“Oh, well, let’s just have ourselves a little pity party, why don’t we?” She propped her backside against the counter as she crossed her arms and snarled, “You’ve always been sooo good at that. God, you were constantly whining about something ... trying to make Mom feel guilty for ev-ery-thing she ever did for me. It was insane. You leaving was the best thing that ever happened to us.”
“Then why are you even here?” I snapped. “If you were so happy to see me gone, which you clearly were, why not just leave me the hell alone! It’s not like I asked you here. I certainly didn’t ask for any of this!”
“To be honest, it was Eric’s idea. I tried to tell him it was a waste of time, but he insisted. He’s so enamored with me, he wanted to know everything there was to know about me, even if that included my estranged sister.” Every word out of her mouth cut me like a knife, but I swallowed back my tears, refusing to let Kate see she’d upset me. Not that it mattered. It was pretty clear she didn’t care as she shrugged with indifference. “I tried to talk him out of it, but when he insisted, I figured we could play the old family card one last time, and from what I can tell, it’s worked so far.”
“Well, it’s over now. I’m done playing charades for you and your little boyfriend.” I pointed to the door and told her, “It’s time for you to go.”
“There’s no reason for this to change anything, Marlie. We’re still the same people we were ten minutes ago.”
“Yeah, you’re still a royal bitch. That’s never going to change.” Boiling with a mix of rage and heartbreak, I pointed to the door as I ordered, “Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.”
“Oh, for goodness sake. You really are second class.”
Her heels clomped across the kitchen tile as she stormed out. Once she’d gone, I went over and slammed the door behind her. Then, and only then, I let the tears fall, and man, oh man, did they fall. Feeling like my whole world had been turned upside down, I sobbed and sobbed. I don’t know how long I’d been crying when I finally made my way into the living room. I picked up one of our family photos off the mantle and carried it over to the sofa. I sat there studying the way Kate sat in Mom’s lap and how Mom and Dad had their arms around her, adoring her, while I stood off to the side like I was just there—imposing on their special moment, and it was like everything suddenly became so clear. I wasn’t crazy. They did love and adore Kate more than they did me, and I guess they had every right to do so. She was their child, their own flesh and blood, and I was just some stranger they’d brought into their home. I just didn’t understand why they’d never told me.
After sitting there for over an hour trying to sort through the mess in my head, there was a knock at my door. Worried it might be Kate coming back for more, I quickly stood, wiped the tears from my face, and straightened my clothes. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing my upset, so I took a couple of deep breaths and put on a brave face. All my efforts were dashed the second I opened the door and found Rafe standing there. Before I even had a chance to speak, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You don’t even want to know.” I left him standing at the door as I walked back into the living room and plopped down on the sofa. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you had to go to the clubhouse.”
“I did, but I’m here now.” He closed the door and started over to me. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing much.” Sarcasm dripped from every word as I told him, “Just had myself a wonderful conversation with Kate, and she dropped a bomb on me that still has my head spinning.”
“Hmm.” His brows furrowed as he sat down next to me. “What did she say?”
“She basically informed me that my whole life has been a lie.”
“Not sure I’m following.”
“She informed me that I was adopted.” While I sounded mad, I was more hurt than angry as I told him, “So, basically everything I was ever told about my family was wrong.”
“Yeah, that’s a pretty big bomb there.”
“No kidding. You should’ve heard the way she told me.” I dropped my head into my hands and grumbled. “I’d forgotten what a bitch she can be.”
Trying to lighten the mood, he smiled as he said, “She definitely has a strong personality.”
“That’s the understatement of the year.” I looked over to him. “She was just so hateful and mean about it all. It’s like she enjoyed hurting me.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
I picked up the picture of us all at Christmas and showed it to him. “I don’t know how I could’ve been so stupid. It was all right there in front of my face, and I was just too blind to see it!”
Rafe looked down at the picture in my hand. “The mind sees what the mind sees until it doesn’t see it anymore.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You were just a kid, Marlowe. There was no way you could’ve known, but now that you do, it’s up to you to decide what you want to do about it.”
“I don’t know what I want to do. I’m still trying to process the fact the people who I thought were my parents really aren’t my parents! There’s also the fact that I don’t even know who my real parents are! Where did I even come from? And why would they adopt me if they were going to treat me like they did? None of this makes sense.” I accentuated my words as I pushed, “Do you get what I’m saying here?”
“Yes, Marlowe. It’s a lot to take in, but we will figure this thing out.”
“I don’t get it. Why does it seem like you aren’t all that surprised by this?”
“Because I’m not.” He ran his hand down his throat like he was considering what he should say next. After several moments, he finally admitted, “It came up when Menace did your background check.”
“What?” I gasped. “You tell me to open up and trust you, but then you don’t even tell me something as big as this! What the hell is that?”
“Don’t twist this around to make me the bad guy here. You gotta know I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you, Marlowe. Hell, until last night, I assumed you knew.”
“And you didn’t think about mentioning it then?”
“I was about to, but you shut me down with the whole leaving the past where it belonged bit.”
“And this morning?”
“Well, we were otherwise detained, unless you’ve already forgotten.”
Against my will, a tiny smirk crossed my face as I remembered our little romp on the kitchen table—how incredible Rafe’s hands and mouth felt on my body. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”
“Look, I hate you found out the way you did. I hate it even more that I didn’t press the issue and ask you about it, but it’s out there now. You just have to figure out what you’re going to do about it.”
“That’s just it. I have no idea. I’m still in shock.”
“You just need some time.”
He reached into his pocket for his phone. When he started dialing a number, I asked, “What are you doing?”