AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She had to figure out how to live with that. But not today. Today all she had to do was be Adler’s friend and produce the best damned destination wedding episode that she could. And, honestly, she was happy to do that. Those things, in her wheelhouse, would give her something other than Logan to worry over.
She went back into the lobby; the men were gone, and she took the stairs up to the third floor where the suite Adler was using was located and knocked on the door.
Iris opened the door. Her friend was beaming. She’d been weathering the viral backlash from the news that she’d paid Zac to be her date this weekend and she and Zac had made up. As much as Quinn’s own heart was aching, she was happy for Iris. Her friend deserved all the happiness she’d found when she’d fallen in love with Zac.
“About time you got here,” Iris said. “Adler has something for us and she wouldn’t let me have mine until you got here.”
“Presents? I have something for her too, but it’s downstairs.”
“Same. Come on in. Are you any better? Adler told me what happened with Logan. I can’t believe you...”
“Slept with him again, knowing he is love intolerant?”
Iris started laughing. “I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes.”
“Me neither,” Quinn said, looping her arm through Iris’s as they made their way over to Adler.
“I’m so glad my besties are here,” Adler said.
Quinn noticed that the room was empty except for the three of them. Adler was wearing a white robe embossed with her initials, as was Iris. The three of them went to sit on the love seat together.
“I got these for you...and okay, I got one for myself as well.”
She handed them jewelry boxes. Quinn and Iris opened them and found Tiffany & Co. necklaces with the standard platinum heart charms. “I had no idea that I would be leaning on you two so hard this weekend. Thank you for having my back,” Adler said.
Quinn turned the charm over and saw that it was engraved.
Sisters of the Heart.
Logan stood at the back of the church watching Adler and Nick’s wedding. It changed something inside him, making him reexamine the thoughts that had been stirring in his head all day and forcing him to face hard truths about himself. Forcing him to face how he felt about Quinn. He saw her working; she’d pretty much ignored him except for one heartbreaking moment when he’d walked into the church by himself and their eyes had met.
He’d wanted to go to her and had started to but she’d held her hand up and shaken her head before turning away. He’d seen the look on her face, known that she needed to work, and had left her to it. He hated to think that he was responsible for the dim light he’d seen in her eyes. But he knew he was.
His parents were seated in one of the front rows with Toby and his girlfriend. The Williamses were on the other side of the aisle. Cora Williams caught his eye, looking as if she wanted to talk to him, and Logan realized the woman was his biological mother. Looking at her, all he saw were the similarities between her and Nick. Was that why she’d given him up and kept Nick? Was it because Nick looked more like her? What a strange, irrational thing to think, but at the same time there it was.
But a few minutes after birth, would that have been obvious?
All the questions he had were swirling inside him again, but he glanced away and saw Quinn. Her back was to him. She wore a pretty, cream-colored dress that made her red hair and fair complexion even more eye-catching than normal. Just seeing her made him feel calmer. Better. He knew he loved her. He had been dancing around the thought since he’d woken alone in bed this morning. Hearing her in the bathroom, he’d thought about telling her. How happy he was to have her back in his life. Until the reality of his life had crashed around him.
He was trying to move forward. But how could he when the past was right there stinging him every chance it got?
Somehow, the ceremony was over, and he didn’t remember any of it except Nick and Adler walking out of the church. Nick had looked at him and tipped his head toward Adler as if to say,This is what matters.
Logan hung back, not sure if he should find his brothers or his parents. He just didn’t feel like he fit in anywhere.
Cora came over to him by herself. “Do you have a minute to chat with me?” she asked. She had a quieter personality than his mom—than Juliette. She had thick black hair and kind blue eyes. His eyes, he realized.
“Um, sure. What did you want to talk about?”
She swallowed and then said, “Well, I imagine you have some questions for me.”
Did he? Of course, he did. But this woman was the wife of one of his fiercest business rivals. Could he let himself be vulnerable in front of her? He knew he had to if he wanted to move past the feelings that were swirling inside him. “Why did you give me up?”
“I didn’t pick Nick over you,” she said. “You were the baby closer to Juliette and it was easier for us to swap you. I was so overwhelmed by having twins...there was a moment when I thought about giving both of you to her.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. Fate had given him to his mom—and he now acknowledged that Juliette was his mother, even if she hadn’t given birth to him. There had been no rejection from Cora or choice on Juliette’s part. Just fate pushing him to the family he needed to be raised in. “Thank you for telling me that. I... I don’t know how we will go forward. I mean I’m pretty sure Tad isn’t too pleased to hear that I’m related to you.”
“He was surprised about August being the father. I had told him about having twins and the swap I’d made in the hospital,” she said. “He’s always hated August because of the way August cut him out of Bisset Industries, so I knew mentioning that I’d had an affair with August would...well, not be something he wanted to hear. And, honestly, I hadn’t thought we’d see him at the wedding at all. Adler’s not close to him.”
