Page 135 of Destiny

Lauren nods. “The thought has crossed my mind.”

“What are you two talking about?” I ask.

“Later, Ava,” Dad says.

“There is one thing we haven’t found out yet,” Ava says. “Where Daphne’s orange diamond ring came from. What the initials LW mean.”

“We may never know, sweetheart,” Dad says. “But now that Wendy is gone, things should fall back into place.”

Lauren takes a seat back on the couch.

Dad gestures to the place next to her. “May I?”

“Yes, of course.” Lauren stares at Dad as if she’s memorizing his face. “After all these years, I just can’t believe it. I have a brother. A full-blooded brother.”

“You mean you didn’t know who your father was?”

“I was told he was an illegitimate son of George Steel,” she says. “I just didn’t know thatyouwere the son of my mother.”

“Yes,” Dad says, “we’ve kept that under wraps over the years. But I also thought my mother was dead all those years. Now that I know she was alive, the news may have spread.”

Lauren shakes her head. “It didn’t. My mother kept quiet about it. Whatever her reasons were, we will never know.”

“Her reasons,” Dad says, “were probably for my protection. As far as the world knows, I’m a legitimate son of Brad and Daphne Steel. She didn’t want anything to taint my inheritance.”

“All this time,” Lauren says. “All this time she knew. She knew you and I were brother and sister. She never told either of us. Why?”

“Don’t try to make sense of it, Lauren. You won’t be able to.”

I sit next to my father in a wingback chair, and Jack and Brendan join us in chairs across from the couch.

“Would you two like some time to talk?” I ask.

“No, please stay,” Lauren says. “Seems we’re all related, one way or another.” She turns to Brendan. “I guess now that she’s dead, we’ll never know exactly what my mother hoped to gain by impregnating me with your great-uncle’s sperm.”

“No,” Brendan says. “We will never know. But at least we know a little. We know she’s the one who orchestrated the deaths of Sean Murphy and Patty Watson. She took the best friend of Brad and the best friend of Daphne away.”

“According to Brock,” I say, “the one she hurt most by taking Patty Watson was her boyfriend, Ennis Ainsley.”

Dad nods. “He was the first winemaker at Steel Vineyards. An Englishman.”

Jack widens his eyes. “An Englishman who knew about wine?”

“Yes,” Dad says. “He was the best in the business. He breathed life into Steel Vineyards, and once I took over, we went to the next level.”

“Still so many unanswered questions,” I say.

“Yes,” Lauren says. “I want you all to know that you’re welcome to look through any of my stuff. Brendan, I know you, your dad, and Ruby found that decoy refrigerator down there. Did you ever have those specimens analyzed?”

“No,” Brendan says. “There was no reason to. If they are indeed sperm samples, they would not be viable at this point. But we did find the actual samples. We decided the most ethical thing to do was to leave them there. They’re over fifty years old and probably not viable.”

Lauren nods. “I agree.”

Dad rises. “We don’t want to overwhelm you anymore today, Lauren. But we would like you to meet the family. Could you come to dinner at our house this weekend? Gina will be home from school, and Rory Pike, who’s engaged to my nephew Brock, is putting on a holiday concert at the cinema in Snow Creek. You and Jack should come.”

Lauren smiles. “I believe I would like that. But it’s a huge undertaking. You have a large family.”

“We can start with just my family. You already know Ava, Brendan, Ruby, and me. So you’d just be meeting my daughter Gina this weekend for dinner.”

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