If his mind hadn’t been so caught up in romantic daydreams, he would have noticed a split second sooner that something was wrong with the scene before him. Jenna had come to a halt in the doorway to the conference room, so sudden he almost walked right into her.
She blocked his view but he saw her spine stiffen and his instincts went on high alert. Gently moving her aside, he entered the room and saw immediately why she’d stopped.
Her father and Margaret were there…and so was Andrea. The pretty blonde looked up at them with impossibly wide eyes. Her face was tearstained and her eyes puffy and red. He bit back a groan. Oh man. A pitiful, crying culprit had not been on the agenda this morning.
“What’s going on here?” Jenna asked.
Her father and Margaret exchanged a look that made Hunter’s stomach sink. Something was up. It was Margaret who finally spoke and when she did, it was to him. “Could you give us a moment alone, please? This is a family matter.”
He turned to Jenna, silently asking what she wanted him to do. When she shrugged, he took a step back. “Call me if you need me.”
She nodded and he headed out the door. He thought about sticking around. Heck, a little part of him actually considered standing by the door to see what he could hear. But that bordered on pathetic.
Besides, Jenna would fill him in when she was out of there—that much he could count on.
Jenna faced her father and former stepmother across the conference room table. She was still standing while they sat and somehow that made her feel like she’d been called to the principal’s office. Add a crying young woman to the mix and she was fairly certain she’d somehow time traveled to her teen years. A wave of uncertainty mixed with fear washed over her making her confidence waver. Maybe it was due to the weird tension in the room and the fact that she was clearly out of the loop…or maybe it was an emotional hangover from the night before. Either way, she wished she could get out of there and get her head on straight before having to deal with this “family matter”—whatever that meant.
“What’s she doing here?” She nodded toward Andrea. Was it rude to talk about her like she wasn’t in the room? Sure. But this woman was the source of all their problems—the reason she’d been drawn into the firm’s mess in the first place.
It was hard to hold onto that anger when the other woman raised her head and looked up at her with tear-filled blue eyes.
Oh crap. She never had been any good with crying women. She turned to her father instead. “What’s this about?”
Her father gestured to the seat across from them and she sank into it slowly.
“What’s Andrea doing here? Hunter and I called you here so we could tell you…something.”
For some reason, Jenna couldn’t bring herself to point the finger at the pathetic, trembling mess of a receptionist.
Shifting closer to Andrea to awkwardly pat her on the back, Margaret said, “Andrea here has beaten you to the punch, I’m afraid. She’s come forward as our little troublemaker.”
Our little troublemaker? Andrea’s face turned a pretty shade of pink and she kept her gaze glued on the conference room table as if she was reading something terribly important in its faux wood pattern.
After several beats, Jenna couldn’t take it anymore. “All right, what am I missing?”
Margaret and her father turned to Andrea, who took a deep breath and released it on a sigh. Finally she raised her head to meet Jenna’s gaze. “Spencer told me that you spoke to him yesterday.”
Aha. Well that answered the question of how she’d known she’d been caught. Not too surprising, considering Spencer had a framed photo of her in his apartment.
“I wanted to tell them first,” she continued. “I needed to explain.”
Margaret and her father were still watching the receptionist with uncharacteristic concern. Sympathy, even. Jenna’s patience snapped. “Explain what? That you broke into my father’s office, hacked Margaret’s emails, and followed me to my home?” The last piece is what really bothered her the most. Leaning across the table, she ignored the tears and faced Andrea like she would a hostile witness. “What was that about, anyway? I can see what you might have to gain with Margaret and my father—I’m sure a lot of competitors would pay good money for insider information. But why follow me? What did I have to do with any of this?”
Her father and Margaret exchanged an unreadable look before turning to Andrea. “You followed Jenna to her home?” Her father’s voice was surprisingly gentle. Certainly softer and kinder than any tone he ever used with her.
Andrea bit her lip as she met his gaze. “I’m sorry, I just…I realized she was my sister and I wanted to get to know her.”
The words sister brought Jenna’s brain waves to a screeching halt. She managed to sputter, “Say what now?” before her mind went blank.
Margaret never took her attention from Andrea. “I think you’d better start at the beginning, Andie.”
Andie? What had happened to Andrea?
Andie or Andrea—or whatever her name was—turned to face Jenna with a resigned look. “To make a long story short—I grew up in the foster system.”
“Okay.” That was the best Jenna could manage. But really, she hadn’t expected to be hearing someone’s life story this morning and she certainly hadn’t been planning on finding out that she had a sister…if that was even the truth.
“My adoption papers were sealed but with the help of a friend, I did some digging and found out that Margaret is my birth mother.” For someone who’d just recently been crying, Andrea’s tone was calm.
Margaret, on the other hand, looked like she might start bawling at any moment and seeing her emotional was disconcerting. Heck, it was terrifying.
“Is that true?”
Margaret didn’t look at her. Her eyes seemed fixed on Andrea. “It’s true that I gave a baby up for adoption almost thirty years ago. I never knew what happened to her. I was told she was placed in a good home, I was told—” Margaret’s voice broke and the unthinkable happened. Donald reached a hand out, past Andrea, and patted Margaret’s shoulder. So what, they were friends now?
“I just wanted to see who my mother was and figure out who was the father.” Andrea’s eyes flicked from Margaret to Donald before settling on her hands. Jenna heard the truth in the girl’s voice but she would bet good money that there was more to this story. But that would have to wait, because for now, her mind had started making a distinct buzzing noise as all the pieces fell into place.
Her father was this woman’s father? No, it couldn’t be. But one look at her father’s drawn features and tense posture told her that it was true. Or a possibility, at least.
He met her gaze and she raised her brows, unable to form words.
With a slow nod, he said, “I didn’t know.”
She looked back at Margaret who was staring at the conference room just like Andrea—her daughter. “When Donald and I first got together, we were in law school.”
Jenna knew that much. Margaret was the great on-again off-again love of her father’s life.
Margaret’s voice grew alarmingly high-pitched. Oh crap, she couldn’t handle it if another woman burst into tears right now.
“Donald broke up with me before I had a chance to tell him about the baby.” She sniffled and shot Donald an accusatory glance, presumably for breaking up with her almost thirty years ago.
“I wasn’t ready to have a child. I had a career that was just getting underway,” Margaret continued, looking everywhere but at her birth daughter, Jenna noted. Finally, she brought her gaze to her daughter and that was when the waterworks truly started. “I’m so sorry. They told me you’d be in a good home, they told me—”
She broke off with a sob and Andrea patted her hand comfortingly. For the first time, Jenna realized that the other woman looked young but was older than her. Though not by much. She did a quick calculation of when her father graduated law school, when he married her mother… This woman coul
dn’t be much more than a year older than her.
Her father’s face was still remarkably impassive—a sure sign that his brain was working a mile a minute. She could only imagine how he was feeling right now. She could barely process her own emotions.
When she turned her attention back to Andrea, she found that she had been watching her warily.
She forced a small smile. “Nice to meet you, sis.”
Jenna didn’t typically drink in the morning, except for the occasional mimosa brunch with Mack, and never at the office. But this seemed like the perfect situation to break that rule.
Andrea sat across from her. Andie. She’d told Jenna she preferred to go by Andie.
After Jenna had been fully caught up to speed it had become readily apparent that the “grown-ups,” so to speak, needed some time alone. The tension between Margaret and Donald had been so intense that with one shared look with her new half-sister, she knew they were both on the same page.
She’d stood up abruptly and announced that she’d like some time alone with her sister to get to know one another and had gotten looks of relief all around, but none more grateful than Andrea’s.
And now her new sister looked ready to cry all over again with gratitude as she accepted the tumbler glass filled with whiskey. At her questioning look, Jenna explained. “Whoever had this office before me left their stash. My guess? One of your illustrious parents fired him and had him escorted out too quickly for them to pack it up.”
“My parents.” Andie’s voice sounded hollow as she echoed that phrase. She gave Jenna a half-hearted smile. “Sorry, I guess I’m still adjusting to all this. I’ve never heard anyone else refer to them as my parents, it threw me for a loop.”
“You?” Jenna gave a short laugh. “You’ve at least had some time to get used to the idea. When did you find out about Margaret?”
“A few months ago.”
“Spencer?” Jenna had guessed the connection but had it confirmed when Andie’s blush deepened.
“This isn’t his fault, I swear. He’s an old friend—we were in the same foster family for a while back in the day. He helped me get access to the sealed records, but that’s it, I swear. He had no idea what I was doing here.”
Jenna nodded. “I believe you. But he’s why you’re here this morning, right?”
Andie nodded. “He called me last night, after you and Hunter left his place. He told me it was just a matter of time before you told your father—our father—about what I’d been doing here.” She shrugged and gave Jenna a strained smile. “Sorry to ruin your moment but that just wasn’t how I wanted them to find out, you know? I needed to be the one to tell them…to explain.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Jenna sat in silence for a moment trying to process everything she’d heard. “So what were you doing here? Aside from being a receptionist, I mean. What were you hoping to find?”
Andie shrugged and her soft laugh bordered on hysterical. “I don’t know. It was a ridiculous plan. I just…” Again, she shrugged as she threw her hands up in the air as if gestures might suffice in lieu of words. “I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I got this information that this woman—this stranger—was my mother. But I had no clue if she was a good person, or if she ever wanted to get to know the baby she gave up. For all I knew, she’d forgotten all about me.”
Jenna remained quiet. What could she say? She might have grown up in a dysfunctional home with a deceased mother but she still knew who her parents were. “So you wanted to get to know her.”
Andie nodded. “And I was curious about my father. I thought maybe if I could get access to her private information I might be able to dig a bit. Get his name too.”
“So you didn’t suspect that it might be my dad?”
She shook her head. “Not at first. Not until after I started working here.” Andie’s eyes widened. “Do you have any idea how much people gossip in this office? Margaret and your father are a hot topic.”
Jenna let out a snort. “Seriously?”
“Oh yeah.” Andie tossed her hair back and gave a real smile and for the first time Jenna saw the family resemblance.
Andie continued on, unaware that Jenna’s mind had just been blown. “I swear, Margaret and Donald are like the Ross and Rachel of this office.”
Jenna laughed. “Get out.”
“I’m totally serious. I’ve seen it for myself. There are some serious sparks between those two.”
Jenna rolled her eyes but she was still laughing. “Yeah, but not always in a good way. I lived through their marriage, remember? The walls would shake when the two of them fought, that’s how loud the screaming was.”
Andie’s smile faltered a bit. “That’s right. I’d heard they were married. I guess I didn’t put it together that you would have been part of the family.”
Jenna’s heart went out to the other woman. Leaning forward she refilled the glass that Andie had drained in one swallow. “I wouldn’t have called us much of a family. I was young and dealing with the death of my mother. Margaret was far from maternal. And my father…well, I think he jumped into another marriage way too quickly. He never gave himself a chance to grieve my mother before trying to rekindle his relationship with Marg—er, your mother.”
Andie nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, people here talk and they talk a whole lot after they’ve been drinking.” Her small smile was just wicked enough that Jenna had to laugh…holy crap, this really was her sister.
“And what did they say?”
“Oh, I heard all about how Margaret and Donald had been on-again off-again for decades. Even as far back as law school. It wasn’t hard to piece together that he could very well be my father.”
They sat in silence for a bit, each lost in thought as they sipped their drinks.
“So what now?” Jenna finally asked.
Andie blinked as if coming out of a trance. Her mind must have been racing like crazy now that she had finally confirmed that Margaret and Donald were her parents.
“I don’t know. I mean, Margaret seems to want to get to know me. I can’t read your father but I’d like to get to know him a little better as well…if he’s open to it.” She looked up at Jenna and her big blue eyes were wide with a mix of excitement and fear. “It feels so unreal, you know? After all these years, I’ve not only found out who my birth parents are, but they’re even better than I imagined.”
Jenna bit her tongue. Really? Her dad wasn’t an ogre but she’d hardly nominate him for father of the year. And Margaret…the woman was not exactly maternal.
“The fact that Margaret wants to get to know me—”
“I’m sure our father does too,” Jenna said, managing to say “our father” without a pause this time. “He’s not exactly an emotive guy, and he might have the emotional intelligence of a grade-schooler, but he does love his family. I’m sure he’s dying to get to know his new daughter.”
She was rewarded with a huge, beaming smile. “Really? This feels so unreal. Like I woke up in a fairy tale or something.”
Jenna laughed. “Oh, Mack is going to love you.”
“Who?”
“Your former stepsister,” Jenna said. At Andie’s confused look, she added, “Never mind. You’ll meet her soon enough.”
Andie leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “You know, I’m actually glad you figured out that I was the one snooping. I don’t know if I ever would have summoned up the nerve to come clean if I wasn’t in danger of being outed.”
Jenna raised her glass. “Glad I could help.” Guilt niggled at her. “It wasn’t really me who figured it out, though. It was Hunter.”
A feeling she could only describe as giddiness made her bite her lip to keep from giggling. Jeeze, what was wrong with her? Saying his name made her act like a tween now? Wonderful. This infatuation would be the death of her.
But the fact was, Hunter was the one who’d figured it out. He was the reason Margaret was weeping and her father was doing his masculine version
of weeping. Hunter was why they were all here having this bizarre family reunion…and he’d been sent away without a word of explanation.
Shoot, he was probably waiting to hear from her. But this was hardly the kind of thing she could explain via text. It would have to wait until she saw him tonight. Not that they’d made plans but she hoped he wanted to see her as much as she wanted to see him.
Slipping away like that in the middle of the night had been juvenile…and one-hundred-percent necessary for her mental state. She’d woken up in a full-blown panic—not because she’d regretted telling him how she felt. Far from it. But because she’d woken up next to him content and blissfully at home. For the first time in her life, she’d felt at home. He was home.
It was terrifying.
So she’d run. But now her head was on straight and she realized that she was dying to talk to Hunter about this new revelation. She wanted to tell him all about her new sister and thank him—because he’d made this all possible by getting to the bottom of the mystery.
A fact she would be sure Margaret was well aware of.
She got her chance an hour later, when the whole dysfunctional family headed out of the office. Her father and Andie were going back to Margaret’s place. It seemed everyone wanted to get to know each other better. There was a lot to catch up on with those three.
They invited her along but she declined. “I’ve had enough family drama for one day. I’ll let you three have some time.” She turned to Andie. “But I’d like to get to know my sister better, if you’re up for it.”
Andie beamed at her. “Any time!” They exchanged numbers and made a plan to meet up for drinks the next day.
Andie and her father headed to the elevator lobby and Margaret would have followed but Jenna stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You do know that you have Hunter to thank for this little reunion, don’t you?”
Winning Snow White Page 13
