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Twelve
Felicity went cold and then hot. “Excuse me?” Had her father found a girlfriend in Florida and never told her? “You must have me confused with someone else.”
Wynn’s stance went rigid. He hovered at Felicity’s elbow. His frown probably should have deterred the woman, but it didn’t.
The blonde smiled apologetically, picking at a loose spot of polish on her fingernail. “Nope. I guess this comes as a shock.”
“You’re mistaken.” Felicity’s words were formal. “My mother is dead.” It was what she had always assumed, but she had no proof.
“Sorry to burst your bubble. I’m still alive and kicking.”
“This isn’t funny,” Felicity said. She desperately wanted to leave, but the woman was insistent.
“My name is Iris Vance. I was married to your daddy, but then me and his brother—your uncle—fell in love. The three of us knew that nobody in Falcon’s Notch would approve of me switching brothers. And a little kid like you would be confused.”
“I was three,” Felicity said, her hands clenched at her sides.
Wynn put an arm around her shoulders protectively.
“Yeah, I know.” The woman’s eyes reddened. “I was a real bad mother, but I always loved you. When your daddy moved down here a few years back, me and Daniel and him got close. Not weird sex stuff. Just friends. But it helped a lot to know your daddy had forgiven me.” She paused, swallowed. “Maybe one day you can, too.”
Wynn stepped forward, his jaw set. “You’ll have to excuse us, Ms. Vance. Felicity and I have to be going.”
“Well, okay, but I—”
He cut her off with one flash of green-eyed fury. “That will be all. Goodbye.”
Felicity moved through a cloud of disbelief and pain. All these years. All these years, and her mother wasn’t dead. Her father had known. Apparently, the entire time.
In the car, Wynn turned on the AC and pointed the vents in her direction. “Breathe, Fliss. You’re going to be okay.”
She stared at him, her lips numb. “You don’t know that. I may turn into a raving lunatic. Not at all suited to caring for your daughter. Be forewarned. There’s no going back from this. You were right all along to have trust issues. Apparently, people lie. That’s what they do.” She turned her attention to the scenery flashing by. “People lie...”
Wynn let her be. Perhaps he knew intuitively that she was in no shape for a rational conversation. When they pulled up at the hotel, Felicity went inside, not even pausing to wait for Wynn.
She found Ayla and Missy in Missy’s room. Felicity picked up the little girl and snuggled her, trying to ignore the scary, empty hole in her chest. Over the years, she had imagined a thousand reasons why her mother might have abandoned her husband and child.
Never once did Felicity land on shack up with your brother-in-law. And what the hell? Her father had just let it happen?
The worst part was, she couldn’t even demand an explanation from her dad. He was dead. Gone. Where she couldn’t reach him.
Wynn gave Missy the keys to the car so she could take a break for a couple of hours. When the door closed behind her, Wynn came to Felicity and the child and put his arms around both. “Talk to me, Fliss. Don’t bottle it up.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Nothing to say. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to my room now. I’m going to shower and get ready for bed.”
He frowned. “It’s not even six o’clock.”
“And I don’t care,” she said flatly. “What time do we leave for the airport in the morning?”
“Eight.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Felicity didn’t remember much of the trip back to New York. She kept Wynn at a distance, using interactions with the baby and Missy as excuses not to talk to him.
Her brain function was a fog of white noise.
What now? Should she stay with Wynn in New York and care for Ayla? Should she return to her own apartment in Knoxville and go back to work with the airline?
