Addison stood at the front door and steadied her nerves. For a small, fleeting moment, she considered turning around, instead of peeling back yet another layer of an unfamiliar onion. The curtains inside the house shifted to the side. A man pressed his face to the window and smiled.
The front door opened, and Addison said, “Hi, Dad.”
“Hey, honey.” He reached out, wrapped an arm around her, and kissed her on the forehead. “How are my two favorite girls?”
Addison glanced down at Amara Jane, fast asleep in her carrier. “We’re doing fine.”
He swished a hand toward the inside of the house and said, “Well, come on in.”
Addison followed her father through the foyer and into the living room, and they both sat down.
“I’m glad you stopped by today,” he said. “You wanna drink or anything? I have some juice in the fridge.”
Addison shook her head.
Her father pointed at a power outlet on the wall. “I’ve plugged those plastic baby things into all of the outlets so she’ll be safe to crawl around.”
Addison mustered a grin. “She won’t be crawling for a while yet.”
He smiled at his granddaughter. “I’d like to hold her, but I’ll wait until she wakes. She’s such a wonderful, precious thing. Your mother would have loved being around for this.”
Addison’s wound had been salted.
“Dad, I need to talk to you about something,” she said.
They locked eyes, and his smile dissipated. “You know, ever since you were a kid, I always knew when there was something weighing on your mind before you ever said a word. Same look you had when I saw you out on the front porch just now. Better to get it off your chest and come right out with it.”
She considered how to frame what she was about to say, and whether it would be better to ease in or take a more direct approach. Her father had always been fair and kind. She had to believe there were only two reasons he’d keep such a big secret from her. Either her mother had convinced him to keep quiet, or he’d done it to protect her. Any other possibility didn’t make sense.
“I need you to tell me about my brother,” Addison said.
He leaned back, clenched his hands together, and bowed his head.
“Oh,” he said. “Oh, wow. I hoped this day would never come. It’s not because I wanted to keep you from the truth. I wanted to spare you the pain of it.”
“What happened to my brother? Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you keep me and get rid of him, Dad? How could you give away your own son?”
“I didn’t, sweetheart.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your brother ... well, the thing is, he is not my son.”
“Yes, he is. He has to be. He’s my twin.”
“Addy ...”
His words trailed off, and the two of them sat there, staring at each other. Tears swelled in Addison’s eyes as she contemplated his meaning.
“Dad? You are my dad, aren’t you?”
“I mean, yes, you are my daughter, and I will always be your father. It doesn’t matter how it happened. I raised you. I was there for you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There was someone else, someone before me. Another man. Let me explain. I met your mother right after you were born. It was a terrible, dark time in her life. She was in a lot of pain, and she was depressed. She wouldn’t even eat—not much, anyway. Even in her grief, she lived for you, and somehow between the two of us, we pulled her from the darkness and gave her life again.”
“But, you’re not my father.”
“Of course, I am. I don’t have to be a blood relation to be a parent. I’ve loved you like you were mine from the moment I set eyes on you.”
Addison wiped the tears from her eyes and stuttered the words, “Why didn’t you tell me, before now? Why didn’t either of you tell me?”
“I have always lived a life of honesty and truth. I never wanted to keep it from you. But your mother felt it was for the best, that if you found out she’d conceived you with someone else, and you had a brother, you’d go looking for them.”
“I would. They’re my family. Why did you go along with what she wanted?”
“She said if I told you the truth, it would put you in danger.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Addison bolted off the sofa and slung the diaper bag over her shoulder. She wrapped a hand around the handle of the carrier. Her father reached out to stop her.
“Don’t,” Addison said. “I’m leaving. I don’t know why I thought I could do this or handle this right now. I can’t. It’s too much. It’s all too much.”
Breathe, Addison.
Slow down and breathe.
“Please don’t leave,” he said. “I know it’s hard, but there’s more you need to know. You’re right to be angry with me. Let’s get it all out in the open, and if you need space to figure it all out, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you all the time you need.”
To keep her father from speaking the truth, her mother would have had to come up with a story compelling enough to convince him what she feared was right.
Addison released her grip on the carrier and lowered back down onto the couch. She threw her hands in the air and said, “All right, fine. No more lies. No more deception. I want to know everything.”
He nodded. “I guess you want to know where your biological father and your brother are. I cannot tell you because I don’t know.”
“Are there any other siblings I don’t know about?”
He shook his head. “No one else. I promise.”
“Why wasn’t I ever told about him?”
“I didn’t even know about him at first. One night not long after you were born, we were sitting in bed, and your mother began talking about the man she was with before me. She said she’d become pregnant with twins and had a son and a daughter, which was you. I was in shock. I asked why the boy wasn’t with her, and she said the truth about what happened with him was too painful to talk about. I dropped the subject, thinking one day when she’d moved past it, we’d revisit the subject. It took a long time for her to open up, and I still don’t know all the details.”
“What do you know?”
“The relationship with the other man ended right after she had you both. For whatever reason, they split you up. He took the boy, and she kept you.”
Addison shook her head. “Mom wouldn’t give her own child away and never see him again. It doesn’t make sense.”
Addison walked to the kitchen, and her father followed. She grabbed a glass out of the cabinet, filled it with water, and downed it in one go.
“Listen to me,” her dad said. “Everything your mom has ever done has been what she thought was best for you.”
“How was giving up my brother—and not telling me—best for me?”
“Your mother wanted you to have a normal life, and she wanted a normal life, a life which didn’t include magic. She wanted nothing to do with the abilities you have.”
“How does all of this relate to my brother?”
“The man she was with before ... he wasn’t just a man, like I am. He wasn’t, I don’t know, ordinary, I guess you could say. Your mother said she was unaware of it until she became pregnant, and then he revealed himself to her.”
“What was he?”
“I got the impression he had similar abilities to hers. When she spoke of the baby, it was with great emotion and sadness. I questioned her motives, sure, but I assumed she had a good reason to do what she did.”
Amara Jane stirred in her carrier.
“I need to make her a bottle,” Addison said.
He reached out, wrapping his hands around Addison’s arms. “I’m sorry, honey. I am. I should have told you. How did you find out?”
Addison switched the kitchen faucet on. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. It changes everything.”
He was right.
It did.
He turned and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Addison lifted Amara Jane out of her carrier. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Mommy’s here. Let’s get you fed, okay?”
She stared at her daughter, wondering how anyone could let go of their child. And yet, people did for a variety of reasons. Although she couldn’t imagine it herself, there were friends in her life who had, people she knew and respected who’d put their child up for adoption or had the child raised by another family member. In every instance, the only consideration was for the betterment of the child. Sacrifice was about being mature enough to make the hardest decision of all when it was the right decision to make.
Her father returned to the room with an envelope. He glanced at Addison, saw she had her hands full with Amara Jane, and tucked it inside her purse.
“What is that?” Addison asked.
“It’s a letter from your mother,” he said. “She wrote it right after you were born. She told me if anything ever happened to her, and you somehow learned about your brother, I was to give it to you.”