Page 70 of You're My Person - For Always

There was nothing she could say to soften the truth.

Placing her hand on his arm, she waited until he looked toward her and offered him her drawing. "This is what Mom looked like the day before we lost her. Dad had brought roses home to give to her, and this is what she looked like after he was done kissing her. It's what I see every time I think of her because she was at her happiest."

The paper shook in his hand. He exhaled through pursed lips, staring at the drawing.

She whispered, "You can have that."

Stepping away, she gave him privacy so he could see his sister in a way he hadn't before—a grown woman with a family and a husband who had loved her.

Chapter Thirty Two

Kenna

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The food Zane had brought over from the bar sat uneaten on the table. Kenna took her spot between River and Kingsley. Big John sat across from her. At times, she'd catch him staring at her or River, probably trying to see something in them that would make the news easier to accept that he was an uncle to two grown women.

Zane opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. As he glanced at one paper, he passed it to River, who passed it to Kenna. She, in turn, gave it to Kingsley, who handed it to Big John.

The receipt for cremating her mom and the deed to the spot on the memorial wall at the cemetery were the first things they dealt with.

"There's a death certificate with her legal name." Zane thumbed through more papers. "These look like pages out of an accountant's book. Possibly a money trail."

"Would he even have money?" asked River.

"Considering what he did for a living, I imagine he had a lot of money. But we have no record of anything yet. It all could've disappeared." Zane passed around a piece of paper. "Here's your father's birth certificate—the real one."

"Where did the name Pruitt come from?" Kenna gave Kingsley the evidence.

"I imagine it's an alias." Zane frowned, reading a paper. "You were both born at home. A home birth."

"There's the loophole." Kingsley rubbed his chin. "No hospital. No government involvement. He gave you names that weren't linked to either your mom or dad."

"Is that even legal?" asked River.

"No," answered Zane, Kingsley, and Big John together.

Kingsley rubbed her back. "Legal or not, you are officially Kenna Jade Pruitt. For now."

"It looks like everything else backs up their existence. School records. Immunization records. Dental records." Zane set a stack of papers to the side and frowned at the next paper as he read it.

Kenna inhaled deeply. It was hard not to get overwhelmed.

She struggled to understand the difference between the fictional life that was created for her and the reality that she knew. No amount of paperwork could tell her that her memories were a figment of her imagination.

"Sweetheart?" Zane palmed River's nape. "Can you handle a bit more?"

Her sister nodded.

Zane looked at Kenna. "Are you good? There's more."

"I want to hear it." She leaned forward.

"It's a letter from Burt Shay to both of you."

"Read it,"said River and Kenna together.

Zane read.

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