Page 71 of Take Me Slowly: part 2
"I am happy," I said. "I'm happy in Aurora Hollow. I'm happy now I know the truth."
I'd need to take time to process everything. I'd have to give myself some grace. When I arrived here barely an hour ago, I hadn't expected to hear I'd been kidnapped as a newborn.
Now I knew it, it made a lot of sense. Why I had the feelings and memories I had. Why I appeared in those photographs from school, but wasn't related to Gavin.
"They never found Susan Clarke?" I asked. That woman had a lot to answer for. She'd disrupted two families and a wholetown. So many people. My life. My mother's life. Gavin and Josiah. She left so much pain behind.
"They found her a year or so ago," Felicity said. "Right after she passed away. She'd taken on another identity. They had to do DNA to identify her." She waved a hand vaguely.
"I can't say I feel too bad about it." Her expression was closer to savage delight than it was to regret. That was understandable. She had no reason to have sympathy for the woman who stole her baby.
"I wonder if Gavin knows," I said thoughtfully.
"Doubt it," Riley said. "No one would have told him. It would have brought it all back."
"Is that what it'd do?" I asked thoughtfully. "Maybe he could use some closure as well." After everything, he deserved some peace.
"That leaves one question unanswered," Brooks said thoughtfully. His blue eyes shone with mischief.
I flipped him off.
He grinned unapologetically. "I stand by what I said."
"It's not like we really want to know," Connor said slowly.
"Yes, you do." Brooks was grinning now.
"The asshole is wondering why Susan Clarke took me and not another baby." I sneered at him in a playful, sisterly way. "It's because I was cute."
"Interesting theory," Brooks teased.
"I'll have you know she was the most beautiful baby ever born," my mother said. "That's why Susan took her. And for your information, she's grown up to be a beautiful young woman who I'm very proud of." She gave me a soft smile. "Now the air is clear, maybe we can get to know each other better and make amends for a difficult past."
"I'd like that." I gave her a squeeze. "While we're being nice to each other, I should tell you all of these guys are my boyfriends."
"I figured," she said, to my surprise. "What? I've seen the way they've looked at you since you all walked through the door. And I've seen that expression on Brooks' face since you first met. You two tease each other mercilessly, but you've always cared about each other."
I glanced over at him. "He's all right." I raised my hands in front of my face to block the cushion he snagged off the couch to toss at me. It hit my fingers and fell to the ground with a plop. Right before I snatched it and threw it back at him. He caught it and placed it back.
"You aren't bothered by the fact he's my stepbrother?" I asked.
"Would it change anything if I was?" She arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.
I exchanged glances with Brooks. "Probably not," I agreed. "It's a relief to confirm I'm not related to any of them by blood. I'm not, right?" I swung my face back toward my mother.
"Absolutely not," she said, grimacing. "You've been reading too many taboo romance books."
"Is that really possible though?" Riley cocked his head. "I mean, it is taboo romance."
She stared at him for a moment before pushing herself to her feet. "I really should be going. It was lovely to meet all of you."
"Maybe you could come up to Aurora Hollow for Christmas," I said. "We'd love to have you and Lionel."
"I'd like that," she said. "Now everything is out in the open, I'd like to see the place. It was important to you, so it's important to me."
"It's important to me now," I said. "I think you might like it up there. There's something special about the town."
When they weren't treating Josiah like garbage that was. A lot of people owed him an apology for that. I was going to seehe got it. They better be good to him or I might start stabbing eyeballs with toothpicks after all.
