She would have a second chance to choose what she wanted to do with her life and what she wanted to be.
The possibility of positive change instead of negative change made her feel something she hadn’t felt since she’d learned about Francine.
She was pretty sure it was a trace of hope—and maybe even a little excitement.
11
reagan
REAGAN WANTED THIS night to be like any other evening spent enjoying a drink with friends. But every time she started to reach for her wine, she’d think about the possibility of being pregnant and hold off, just in case.
“What a story,” Finn said after she and Serenity had explained why they’d had their DNA tested. “I can see why you might not want to tell your parents that you’ve found each other, but that’s a pretty big secret. Could you really keep your mouths shut indefinitely?”
“I don’t know,” Serenity said. “Secrets don’t come naturally to me, which is why I’ve made a profession of unearthing them. Would you be able to stay quiet?”
“I guess that would depend on what I found,” he replied.
Reagan could hear Lorelei talking to Lucy. She had moved to the couch with her daughter and taken an iPad out of her bag. They were playing some sort of learning game. But Lorelei could do that with her daughter anytime. Reagan found it odd that she wasn’t more engaged in the conversation.
Finn must’ve wondered about that, too, because he gestured toward her and Lucy as he leaned back in his chair, lifting it off its front legs. “So Lorelei’s the one who contacted you both? Why did she get her DNA tested?”
Thinking of what had transpired earlier, when they’d had all their pictures and other memorabilia scattered on the table, Reagan turned to see if Lorelei had heard the question and would answer.
When she didn’t even look back at them, Serenity jumped in. “Her childhood was...considerably more difficult than ours.”
“She grew up in foster care, and took the test hoping to find her parents.” Reagan assumed answering his question would be the quickest way to move on, so when Serenity shot her a warning look, she lifted her palms. “It’s not a secret. And there’s no shame in it.”
“I was two years old when I was found wandering a busy street in downtown Orlando.”
This came from Lorelei. They all turned to her, surprised that she’d finally spoken up. She stood so stiffly as she faced them that Reagan wondered if Finn could tell how much her background still affected her.
“My parents abandoned me,” she added, in a tone even more forthright than the one Reagan had used.
“You don’t know that,” Serenity said.
Lorelei attempted a shrug, but it hardly came off as careless. “That’s the assumption.”
“Disney is in Orlando, isn’t it?” Finn said. “Are you sure you didn’t just wander away while your family was on vacation?”
“If that’d happened, wouldn’t someone have gone to the police?” she asked.
He put his chair back down. “No one reported you missing?”
“No.”
Reagan could tell he was at a loss for words. “I’m sorry” was so inadequate. It also smacked of pity, and she doubted Lorelei would appreciate that—especially coming from him. Reagan was glad when he didn’t go in that direction.
“Maybe you weren’t at Disney World. Maybe you were being raised by your grandmother and she had a heart attack and died, and you somehow got outside,” he suggested.
Lorelei’s eyebrows slid up.
After squirming a bit, he tried to retract the idea. “Sorry. That’s not a happy scenario. I’m just saying that anything’s possible.”
“You were only trying to be nice,” Reagan murmured to him. “Most possibilities aren’t very pleasant. That’s the problem.”
“You’re married now, though, right?” Finn asked Lorelei.
He must’ve seen the ring on her finger.
“Yes.”
Reagan sent Serenity a guarded glance. Finn was heading toward another dangerous subject.
“Is your husband here, too, or—”
“He’s back in Florida, working.”
“He didn’t mind that you were coming out here?”
“He wasn’t thrilled about it, but not because he was opposed to it, exactly. It just wasn’t a good time for me to be away.”
Finn hesitated as though he wanted to ask why. That was the next logical question. But when Lorelei didn’t volunteer the information, he probably figured it would be too intrusive. “How long will you be staying?” he asked instead.
“Lucy and I go home on Friday.”
Finn turned to Serenity and Reagan. “What about you two?”
“I’m leaving at the same time,” Reagan replied. “We arranged it so we could drive to the airport together.”
“And I’ll be going back to the Bay Area once they’ve left,” Serenity said.
“Damn.” He scowled at them. “I was hoping you’d all be here when Davis arrived, and I’m not sure he’ll make it before then.”
“I wish we could be,” Reagan said. “I’d love to meet him.”
“Do you have to go back so soon?” he asked. “For work, or whatever?”
Reagan almost said yes. But then she realized that wasn’t strictly accurate. If she quit her job, there’d be no reason to return right away. “Not for the job I have now,” she hedged.
“Then you should stay longer. You, too,” he said to Serenity.
“I could put off going home for a few days, since I can work out of the cabin. I’m here a lot, anyway, especially during the warmer months. We could even take Davis out on my parents’ boat one Saturday, if you think he’d enjoy it.”
“I bet he’d love it,” Finn said. “I’m sure he’d really like all of you, and he could certainly use some friends. Because he didn’t know you from before, there’d be no awkwardness, no sense of him being less than he was, no need to try to act like his old self. He could just be the dude he is right now—a man trying to recover from the loss of his arm. If that makes any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” Lorelei said. “I think they should stay longer, too. I wish I could.”
Was she serious? Reagan exchanged another glance with Serenity.