Page 48 of The Addendum

He nodded. “I’ll investigate.” He sat back, drumming his fingers. “Did you do a search for their names together?”

“No,” I admitted. “Separately.”

“I’ll start there.”

“Okay.”

He studied me. “Do you want to call off going to the wedding? I understand if you do.”

“No, I’ll go. I can be polite. I’ll be prepared this time.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked. “If you can prove he is your dad? Confront him?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “This is all out of the blue.” I looked down at the shirt. “If I hadn’t seen that monogram, I never would have known. I would have dismissed the eye thing or the other similarities as coincidences.” I rubbed my eyes. “I almost wish I hadn’t. I hate this anger.”

“Why are you angry? Explain it to me.”

“Because he rejected my mom. Rejected me. My mom said he didn’t want kids. Had no desire for them. Yet I see him surrounded by his big family, all of them secure in their place, in his love. Yet for some reason, he chose not to love me. I felt like the kid standing outside the candy store, unable to go in and buy something. Watching everyone else.” My voice caught. “I don’t know why I wasn’t good enough.”

“There could be more to this than you know. Maybe he reached out. Maybe he couldn’t find you. Maybe he didn’t know.” Luc pointed out gently.

“That’s not what my mom said. She said he didn’t want us,” I insisted. “My mom wouldn’t lie to me.”

He stood, bent, and kissed the top of my head. “I’m not defending Richard, love, but the man you’re describing isn’t the man I know. And there are always two sides to the story. Try to remember that.”

He walked over, flipping open the lid of the pizza box. He sat down with a slice in one hand and opened his laptop with the other.

I sipped my wine, my appetite nonexistent.

The rational part of me knew he was right. However, my heart, the twisted emotions I was feeling, weren’t listening.

* * *

Heather was a beautiful bride, and Reed was so joyful, it made me smile. I covertly watched Gracie and Heather, noting how close they were and recognizing more similarities between us.

My half sisters. It was an odd thought. To discover I had a group of people that could be family was disconcerting.

Katy looked happy and relaxed, but Richard’s seeming emotion surprised me. I hadn’t figured him for a crier at weddings. He held his wife’s hand the entire ceremony and stayed close to her side once it was done.

I was tense, but I relaxed a little once Luc joined me when pictures were complete. I was grateful it wasn’t the usual sort of wedding with a dinner and long speeches. Luc sat down, kissing my cheek, trailing his fingers over my jaw. “You doing okay, love?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look beautiful. That dress is a knockout.”

His words made me smile. He always complimented me, no matter what I wore. I liked this dress, though. It was elegant and pretty. It hugged my torso, with a high neckline and sleeves that puffed at my shoulder, then came down tight on the rest of my arms with a flirty ruffle at the bottom, just under my elbow. The material was a pale gray with a French toile pattern in blue and a sexy slit on one side of the dress. I wore my hair loose and, as usual, wore minimal jewelry. A pair of simple stud earrings that belonged to my mother and a single bangle on my wrist. The high heels I wore added to my height. I’d used a bit more makeup than normal to hide the sleepless night and my inner turmoil.

I made a concerted effort to ignore the elephant in the room, yet time and again, my gaze wandered to the happy VanRyan clan. I studied each of them, noticing small similarities between them and myself. Each of them had some characteristic of their father that we seemed to share. One common theme I noticed was the cowlick we all shared. No matter how much I flat-ironed it, I was never able to get that one piece of hair as smooth as the rest. Neither, it seemed, could any of them. My gaze would often meet Richard’s, his inquiring and confused, mine angry and accusatory. I danced with Luc, picked at the food in front of me, and forced a smile to my face. I ignored them and him as best I could.

Until I couldn’t.

Heather and Reed came over and sat down, chatting with us. I kept my remarks polite and light, commenting on the sweet ceremony and how pretty Heather looked. Luc started asking Reed something when Heather smiled widely at someone behind me, shaking her head.

“Hey, Daddy. My feet are too sore to dance anymore.” She indicated the floor where her shoes lay, discarded to the side.

Richard chuckled. “No problem, my girl. I thought I would ask Ashley for a spin on the dance floor. You’ve hogged her enough, Luc.”

My shoulders tensed as everyone chuckled. Richard held out his hand, a silent challenge he expected me to back away from.