Page 134 of Just (Fake) Married
“Don’t,” Monica whispered to Gordon. “Don’t say it.”
He swallowed, but shook his head. “Sunshine Calloway.”
“What?” Amity, Bliss and I all cried.
Mom buried her head in her hands and I slipped down to the floor in front of her and pulled her hands away.
“What is he talking about, Mom?” I asked her.
Mom shook her head and blinked up at the ceiling.
“Leroy McGraw, what an asshole you were.” She laughed a bitter, angry laugh and wiped her eyes. “A prime grade A asshole.”
“Mom, is this true? Is Sunshine actually his daughter?” Bliss asked.
Mom stood up. Rage drying all her tears away.
“You all know part of the story. Yes, Leroy broke up with me because his parents didn’t approve of us. Sasha came, and well, I’m sorry to say boys, but I think you know, your parents’ marriage was arranged. For years your father was miserable. But he had two sons and he thought…well, he was considering a divorce. I was still single at the time. Never really stopped loving the jerk, I suppose,” she swallowed, shook her head.
“Anyway, he started coming around again. He was so lonely, and I missed him. He was an asshole and married, but Imissedhim. The man I knew. And I missed what we had together. What I did was wrong and I regret it more than I can say, but we had an affair. It didn’t last long. The guilt was…too much for me.” She shook her head, every bit of her the picture of regret. “Except, I was pregnant.”
Amity, Bliss and I could not contain our gasps. “Mom!”
“Judge me all you want,” she said, hard and cold.
“We don’t judge you,” I said. I looked over at Ethan, who shook his head, too. “None of us judge you. None of us were in your shoes. None of us knew what he was like.”
Mom’s shoulders relaxed from her ears.
“We agreed to meet, out at our secret spot. I was going to tell him about the baby. I figured he would file for divorceimmediately. Except when I got to our spot…I could see it in his face. He told me Sasha was pregnant. That would have been with Seth. He was sorry, but he couldn’t divorce her now. Couldn’t walk away from his responsibility. I never told him I was pregnant. I didn’t see the point. And that…was the end of us. Two months later your dad came driving into town with that oil company. He took one look at me and fell head over heels in love. But, of course I had to tell him the truth.”
“So Dad knew you were pregnant when he married you?”
She smiled sadly. “He did. He was a wonderfully caring man. He only asked that I raise Sunshine as his and I was happy to agree. I think I fell in love with your father, girls, in that very minute. If Leroy suspected anything, he never said. But a couple of months ago, he asked me to come see him here at the lodge. He was so fragile. I knew, or thought I knew, that whatever I told him, he was taking to his grave. He asked if Sunshine was his, said she always reminded him of his mother. I told him she was.”
My dad worked out math problems with Sunshine. My dad bought her every book she ever wanted. My dad used to solve the crossword puzzle in the back of the local paper with her every Sunday.
And she wasn’t his biological kid.
Suddenly, I missed my dad all over again.
“And now…what?” Carter asked, white lipped and angry. “What the hell is the point of telling us any of this?”
“He said the ranch is in trouble,” I piped up. “Financially, that’s what he said, right Mr. Prescott?”
“It’s overextended,” Gordon said. “Yes.”
“That’s why he’s telling us this,” I figured. “He wants Sunshine to come home and do her money magic.”
My sister could summon money from the sky. She was a financial wizard working at one of the largest brokerage firmsin New York City. She’d made millions for her clients over the years.
“We can’t tell her this over the phone,” I said. “She needs to hear the truth face to face.” I looked at Ethan and he shook his head.
“No,” he said, pointing his finger at me. “No, we have a honeymoon to leave for, in,” he checked his watch. “Seven minutes. Someone else can do this.”
“Not me,” Bliss said. “She scares the shit out of me.”
“Sunshine left for school when I was like, what eleven?” Amity said. “You think she wants to hear this from me?”
