Page 71 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

“Darned tootin’,” John said.

Her mother hooked an arm around his waist. “I’m not planning on letting this man go again.”

“Best words ever spoken,” John said, kissing her once more.

“How do you think Marisa will feel about all of this?” Amber asked.

“I have a feeling she already suspects. She knows that I like to help you out and that Gloria was on the cruise with me.”

“Yeah, about that?” Amber turned to her mother, who blushed. “Did you know he was going on the cruise?”

She nodded and John pulled her closer, smiling.

“Wait a minute. On the cruise did you two pick up where you left off twenty-five years ago?” Amber asked, recalling how happy her mom had looked getting off the plane.

“Amber, honey, you don’t need to know everything.”

She had gone for the man she wanted. Amber would never have believed her mom had it in her.

“Marisa and her husband are coming for supper,” Gloria blurted. She checked the clock on the microwave. “In five minutes. Is that okay?”

Before Amber could answer, the doorbell chimed and her mother scurried off, John following. “They’re early,” he stated.

Her half sister and half brother-in-law.

The front door shut and Amber could hear Marisa say, “So are you two finally together now? ‘Cause quite frankly, it’s about time.”

Amber watched her parents return to the room, John’s arm slung around Gloria. They were smiling and in love. The parents every child hoped for, but often didn’t get.

And somehow, she had finally gotten them.

“It’s about time they let us in on the fact that we’re half siblings, huh?” Marisa said, giving Amber a smile. She had her straight hair pulled up into a loose bun and was towing her husband, Justin Reiter, into the room. As usual, Marisa was effortlessly elegant in a linen pantsuit and looking entirely unfazed by the latest news.

“I always knew,” Justin stated, arms crossed.

“You did not,” Marisa said, giving him a light tap on the chest.

Amber watched the family interact.Family. She caught her mother’s eye. It had been just the two of them for so long that to suddenly have this bounty of people in her life felt overwhelming and strangely sorrowful. She wouldn’t have her mom--her first best friend--to herself any longer. Her mother was going to have all these other people to turn to, as well. John to confide in. Possibly one day soon, stepchildren with babies to dote over. A new daughter to get to know.

Amber could see herself becoming second fiddle.

The conversation buzzed around her, building and building. The easy banter, the smiles.

Something wasn’t right.

It was the timing of it all. Sure, it was easy for John to say that he hadn’t been ready to claim Amber earlier. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was easily accepting his role now that he’d seen how Blueberry Springs had taken Delia in as one of their own. There had been no shaming of Gloria for her actions.

“How could a man like you not figure out who I was?” Amber asked her father. “Why didn’t you step up? Why didn’t you force the issue?”

“I didn’t let him,” Gloria said, her voice deathly quiet. “He tried to talk to me, to approach the subject, and I refused.”

“That is the worst excuse I have ever heard for someone not pushing an issue as important as being a parent.”

“You’re right,” John said simply, taking Amber off guard.

“We were never good enough for you,” she pressed. “Why are we now?”

She knew she wasn’t being particularly fair but she needed him to feel remorse for the time they’d lost as a family. She wanted him to know that the years of not having a father couldn’t be erased with a few smiles and an “I’m here now.” She feared that if she allowed him to act as though it was all good and wonderful that it would be like Russell all over again. She’d ignore her own feelings and allow his desires to take precedence over her own. If boundaries were going to be set, they needed to be set now.

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