Page 61 of Hartley

Sheldon reached for it then sat on the floor in front of us. He brought his legs under him, his dark gray athletic shorts and white T-shirt said he was working out when Forest contacted him. Sheldon carefully tore open the envelope, withdrawing a single sheet of paper that he quickly read over. “You’re related to Lane.” His eyes that sometimes were more gray than blue were darker tonight in the low light of the living room. Sympathy swam in them, but I didn’t want that.

“No,” I told him firmly. “You’re not going to feel sorry for us. Pop obviously cared about Lane’s mother or maybe he just slept with her once, who the hell knows.” I really didn’t want to think about what my grandfather did back then. The result was still the same. Lane was related to us. “For?”

“I’m not surprised. After Lane looked at the photos and the resemblance became clear, I had a gut feeling it was true. I just… I didn’t want to believe Pop would sleep with a married woman, a mafia wife.”

“She wasn’t happy,” Sheldon added softly. “We heard that much from Lane. It’s no wonder she stepped away from her husband to seek out someone who was caring and didn’t hurt her with his words or hands. She might not have told him who she really was.”

“Pop would have been kind to her.”

“He was lonely,” I whispered. “I hope she was good to him. He deserved more than a fling.”

“Pop knew he had a child. There’s no other way to explain the debt he incurred. He would have wanted to do the right thing and support his child.”

“Except Edison Everhart wouldn’t have let him have contact, which explains why Lane didn’t know and why you didn’t either,” Sheldon said. “It’s the best guess. We’ll never know for certain unless we ask Edison. Even then, would youtrust anything that came from his mouth? I sure as hell wouldn’t.”

“No.” I sighed, feeling sad and yet a bit of a relief now that we knew. “We should tell Lane.”

“Raiden was outside his room last I checked.”

“Jordan said no less than three guards with us.”

Sheldon nodded and stood. “With Rory and me plus Raiden, we’re good.”

I followed him and stood as well. My joints were stiff, as if I was much older than I really was. Maybe that was what happened when you felt like you aged ten years in the span of a week. I guessed it was my turn for my life to be turned upside down. There were worse things that could have happened. Finding out I had another relative wasn’t so bad, except the part where he was a family member of Jordan’s rival.

We drove down the block to the building I called home and took the elevator up to where Lane was staying. Raiden stood outside the door, stoic as ever.

“You know,” he said. It was a statement, not a question.

I nodded. “Why are you down here anyway? If Reghan’s with Jordan, shouldn’t you be off the clock?”

“I wanted to put in some extra hours.” He put in those hours daily. Something else was going on.

“Uh huh. Sure, you did. I have three guards. We’d like to see him.” Jordan knew we’d come here and wanted one of his top men with us.

Raiden nodded and knocked on the door.

Lane opened it moments later. His gaze bounced from Sheldon to Forest to me. “You know.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Can we come in?”

He held the door wider and walked to the couch where hesat and muted the TV. “I thought you would have been here sooner. Thanks for keeping me in suspense.”

“That wasn’t my intention. I couldn’t open it.”

“I get it. I’m not the family member of your dreams.” He sounded so dejected. He knew the results without asking.

Taking the seat next to him, I put my hand on his arm. “It’s not that. It’s wrapping my head around what my grandfather was doing and trying to piece together the events. But I don’t regret knowing. We’re family now. You’re a Weathers.” I nodded once, solidifying that fact. He was one of us, no longer an Everhart.

“Yeah?”

“Yup. Get used to us. Just remember, Forest is the jittery one and I’m the talented one.”

“Oh, whatever,” Forest said as he shoved my head and took a seat on my other side. “I’m the attractive brother. Hart has to make his clothes nice to take away from his… problem areas.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Takes one to know one.”

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