katie who’d driven in while Ryleigh ranted, her smile was filled with its usual sweetness. I looked at Grandma again.
“Then Julie came into our lives and disrupted that support by marrying Logan and I hated her.”
“Why?” Emotion gagged me for a moment, remembering my mother and what she must’ve endured.
“Because, child, she was pregnant with you. Because you’re not Logan’s child. You’re not Shay’s sister.”
For one stupid moment I thought I’d heard wrong. All the shocked murmurs around me, though, convinced me otherwise.I’m not Dad’s daughter?“What?” It came out on a whispered shout.
“You’re not my child, Angel,” Dad said. “But you’ve always been my daughter. It never mattered to me.”
Shock, mortification, anger, happiness, sadness, disbelief, they all played with my expressions and then my sudden laugh startled me. “You’re not serious,” I choked out.
“He is, baby?”
I spun around to look at Shay. “You knew?” I gasped. “All this time, you knew?”
“Blue.” He took a step forward and I stepped back, shaking my head. His features tensed. “Don’t do this, baby? I made a promise to Mom—”
“All this time you knew.” My laugh was caustic. I turned around to flee, Dad’s hands, however, caged me in a hold I couldn’t get out of. When I stopped struggling, he tilted my chin to look at him. “What is the one thing Shay never does, Angel?” I blinked. “The one thing he absolutely would never do?”
“Break a promise,” I whispered.
He nodded. “Read this.” He slipped a note into my hand. Confused. I searched his face for clues. “Read it, Angel.”
I stood there amid family, friends and one enemy, reading a note from my mom to Shay. A letter she’d written days before she passed. I had to blink several times to clear the tears from my lashes. When I looked up, Dad’s eyes glazed over.
“He kept his promise for twenty-four years, Skye. He promised your mom that no one would know you’re not my daughter. Even through his love for you, he stuck to his promise. I found that letter three days before he announced his marriage to Ryleigh and I only gave it to him a week before he came to Blue Haven. Still, he didn’t want to break it.”
Swiping the tears from my eyes, I turned to face Shay. “You wouldn’t have broken it, would you?”
“No, baby.” He cupped my cheeks. “I needed you to come back to me on your own, not because you learned the truth.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m nothing without you, Blue. I love you for you. Promise or not.” He kissed me softly. “I was twelve when you crawled into my life, stealing my heart. What I didn’t know then, was that you’d keep it forever. As long as you’re beside me, I’ll share your heartbeat until I can’t.” Another kiss. “Do you love me any less now that you know the truth?”
“I love you even more, if its possible.” Laughter bubbled up in my throat. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from him. He’d given me everything I could’ve hoped for.
“Then marry me,” he said, withdrawing a ring. Shocked, I stared for a blind second and his brow shot up.
“Yes,” I nodded like a bobble doll, too overcome with emotion. Loud applause and wolf whistles surrounded us. After he slipped the ring on my finger and kissed me, I turned to a gawking Ryleigh. “I never meant to hurt you and its why I walked away. But if you can’t find it in your heart to make peace with your loss, at least do it for him.” I gestured to Kyle, their child, Brax carried on his shoulders. “I did it for mine and I’d do it again.” I smiled then let all my friends lead me away to take ownership of a day I’d longed for since I was born.
