by Amy Vastine
“Good boy. I’ll be all right. Don’t worry about me,” she said, giving the giant pup a pat and getting to her feet again. Her hands and knees would heal. Her heart was another matter. She needed to find her phone, which had ended upside down a few feet away. She picked it up and groaned when she flipped it over and saw it was cracked.
“Amanda? Amanda!” Blake called out from the other end of the line.
She put it to her ear. “I’m here. Clancy gave me a lesson on how not to walk a hundred-and-sixty-pound dog.”
“What happened?”
“I fell and did so with all the awkwardness you have come to expect from me.”
“You fell? Are you okay?”
It was sweet that he had been worried. Blake always worried about her and he always had her back. When she let him, at least.
“I’m fine. Georgie would tell me it’s nothing a little hydrogen peroxide and some antibiotic gel can’t fix.”
“Don’t give me a heart attack like that, Harrison. You know better.” She could picture him shaking his head.
The only one handing out heart attacks today was him. Had he really told her that he’d proposed to Nadia? Had he thought this through? Was he sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Nadia? Not that there was anything wrong with her. She seemed nice enough, but... There was something holding Amanda back from rejoicing.
“Are you going to say something about the fact that I told you I’m getting married?” Blake asked.
“I would, but...I’m speechless.” She cringed, knowing she had to come up with something better than that. Blake desperately wanted Amanda and Nadia to be friends. His favorite pastime had become sharing all the ways in which the two women were alike. He couldn’t believe they both liked vinaigrette salad dressing and thought the movie Sixteen Candles was the best. Apparently, that made them practically twins!
As a triplet, Amanda had an identical twin and a fraternal twin. She didn’t need to play twinsies with anyone else.
Deep breath, she told herself and silently scolded herself for being rude. Nadia was...nice. Amanda should be happy for them. Blake was her best friend. There was no one in this world who deserved good things more than he did.
“That’s all you have to say? Amanda Harrison is never speechless. What does that mean?” She could hear the worry in his voice. She was the worst best friend.
“Well, you have to give me a minute. I’m still reeling from the fact that you didn’t tell me you were even thinking about this before you actually did it.” In other words, she was mad that he hadn’t said something earlier so she could have talked him out of doing something so rash.
“I know. It was sort of spur of the moment. It’s all your sister’s fault. Lily inspired me.”
Until right now Amanda didn’t think she could be angrier with Lily for leaving her and her sisters to clean up the mess after she ran away from her own wedding. Adding to that, the runaway bride had since accepted a marriage proposal from someone else she’d known for all of a hot minute. Blake had decided to spontaneously propose to someone he barely knew because Lily was foolish enough to get engaged to a stranger? Lily also jumped out of airplanes and skied down double black diamond slopes. Of all of her sisters, did he really want to follow Lily’s lead?
“My sister agreed to marry someone after knowing him ten days, Blake. I’m not sure she really knows what she’s doing. Are you sure Nadia is the one? Is she your happy-ever-after?”
Blake didn’t answer right away. Amanda had made it back to her tiny bungalow and grabbed her mail from the mailbox before opening the door for Clancy. Was it selfish that she wanted him to admit he’d made a mistake?
“We’re twenty-nine, Amanda. I want kids. Lots of kids. And I want to be young enough to be a fun dad. Nadia wants a big family, too. She’ll be a great mom. I think that could make for a darn good happy-ever-after.”
The lump in Amanda’s throat made it impossible to respond. Blake was an only child, and for as long as she could remember, the only thing he’d wanted was a home filled to the brim with family. He used to love coming over to her house because there was never a dull moment in the Harrison household. With four sisters, Amanda had grown up in the midst of constant chaos. The good kind, most of the time.
“Amanda, are you there?” he asked.
A big family of her own wasn’t something Amanda would ever have. She pushed that pain aside and tried to focus on what was best for Blake. If Nadia could give Blake everything he ever wanted, who was she to not want that for him?
Holding her broken phone to her ear with her shoulder, she tossed her mail on the kitchen table and tightened her long blond ponytail. She needed to man up. “I’m here. I’m really happy for you. Both of you. I can’t wait to see the ring.”
“Oh, well, no ring yet. Like I said, it was pretty spontaneous. I asked her before I even thought to get a ring. You’ll help me pick something out, right?”
“Sure,” she forced out. What could be more fun than shopping with the perfect man for the wedding ring he planned to put on someone else’s finger? Jumping out of an airplane while deathly afraid of heights sounded like a pretty good alternative.
“You are the best. You know that, right?”
“Only the best for my best friend,” she said.
“Thanks. I have to go. Looks like Nadia is finishing up her call to her parents and I still have to call mine.”
Amanda’s heart clenched. She had been his first call. “Tell your mom I said hi.”
“I would, but then she’ll know I called you first. I’m sure she’ll call you sooner than later to get all the gossip. She’s going to need to hear it from you that Nadia is good enough for her one and only baby boy.”
“I’ll talk her up.”
“Thanks, Harrison. Like I said, you’re the best.”
The best. Not the one. She tried not to acknowledge the way that stung.
Amanda hung up and stared down at the crack running across her screen. Like a river with its streams, there were smaller cracks branching off it. She and her phone had one thing in common. Both of them were broken. Someone could repair the phone, though. No one could fix Amanda.
After washing her hands and taking care of her scraped palms, she sat down to flip through her mail. Junk, junk, bill from Dr. Waters’s office. Dr. Waters, the best ob-gyn in town, according to everyone on the internet. Endometriosis specialist, they had said. A miracle worker who had helped those who had been told they were infertile to have precious little babies of their own. There were no miracles for Amanda, however. Dr. Waters simply confirmed what the other three doctors before her had said. The probability of Amanda ever having a baby was basically 0 percent. Given her pain and condition, she might want to consider a hysterectomy. A hysterectomy at age twenty-nine. There was something so wrong about that scenario.
She fiddled with one of her stud earrings. She was the last of the Harrison girls to get her ears pierced. It was a tradition for the girls to get their ears pierced when they “became a woman.” Their mom then bought them earrings for every major milestone—turning sixteen, graduating from high school, getting their first real job. Now, not only did she not have her mom, but there were no other milestones for Amanda. There would be no wedding. No baby someday. No daughter to whom she would pass on the tradition.
Amanda let out a somber sigh. She’d pay the doctor’s bill and be done with it. Done with doctors. Done with searching the internet for success stories. Done with hoping for some miracle to make her fertile.
Her email popped up when she opened her laptop. There were several work-related emails. When she and Blake had started Sit, Stay, Play, they never imagined how quickly their little customizable pet swag subscription box company would take off. No more living paycheck to paycheck. Amanda could afford to do things for herself and give more than she’d imagined to cause
s she cared about.
She noticed the message from the DNA kit company. Running away from her wedding day wasn’t the only mess Lily had made. She had run away, leaving with no explanation other than a note that said she was sorry scrawled on the back of her birth certificate. According to that, the man they called their dad was not. The Harrison girls were actually Blackwells. Even after her strong, tough-minded dad had broken down and admitted it was true when she had confronted him with the birth certificate, Amanda clung to her denial. She immediately sent in a swab, needing scientific proof that her entire life was a lie.
She clicked on the email and her ancestry was revealed. Nothing too unexpected. They were mostly European. Her blond hair, blue eyes and pale complexion could have told her that. Where her ancestors came from wasn’t as important to Amanda as the list of people in the relative finder portion of the report. It didn’t take long to scan the list and find the name she feared would be on there.
Elias Blackwell.
She slumped in her seat. It was true. She shared 25 percent of Elias Blackwell’s DNA. He had been the man who helped Lily run away from the wedding. He owned the ranch where she was currently living. He claimed to be their grandfather.
How could this be? Their father was their rock, their biggest supporter. He had always been there for all five of them. Amanda couldn’t remember a time he wasn’t her dad. But there was another man out there. Someone named Thomas Blackwell, and he was their biological father.
She typed out an email to Fiona and Georgie. No need to tell Peyton, who apparently had known this their entire life and never bothered to tell any of her sisters. She had sent a letter explaining herself, so Amanda was less mad than she had been. These results, however, reignited some of her anger. It was true. Elias Blackwell was their grandfather. The DNA test confirmed it. What that meant, she wasn’t sure. Did it matter that these people were related to them by blood? If she asked Blake, she knew he would say yes. When he heard there was a huge family they didn’t know about in Montana, he thought it was the coolest thing in the entire world. He had actually been jealous.
Clancy sauntered over and sat down in front of her, laying his big head on her lap and looking up at her with those soulful eyes. He understood when she needed comfort better than most. She scratched him behind the ear.
“You’re a sweet boy. You’re my sweet, sweet boy.” Amanda had fostered Clancy when he was a pup and had fallen in love. When he wasn’t adopted right away, she decided to keep him.
The doorbell rang and Clancy went from completely chill to totally out of his mind. His bark was as big as his body. Amanda tried to quiet him down as she shuffled to the door.
“Sit, Clancy,” she commanded. He stopped barking and sat. “Stay.” She prayed he’d listen when she opened the door.
Standing on her front porch was her dad, and behind him stood an elderly gentleman in black jeans, a blue-and-black plaid shirt and a big ol’ cowboy hat. She didn’t need to be introduced to know who that was.
“Daddy!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and made it clear that the only dad she cared about was the one right in front of her.
“Hi, sweetheart.” He gave her the tightest squeeze back. She knew how painful all this had been for him. She had spent the last month assuring him that he would always be her father, but there had been a sadness in his eyes that broke her heart every time they had been together since Lily’s canceled wedding.
“Miss Amanda,” the man standing behind her father said, taking off his hat and holding it against his chest. “You’d think after basically raising a set of identical twins, I wouldn’t be so shocked that you look exactly like your sister.”
Elias Blackwell.
He didn’t need to introduce himself. Amanda had no doubt she was standing face-to-face with her grandfather.
“What are you doing bringing Mr. Blackwell here?” she asked her father, forgetting all about her manners.
“Please, if you aren’t going to call me Grandpa, at least call me Big E.” He placed his hat back on his head.
Her father’s jaw was tight. He seemed to be about as pleased as she was that the man was there. “This is why I asked you to wait in the RV. Do you have no compassion for what my girls are going through?”
“Oh, well, excuse me,” Elias replied, all sassy and frustrated. “I thought we were here to get acquainted. Not sure how that was going to happen if I’m hiding in the RV.”
Her father gave it right back. “I wanted to explain a few things to her before I introduced you. But you’re more stubborn than that mule you were yapping on about. I don’t know how I’m going to survive this trip.”
Amanda was confused and it surely showed on her face. She could feel her brows pinch together. “Trip? Where are you going? How come Lily didn’t come home with you? Maybe I could talk some sense into her face-to-face.”
“She’s too busy plannin’ her wedding,” Elias answered, causing her father to loudly sigh. “Not to mention she loves it on the ranch. You should see her learning to train our horses. She’s a natural. Of course, she would be. It’s in her blood.”
Amanda closed her eyes and wished the old man away. How in the world could her father stand traveling with him? When she opened her eyes, she was sadly disappointed to find he had moved closer and was making his way up her porch steps.
“Listen, Mr. Blackwell—”
“Big E, please,” he interrupted.
What kind of grown man called himself Big E? Was there a Little E? Or was he saying “Biggie,” like the deceased rapper? Either way, it was strange. “Listen, Mr. Big E. I don’t need a stranger to tell me what my sister is good at or what she’s up to. I am aware that she is engaged...again. My sister and I have a close relationship.”
“Of course you do.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot. “She spoke about you quite a bit. Said you were the sister she’s closest to. That’s why I’m surprised she didn’t tell you she wants you to come help her.”
Panic replaced her indignation. “Help her with what? Is something wrong?”
Clancy stood up and pressed against her leg. He didn’t bark, but he made his presence known. Her father threw his hands up. He shot his military glare at the old man before turning back toward Amanda.
“Don’t listen to him, Mandy. Lily’s fine. She didn’t come home because she’s decided that she wants to move to Montana. She and Conner have decided on a Christmas wedding on the Blackwell Ranch.”
Amanda smacked her forehead with her hand. The last wedding took a solid year to plan, and Amanda had been there every step of the way, keeping Lily on task. “How is she going to plan a wedding by herself in less than four months?”
“The ranch is the perfect place to plan a wedding, darlin’!” Big E bragged. “It’s one of the most premier wedding destinations in the entire northwest mountain states. We have an entire staff to help her with that.”
This man clearly had no idea how all the words coming out of his mouth were like daggers in Amanda’s heart. Usually, Lily asked Amanda to help her when she was in over her head.
She couldn’t continue this conversation about her family with this man who was nothing more than an interloper. He might share their blood, but that was it. She turned her gaze on her father. “What is going on with this RV? Did you drive that thing all the way from Montana?”
“We did,” her father said, as if it had been the most exasperating journey of his life. She could only imagine, given the few minutes she’d been around Mr. Blackwell. “Elias and I have decided to go looking for Thomas.”
Thomas? Thomas Blackwell? The name on the birth certificate? “Why would you do that?” she asked.
“Maybe I can take you to dinner? We can talk about it over some crab legs?”
“I heard Ocean’s Dream has some of the best seafood in the area,” Big E said, joining them on th
e porch. “My treat.”
Apparently, he had missed the part where her father asked if he could take her to dinner. She had assumed they would leave Big E behind. Unfortunately, it was obvious that they must have talked about how Ocean’s Dream was Amanda’s favorite restaurant. It was the place she and her dad had dinner whenever they met to catch up. It was a sacred place and not somewhere she would go with this stranger. All Amanda had wanted to do when she saw her dad at the front door was fall into his arms and cry. She wished she could tell him all about what the doctor had said, about Blake’s engagement. She just wanted her dad to tell her everything would be all right. That wasn’t going to happen with this wannabe grandpa following them around.
“I appreciate that you have an interest in getting to know me,” she said to Big E. “I’m sure finding out you have five granddaughters is very exciting, but all of this is nothing but totally overwhelming to me. To be honest, I am not ready to deal with my expanding family tree yet. I will be sure to let you know when I am.”
Big E gave her a sharp nod.
Her father looked chagrined, not something the retired navy admiral looked very often. “I know all this is unsettling. I’m sorry about that. I know this past month has been nothing but one shock after another. I’m so sorry about that. Your mother and I never wanted you girls to find out like this.”
Had they really wanted Amanda and her sisters to find out at all? It didn’t seem like it. The lies were another thing that Amanda was trying to wrap her head around. Their father was a man of honor. Honest and hardworking were the first two adjectives to pop in anyone’s head when they thought of him. This lie about who her biological father was had her questioning everything, even though she still loved him with her whole heart.
“I know you didn’t, Dad, but here we are. With him.” She waved her hand in Big E’s direction. “When are you two leaving on this adventure of yours?”
“Tomorrow morning. We only stopped by to check in with you.”
