Unexpected Arrivals(86)

“Ugh,” I groaned to no one. Nothing she could say would change anything. Still, for some reason, I couldn’t walk away. It was like not picking up the next book after a major cliffhanger. I had to have the truth, even if the ending sucked.

My shoulders dropped in defeat, and I pivoted on the ball of my foot to head back to my grandmother’s porch. Each time I lifted my foot, taking me closer to her front door, I cringed inside.

“Get the information. In and out. You don’t have to make friends with her or even peace. Just find out her side and go.” Talking to myself in my head was one thing; doing it out loud took my irritation to a whole new level. I sounded like an idiot having a conversation with no one around. Thankfully, there were no witnesses.

I took a deep breath and clanged the brass C before Gwendolyn answered again. I hated eating crow, it was sinewy and tough to swallow. Just as I was about to turn around and give up, she answered with a gracious smile on her face. There wasn’t a hint of “I told you so” to be found. In fact, she looked relieved that I’d returned.

“What was that supposed to mean?” I quipped.

“Cora, this isn’t a conversation for all of Geneva Key to take part in. You’ll need to come inside.”

I huffed before following her back to the seat I’d just vacated on her couch.

“I think it might be best if I just get to the heart of where the problems started. I need you to promise you’ll stick this out and not walk off. There’s too much history at stake for you not to hear it all. And a lot of it I didn’t know until you and James arrived here.”

“Fine.” I had to drop the attitude and the wall. If my mind weren’t open to what she had to say, I wouldn’t hear or retain any of it. I’d be thinking of ways to retort instead of listening to the things that came out of her mouth.

She took a deep breath and let it out. “I met Janie after your father asked me to go speak with her.”

“Janie? As in Chelsea’s mother?” I really was confused.

“Yes. Every Chase signs iron-clad prenuptial agreements—well, prior to you, however, that’s neither here nor there.”

“What does that have to do with Janie?”

“Your father violated the agreement between himself and your mother with her.”

My brows dipped. I wasn’t sure I heard what she insinuated.

“Joey made mistakes. He traveled a lot, and unfortunately, never hearing the word no and always getting everything he wanted in life without consequences didn’t set him up to turn down things he was after as an adult. Including another woman.”

I cocked my head to the side, now wide-eyed as a thousand thoughts ran through my head. And I remained quiet.

She closed her eyes, and it appeared to hurt her to tell me whatever was on the tip of her tongue as much as it was going to pain me to hear it. Gwendolyn didn’t reopen them when she started speaking, either. Somehow, I sensed she couldn’t bear to see my face.

“Your father adored your mother. And you were less than a year old. That first year of your life was one of the best in mine. You had brought your dad back into my life, and I was determined not to let the opportunity slip away. Nevertheless, it all came crashing down the day he called me about Janie.”

Her lids slowly parted and tears streamed down her cheeks. “He and Janie were pregnant. If your mother found out, she’d leave him and take you. Neither of which he could stomach, nor could I.”

“My dad got another woman pregnant?”

She nodded.

“Did my mom ever find out?” I almost shrieked. My mother and father had the epitome of a perfect marriage. I had always hoped James and mine would be as strong—and they were so similar in my eyes.

I just didn’t realize how similar their stories were.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

My mother lived her entire married life with a man who’d cheated on her, and she’d never found out. That baffled me. However, as quickly as that thought entered my head, it fled to make room for another. I closed my eyes and shook my head, unable to fathom the weight of the reality I was about to acknowledge.

“Chelsea was my half sister?” Jesus, this was like a scene straight out of Deliverance. Not only was Chelsea my sister, she’d had a child with my husband making me her son’s stepmother and aunt. There was nowhere in the world any of this was acceptable.

“Yes. But, Cora, I had no idea James was Legend’s father. In all the years they lived with me, she never shared that piece of information because she knew how much he loved you. I begged her to tell him before he went to Paris, and she refused. James told her he planned to propose to the girl he loved, and that girl didn’t want children.”

“She didn’t tell James because she thought I wouldn’t accept his proposal if he had a child on the way?”

She nodded. “And had she ever said your name, I would have connected the dots. She held those secrets until she died. I didn’t know whose house she worked at that night she met him. The only information I had was that he was in town for a few days and then went back to New York. Sadly, it was like reliving the nightmare I’d endured with your father.”

Nothing she said made any sense. No one could be that selfless—or selfish, I wasn’t sure which. Part of me was grateful I hadn’t known, and part of me was angry as hell that James missed out on five years of his son’s life.