Page 58 of The Promises We Broke
"Just like maybe Gage has been thinking about you for the past eleven years," Blake added pointedly.
I felt tears prick my eyes, but I pushed past the personal implications. "Okay, now's not really the time for that. What arewe supposed to do with this information? This is... this is huge. Life-changing. We're talking about a potential sister for the boys, a daughter Jasper never knew existed."
The weight of what they'd discovered settled over our small group like a heavy blanket. We sat in silence for a moment, each of us processing the magnitude of the secret we now carried.
"Do we tell them?" Emma asked quietly, voicing what we were all thinking.
"Tell them what, exactly?" Reece countered. "That we've been playing detective with their family history? That we found Caroline and she has a daughter who might or might not be Jasper's?"
"We can't just sit on this," Delaney said, her voice filled with the same urgency I was feeling. "If there's even a chance that Caroline's daughter is Jasper's, don't they have a right to know?"
"But what if we're wrong?" Blake asked. "What if we're reading too much into timing and physical resemblance? What if Caroline's daughter has a father who's been in her life all along, and we come barging in with theories that could destroy that?"
My stomach churned. "God, why did you have to involve me in this? I already have enough complicated feelings about the Farrington family without adding family secrets to the mix."
"Because you're objective," Emma said. "You care about them, but you're not so close that you can't see the bigger picture."
"Objective?" I laughed, but it came out bitter. "I'm the least objective person at this table when it comes to that family. I'm in love with one of them, remember?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them, and suddenly four pairs of eyes were staring at me with varying degrees of surprise and satisfaction.
"Finally," Blake breathed. "You said it out loud."
Heat flooded my cheeks. "That's not... I didn't mean..."
"Yes, you did," Reece said gently. "And that's exactly why we need your input on this Caroline situation. Because you understand what it feels like to love someone from that family and have to make impossible choices about whether to fight for them or protect yourself."
I buried my face in my hands. "This is a disaster. We can't tell them about Caroline based on speculation. But we can't not tell them either. And I can't be the one to make that decision because I'm too emotionally invested in the outcome."
"So what do we do?" Delaney asked.
"We need more information," Emma said practically. "Before we say anything to anyone, we need to know for sure whether Caroline's daughter is actually Jasper's."
"How do we do that without completely invading her privacy?" I asked.
Blake pulled out her phone, scrolling through what looked like research notes. "Caroline's daughter is named Leigh. Leigh Pierce. She's a professional photographer—landscapes and candid street photography, mostly. She has a portfolio website and Instagram with some really stunning work. There are some photos of her at gallery showings and local art events around Blue Point Bay."
"Show me," I said, even though part of me didn't want to see.
Blake handed me her phone, and my breath caught. The young woman in the photo had Jasper's eyes, Trace's jawline, and something about her smile that reminded me achingly of Gage.
"Oh," I whispered.
"Yeah," Reece said quietly. "Oh."
"We have to tell them," Delaney said firmly. "Look at that face and tell me those boys don't have a right to know they might have a sister."
"But how?" Emma asked. "Hey Jasper, we've been researching your love life and we think you might have a daughter you never knew about? Hey Trace, surprise, you might have a half-sister?"
I handed the phone back to Blake, my hands trembling slightly. "This could destroy them. Or it could heal something that's been broken for decades. And we have no way of knowing which."
"What if we approached Caroline first?" Reece suggested. "Carefully. Respectfully. Just to see if she'd be open to contact from Jasper."
"That feels like we're meddling in something that's none of our business," I said, even as part of me was desperate to know the truth.
"But if we don't do anything, and Jasper spends the rest of his life not knowing he has a daughter..." Delaney's voice trailed off.
"Or Caroline spends the rest of hers thinking he never cared enough to find them," Blake added.
