Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“You always were. You knew that.”
“Right, but Mom always said her mother said they’d never accept us. So we never reached out. We never wanted to.”
“They would have always accepted you and Lauren, Jack. Wendy was the bad seed.”
“Right. I know.”
“So you want to meet them?”
“Sure. I do want to meet them. Ruby was nice enough, so I’m sure her husband is a good man.”
“He’s the best. After all, he made Ava. I can’t wait for you to meet her too.”
“All right. Get everyone together, and just let us know where.”
“I think at your house, if you don’t mind. You and your mom will feel more comfortable on your own turf.”
“Makes sense,” Jack says. “Mom is reeling about all of this.”
“I’m sure she is. She’ll get through it, and so will you. I’ll be in touch.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Ava
Dad and I arrive, along with Brendan, at a beautiful ranch house in Barrel Oaks. Brendan knocks, and a nice-looking young man with auburn hair opens the door. I can’t help it. I gape. He does look a lot like Brendan.
“Jack,” Brendan says, shaking his hand. “I’d like you to meet your cousin Ava, my lovely fiancée, and your uncle, Ryan Steel.”
Jack nods, gesturing for us to come in. “Please.”
“Where’s your mom?” Brendan asks.
“She’s in the living room. This has all been a lot for her to process.”
“For all of us,” Brendan says.
Dad takes the lead, following Jack into the room where my aunt sits. She’s pretty, and in a way, she looks like me. No pink hair, of course. But the blue eyes—the blue eyes that I always thought came from my mother.
She rises, smiling weakly.
“Hello,” Dad says, holding out his hand. “I’m Ryan Steel.”
“I’m Lauren Wingdam.” Her hands shake as she hands Dad a paper.
He takes it. “Thank you. I’ve already seen this, as my wife is a good friend of the lab tech who ran the test. I know you’re my sister. And I… I’m just so sorry that we didn’t get to grow up together.”
A small smile tugs on Lauren’s lips. “Don’t you worry about that.”
“I do worry about it, Lauren. I’m going to talk to my brothers and my sister. We’re going to cut you in on the Steel fortune. It’s your birthright.”
“But it’s not.”
“It is as much as it is mine. We’re both illegitimate children of Brad Steel. If I deserve it, so do you.”
“I don’t think our mother saw it that way.”
“No, she probably didn’t. But Brendan tells me that you and your mother had a falling out.”
“We’ve never been close.” Lauren drops her gaze. “She never felt I was worthy. I always figured it was because I didn’t come from the one love of her life, Brad Steel. Now, it turns out that I do come from him.”
“Because you came from an artificial insemination,” Dad says. “That’s how our mother’s mind worked. I came from the sex act itself, and I grew up in Brad Steel’s house.”
“In what world does that make sense?” Lauren asks.
“In our mother’s world, unfortunately. She was a mess, Lauren, as I’m sure you know. And I, for one, am glad she’s gone—for good, this time.”
I approach from behind my father. “Hello.”
“This is my daughter, Ava.”
I hold out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you,” I say.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Ava. Did you bring your mother?”
Dad shakes his head. “Ruby wanted to come, but she and I both agreed that we didn’t want to overwhelm you, even though the two of you have already met. I have another daughter as well, Gina. She just finished her fall semester at Mesa, and she’s still there, partying before the holidays.”
Lauren simply nods.
Dad sighs. “I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through. But I have to ask…”
Lauren nods. “The thought has crossed my mind.”
“What are you two talking about?” I ask.
“Later, Ava,” Dad says.
“There is one thing we haven’t found out yet,” Ava says. “Where Daphne’s orange diamond ring came from. What the initials LW mean.”
“We may never know, sweetheart,” Dad says. “But now that Wendy is gone, things should fall back into place.”
Lauren takes a seat back on the couch.
Dad gestures to the place next to her. “May I?”
“Yes, of course.” Lauren stares at Dad as if she’s memorizing his face. “After all these years, I just can’t believe it. I have a brother. A full-blooded brother.”
“You mean you didn’t know who your father was?”
“I was told he was an illegitimate son of George Steel,” she says. “I just didn’t know that you were the son of my mother.”
“Yes,” Dad says, “we’ve kept that under wraps over the years. But I also thought my mother was dead all those years. Now that I know she was alive, the news may have spread.”
Lauren shakes her head. “It didn’t. My mother kept quiet about it. Whatever her reasons were, we will never know.”