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“Your father has another daughter. A half-daughter, a girl he kept close, but never acknowledged.”
Her mouth drops open. “Are you joking?”
“I’m not. I’ve had a dozen people looking into your father ever since we started all this, and we just found out about her recently. Ever since then, I’ve been pulling her deeper into our orbit under false pretexts, mostly just to keep her around in case I need to help her. But it turns out she can be extremely resourceful if given the opportunity.”
She pulls away from me. Her jaw works, her eyes blink rapidly, and yes, I can tell that’s shock and confusion—but no anger, no sadness. That’s good at least.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying. Do you know who I’m talking about?”
She clears her throat and nods once. “Baby. You think Baby is my half-sister.”
“I don’t think it, I know it for sure. Bella Baby was born six months after you to a woman your father began sleeping with the moment your mother got pregnant with you. He never admitted his parentage, but think about your relationship with Baby. She’s been around for a long time, hasn’t she?”
I nod slowly. “I’ve known her since I was a little girl. We went to all the same schools together.”
“Think about that. Where did Bella Baby get the money for elite private educations?”
“My father.” She whispers the words and laughs awkwardly. “This is crazy. I should be so mad at him, but I’m weirdly excited. Baby is my sister.”
“Half-sister.”
“Whatever, she’s my sister. But does she know?”
“As of two hours ago, yes, she knows.”
“She didn’t tell me.”
“I made her swear not to.”
She leans back in her seat and stares out the front window, tugging at her hair. She doesn’t speak for several seconds before laughing again, shaking her head. “Is it crazy that I feel relieved? Like, I feel horrible for my mother, and I hate my father even more, but I’m really happy it’s Baby. I love that girl.”
“She loves you too. Ah, speak of the devil.”
A car pulls into the driveway behind us. Baptist is behind the wheel and Bella Baby is in the seat beside him. She looks uncomfortable, probably nervous to meet with her father and her half-sister, especially now that everyone knows the truth about each other. Baptist parks, kills the engine, and I do the same.
I put a hand on Marie’s thigh. “Are you ready?”
“I think so. God, Baby’s my sister. This is so insane! But how is this going to help with the Crawfords? And aren’t they supposed to be here?”
“They’re on the way. Trust me.” I lean forward and kiss her softly. “You can do this, okay? Just trust me.”
“I trust you. And I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We slip from the car. Bella Baby jumps out and stands with her hands on her hips, grinning at Marie, and the two girls start laughing and hugging and Marie’s crying, and I recognize those tears. They’re not sadness, they’re not sorrow, but they’re joy and relief and excitement. They’re the insane heady excitement of finally finding your real family.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me right away,” Marie says, stepping back to grin at her sister. “Seriously, how could you keep this from me?”
“It was only a few hours, but yeah, it wasn’t easy.” She grins huge and hugs Marie again. “Now I know why you’re so hot. You’ve got great genes.”
Baptist stands by my side and gives me a sly smirk. “You look happy.”
“Shut up.”
“Come on, admit it. You’re happy.”
I laugh and shake my head. “I’ll never admit to something so crude. I’m the Ice King, remember?”
“Yeah, well, just because you feel now, doesn’t mean you’ll stop being that guy.”
We go quiet and watch the girls laugh and talk and try to come to grips with their new reality together. It’s amazing, seeing their joy so clear, and part of me wishes I could have that one day.
But I do have it. I feel that whenever I’m around Marie. Whenever she says those words, I love you, I feel it. And that doesn’t have to ever stop.
“They do look alike,” Baptist finally says. “I wonder how nobody ever noticed before.”
“Hard to imagine your childhood friend is really your half-sibling.” I squint in the distance as another car rolls over toward our group. “And now the show begins.”
Baptist walks over to the girls and quietly gets their attention. We stand as a group at the foot of the steps as a large black SUV pulls down the driveway and parks at the end of the line of cars. The doors open and William and Magnus step out, both of them looking annoyed, likely unhappy about making a second trip out here in a very short time period.
“Magnus, thank you for coming,” I say and walk over to shake his hand. He looks skeptical, but doesn’t pull away.
