Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(70)

She would have loved to fake it, pretend she knew the secret. Frankly, Miranda didn’t like feeling ignorant, but her need for answers wiped out the embarrassment.

Tabitha shook her head as if in pity. “How could you not have figured it out? Are you stupid?”





Chapter Eleven


Stupid? Oh, Miranda did not like that word!

“Well, Miss Smarty Pants, why don’t you just fill me in!” Miranda seethed. She cupped her hands at her sides to keep from wiggling her pinky at the girl to give her pimples.

“They aren’t sisters. We are!”

Miranda’s breath caught. She remembered what Kylie had said. Now that I consider it, you and Tabitha sort of look alike. I mean, she has red hair and blue eyes, but if you just compare facial features, you two could be sisters. Her mind started spinning. “How … how could that be possible?”

“Your slut of a mother had sex with my dad, that’s how!”

“My mom’s not—”

“Please! Figure it out, or do you suck at math, too? I’m five months older than you.”

“Whoa! Stop!” Miranda held up her hand, her pinky itching to send some nasty spell Tabitha’s way. “First, my mother’s not a slut and second…” She didn’t have a second. Yes, she did. “My parents have been married since—”

“They aren’t married! He’s married to my mom! She was pregnant with me when your mom threw herself at my dad.”

“No,” Miranda said, realizing how stupid this all was. “My dad’s name is Kane and yours is—”

“Yeah, I know he also goes by Austin Kane, and your mom had her name changed to Kane. Hence, you are a Kane. But his real name is Austin Evans. I know because I’ve seen his birth certificate. He was born in England. My mother is Irish. They met and married there.”

“No,” Miranda snapped. “You’re lying. This is like a mean trick, or something.”

Kylie appeared in the doorway behind Tabitha. No doubt the arguing had roused her again. “What’s wrong?” Kylie asked.

Tabitha ignored Kylie. “This is no trick! Don’t be a fool.” Tabitha’s voice rose with anger. “What does he tell you when he leaves? That he’s working? Because that’s what he tells me. Of course, unlike you, I’m not foolish enough to believe it.”

Everything in Miranda’s life suddenly felt like a lie. She felt like a fool. “If you’re lying to me, I swear I’ll…”

“You’ll what? Turn me into a skunk, like you did to your friend’s cat? Or are you going for a kangaroo, this time? Not that it matters. Because I’m not lying. And I can see in your eyes that you already know I’m not. Accept it, Miranda. Your mother is a slut and you’re nothing more than a bastard child.”

Fury rose through Miranda. She clutched her fists. She wanted nothing more than to twitch her pinky and turn the twit into something nasty—something worse than a skunk. And she would have if there wasn’t doubt eating away at her heart. As much as she hated to admit it, there was truth in this witch’s words.

*

“You don’t know if it’s true,” Kylie said as she followed Miranda back to the bedroom a few minutes after Tabitha took off to hers. “It could just be a lie.”

“Do you think so?” Miranda wanted to believe it. Wanted it so badly that her heart trembled. But damn it, it made sense. Her dad’s work schedule, her mom hating Tabitha’s mom. It had never been about cookies. Did that mean…? No, she couldn’t believe the part about her mom being a slut. She could not believe her mom would be happy being the other woman. Then again, there was the fact that Tabitha was five months older than Miranda. Oh, hell, maybe my mom is a slut! Tears stung her eyes.

She snatched her phone from the bedside table. “I’m gonna find out.”

She went to contacts. Found the word “Daddy.” Her finger hovered right over the word. Those tears that had stung her sinuses now filled her eyes and she felt the warm drops roll down her cheeks. How could he have lied to her all this time? How could her mom accept his lies? How could Miranda love the man and know so little about him?

“How do I ask him?” She looked up at Kylie, blinking away the blurry wetness.

“I … don’t know. Just ask.”

“And say what? Hey, Dad, do you have another family you haven’t told me about?”

Kylie, sensing her emotion, dropped down beside her and hugged her tight. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Miranda said, even as the calm emotion flowed from her friend’s touch, but it wasn’t enough to stop the knot of pain throbbing inside her. “Tabitha’s right, I’m a fool not to have figured this out. He’s only home a couple of weeks a month.”

“Look, I know how you feel. It’s hard to realize that our parents aren’t the people we grew up thinking they are. I learned my dad was really just my stepdad, and he was boinking his intern who was only a few years older than me. My mom had been lying to me about who my dad was, and keeping me from my real grandparents. But believe me when I tell you that while it hurts realizing they aren’t the perfect people we want them to be, it doesn’t mean they don’t love you. If anything, learning the truth has helped my relationship with both my mom and my stepdad.”