Diamonds are Forever

by Michelle Madow

  “That must be Adrian and Rebecca,” Peyton said. “Anyone know what’s going on?”

  “I have no idea,” Courtney said. “But we’re about to find out.”

  chapter 10:

  Adrian and Rebecca walked into the condo, their expressions serious. Courtney’s stomach swooped, and she shut her laptop, placing it on the floor.

  Rebecca glanced at the used tissues scattered around Savannah. “Are we interrupting something?” she asked.

  “Nope.” Savannah somehow managed to smile. “Just friend drama. I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Rebecca’s forehead creased, and she glanced worriedly at Adrian. “Maybe now isn’t the best time?”

  “We can’t put it off any longer,” he said. “It has to be done now.”

  “What’s going on?” Courtney bit her lower lip, looking back and forth between Adrian and Rebecca. “Is everything okay between you two?”

  “You’re not calling off the wedding, right?” Peyton asked, resting her feet on the coffee table.

  “No, nothing like that.” Adrian waved that notion away. “But we do need to talk with you about something important.”

  If it wasn’t about the wedding, then what was it about? Had they done something wrong? Nothing came to Courtney’s mind—they’d all been getting along well since their vacation to Italy. Unless...they hadn’t found out about her and Brett seeing each other, had they?

  That couldn’t be it. If it were, they would have wanted to talk to Courtney alone. She relaxed slightly. Whatever this was, it had to do with all three of them.

  “Does anyone want something to drink?” Rebecca asked, walking into the kitchen. “Water, soda, juice?”

  Savannah was still working on her Coke, and as Rebecca grabbed a Diet Coke for herself and a regular for Peyton, Courtney got up to get an ice water. Adrian wanted water, too, so she brought one over for him. Finally they situated themselves in the living room, drinks in hand—Courtney, Peyton and Savannah on one couch, and Adrian and Rebecca sitting close together on the other. They were all fidgeting, except for Adrian, who kept completely still, his hands resting on his thighs.

  “So, what’s up?” Peyton was the first to speak.

  “There’s no easy way to say this.” Adrian clasped his hands together and looked closely at each of them, as though searching for the right words. “Which is why I’ve been putting off telling you.” He took a deep breath and said, “When Courtney found out about Britney, I promised there would be no more secrets. I promised we would be honest with each other from there on out, because I wanted to have relationships with you. And that’s still something I want, and something that I think has been going well, with the Sundays we’ve spent together and our vacation over winter break.”

  “Okay...” Courtney’s stomach twisted, feeling as if she wasn’t going to like where he was headed with this.

  “The Sundays have been going really well,” Savannah added.

  Adrian managed a tight-lipped smile, and he continued, “But there’s something else you need to know. I didn’t tell you originally because it involves other people. Now they’re ready for you to know—they were actually ready weeks ago—but it was around the same time you found out about Britney.” He directed that last part to Courtney. “I knew how hard that was on you—on all three of you—and I didn’t want to drop anything else on you while you were grieving for your sister. But I’m not perfect. I’ve made mistakes, and keeping this from you is one of them.”

  “You mean there’s something else you’ve been hiding?” Peyton rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “This is the last secret,” he said. “I promise. It’s not going to be easy to hear, but I want you to know that I’ve enjoyed spending time with you every Sunday, and I would like for you to continue giving me the chance to be your father.”

  With every sentence he spoke, the anticipation built on itself until Courtney felt like she might explode. “We can’t promise how we’ll react before knowing what’s going on,” she said.

  “But I can’t imagine it will change anything, since you’re choosing to tell us,” Savannah added.

  Peyton just stared at him, waiting.

  “Maybe you should start from the beginning?” Rebecca said to Adrian. “Girls, this will be hard for you to hear, but please listen to the whole story, and try to understand that none of the decisions made by anyone involved were easy.”

  “Okay, okay,” Peyton said. “Just tell us already.”

  “It started right after Peyton was born,” Adrian said. “Your mother changed a lot—I suspect it was postpartum depression—­but she’s always had a thing against psychiatrists, so she refused to get checked out. I tried to be there for her, but nothing I did made a difference. Seeing her so sad and hopeless made me feel...worthless. I didn’t know what to do.

  “At the time, a couple that your mother and I were friends with separated. It was a rough time in all of our lives, and the woman in the other couple and I ended up...spending a lot of time with each other.”

  “You slept together?” Leave it to Peyton to be blunt.

  “Yes.” Adrian nodded. “I’m not proud of it—especially since your mom was struggling—but it is what it is. I can’t change the past.”

  Okay, so Adrian had had an affair years ago. It didn’t shock Courtney, since Mom had said he hadn’t been faithful. But why did this one affair matter more than the others?

  “Then your mom found out she was pregnant again—with you this time, Courtney,” he continued. “After what happened when Peyton was born, she agreed to see a psychiatrist. He worked with us, got her on the right medications, and everything was looking up. Not only for us—but for the woman I’d had the affair with, too. She’d gone back to her husband, and they were happy, so we agreed to never mention it again.”

  Peyton crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “But that woman got pregnant, didn’t she?” she asked. Adrian flinched, and she continued without giving him a chance to respond. “Which means we have a half sibling we’ve never known about. Oh, wait, don’t tell me—that half sibling was killed in another Vegas hotel-owner heist, right?” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Because if he or she was alive...that would be a really shitty thing to keep from us.”

  “It’s more complicated than that,” Rebecca said, jumping in. “But yes, she’s alive.”

  “So it’s true?” Courtney felt like the world had gone fuzzy, and she braced her hands on the edge of the sofa. “We have another sibling...who’s around my age? And we’ve never known about her?”

  “Yes,” Adrian said. “It’s true.”

  “And you thought we would be okay with this?” Peyton dropped her legs from the coffee table, her feet slamming onto the floor. “Because you’re telling us before we found out ourselves?”

  “Yes, I thought it would be better if I was the one who told you,” he said. “Which is why I’m doing it now.”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “You promised last time that there were no more secrets. But you lied. I’ll never trust you, or Mom, again...not like I ever did in the first place.” She stood up and glared at him. “I can’t even look at you. I’m going to my room.”

  Adrian’s jaw hardened. “In your mother’s defense, she never knew about this. She knew I was unfaithful to her, yes. But she never knew about the...results of that.”

  That stopped Peyton in her tracks. “Well, that makes it even more terrible than I thought, doesn’t it? You kept this from us and from Mom. It’s a miracle that Rebecca wants to marry you, knowing what a liar you are.”

  “You have a right to be unhappy with your father.” Rebecca’s voice was sharper than Courtney had ever heard it, and her hand rested on Adrian’s knee. “But I’ve been there through all of this
, and Adrian’s always been honest with me. You have to remember that other people are involved in this, too—for instance, your half sister’s parents.”

  “So what?” Peyton asked. “Her parents didn’t want her being part of our family, and you were just okay with that?”

  “Or have you been part of her life this whole time?” Courtney clenched her fists. She was angry at Adrian for keeping this from them, sad that she hadn’t known about this sister until now and had missed all those years of getting to know her, and amazed that this sister was out there at all.

  “No, I haven’t been,” Adrian said. “I wanted to be in your sister’s life, and for her to be in yours. That was the original plan. But the moment that Britney was killed...everything changed.”

  “That’s just an excuse,” Peyton said. “Another cover-up for another lie.” She spun around, her hair flying around her shoulders, and marched toward her room.

  “Are you really going to lock yourself into your room without hearing the full story?” Adrian called to her, stopping her in her tracks. “Without knowing your sister’s identity?”

  “Another sister,” Savannah repeated, breathless. “We have another sister. How could you not think we should know about her?”

  “Once Peyton sits back down, I’ll continue telling you everything.”

  Peyton glared at Adrian and crossed her arms.

  “Come on, Peyton,” Savannah said. “Don’t be so stubborn that you stop us from hearing the whole story. Please?”

  “I’m not being ‘stubborn,’” she said. “I’m pissed off. Don’t you realize that we’re never going to hear the ‘whole story’ about anything? Everything we’ve ever known about our lives has been a lie. I’m done.”

  “I don’t like this, either.” Courtney’s stomach swirled, and she sipped Savannah’s soda to try and calm it. “But Savannah’s right. We need to know more. Don’t you at least want to know who this other sister is?”

  “Fine,” Peyton muttered, throwing her hands in the air and reclaiming her seat on the couch. “I’ll listen, but it doesn’t mean I’m not angry.”

  “Point taken,” Adrian said. His calmness unnerved Courtney. It was as if by remaining calm, he could block off all emotion associated with what he was telling them.

  The three of them watched him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

  “You were about to tell them about the girl’s parents,” Rebecca reminded him. “About them asking you to keep quiet about being her father.”

  “Yes.” Adrian cleared his throat, and took a sip of water. “The situation was difficult for me and the girl’s mother, Leena. You see, Leena comes from a deeply religious family. While she’s more modern, she was afraid that if her parents knew she had a child with a man who wasn’t her husband, her family would no longer respect her, and it would destroy her relationship with them.”

  “So you never told us about our half sister because...you were worried about her mother’s relationship with her family?” Peyton raised an eyebrow. “That’s not enough.”

  “There are more reasons,” he said. “I’m just trying to help you girls understand how all this happened.”

  “All right.” Courtney nodded. She might not like that this had been kept from her, but she wanted to understand why.

  “Leena found out she was pregnant a few weeks after your mother did,” he continued. “By that point, your mom and I were already on track to fix our marriage—the meds were kicking in, and she was back to being herself again. Leena and I had agreed to never speak of our affair to anyone. So when Leena first told me she was pregnant, I knew if your mom found out, it would shatter her. But then Leena said she didn’t want anyone to know, and that her husband had agreed to raise the child as his own—that he was happy to raise the child as his own. She asked me if I would be the child’s godfather, so I could be in her life, but still keep our families intact. The decision wasn’t easy, but in the end, I agreed with her that it was for the best. Her daughter would be raised as practically your sister, and since she was my goddaughter, no one would question the trust fund I created in her name.”

  “And you seriously thought that plan was okay?” Courtney asked. “Raising her as ‘practically’ our sister wouldn’t have been the same as knowing we’re actually sisters.”

  “Looking back on it now, I would have handled it differently.” He glanced down at his hands. “But everything else in my life seemed to be going well for the first time in nearly a year, and Leena’s idea seemed like the best solution to keep it that way.”

  “You lied to us, you lied to Mom and you lied to this half sister of ours,” Peyton said. “The only people it was a ‘good solution’ for were you and Leena.”

  “I didn’t think your mother would be able to handle the truth,” he said. “I was trying to keep her from having another breakdown. You should have seen her after she had you, Peyton. It was like all the life had been sucked out of her. I couldn’t put her through that again.”

  “We’ve all seen her like that,” Courtney said. “It’s like she’s not part of the world anymore. She’s impossible to reach, and it’s scary. It’s why she started drinking.”

  “I hate when she gets like that.” Savannah shuddered. “It’s awful.”

  “So you know what I’m talking about,” Adrian said, his palms up. “I couldn’t help her. I tried, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

  “But when you were raising our half sister as your goddaughter, did you ever think about telling us the truth?” Courtney asked. “Or did you plan on keeping it a secret forever?”

  Adrian shifted in his seat and cracked his knuckles. “If everything had continued on the path I thought we were headed, I’m not sure what would have happened,” he said. “Maybe raising you all so close would have been too hard, and we would have told you the truth. But then Britney was killed, and everything changed. Your mom took the three of you back to Fairfield, and I told Leena it wasn’t worth risking our daughter’s safety for me to be in her life, especially since she has a father who loves her as if she were his own. I was harsh about it—I was in a dark place after Britney’s death—and didn’t give her much say. She, her husband and our daughter moved across town. They never told her that I’m her biological father. So with all four daughters out of my life—and safe, until your mother spiraled out of control—I threw myself into what I do best—my work.”

  Courtney pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to get this all straight. “So we have a half sister, who’s my age, living her life with no idea of our existence.”

  “Is she still in Vegas?” Savannah asked. “Have we met her?”

  Courtney sucked in a sharp breath at the possibility. Had they met anyone who could be their sister? She, Savannah and Peyton all had various shades of blond hair, fair skin, blue eyes and tiny noses. They had their differences, too—Peyton had inherited Adrian’s high cheekbones, whereas Savannah’s face was round, like their mom’s, and Courtney had Adrian’s height. But despite those differences, anyone looking at them side by side could tell they were sisters.

  Courtney had no idea what this Leena looked like. If their half sister looked more like her mom, Courtney might never be able to guess who she was.

  “Yes, you do know her,” Adrian said. “She also lives in the Diamond.”

  Courtney’s hands dropped to her sides. She only knew one girl her age who lived here. “You mean that our half sister is...?”

  “Madison Lockhart.”

  Courtney stared at him, as if waiting for him to take it back. How could this be true? Madison had hated them from day one; she’d gone out of her way to kiss Damien at a club to embarrass Savannah, she’d teased Courtney about her fling with Brett and she’d taken a picture of Peyton with her teacher at the bar and sent it to her friends. And they were related. Courtney shuddered
at the thought.

  “That bitch can’t be our sister.” Peyton slammed her soda can on the coffee table, drops of Coke splattering everywhere. “She’s treated us like shit from the first day we got here.”

  “Yeah,” Savannah chimed in. “She hates us. And none of us like her, either.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being too hard on her?” Rebecca asked.

  “No,” Courtney said. “We’re not.”

  “Madison didn’t know she was related to you until recently,” Adrian said. “If she’d known, she might have been more welcoming when you moved here.”

  “Yeah, right,” Peyton said. “She probably would have hated us more.”

  “You’re wrong,” he said. “Since finding out, she’s been pushing for me to tell the three of you the truth, so she can get to know you. I was the one who held back—I thought you needed time to process what you learned about Britney before I threw something else at you.”

  “When did she find out?” Courtney asked. “She knew the week of Thanksgiving, didn’t she?”

  “That long?” Savannah gasped. “No way.”

  “It’s possible,” Courtney said. “Madison and I had a strange conversation in the tutoring center before Thanksgiving break. She asked me questions about my relationships with you and Peyton, and she asked about Adrian, too. It all seemed so random. But now it makes sense. Madison knew the truth at that point. Didn’t she?”

  “Yes.” Adrian cleared his throat. “She did. Her mom—Leena—called me after Thanksgiving break to tell me that Madison knew.”

  “But she was at my birthday party, and she barely talked to us,” Savannah said. “She acted like she didn’t know us...”

  Courtney’s body went cold, and she could barely move. Because when Peyton had accused Madison of posting that picture of her and her teacher online—that had been after Thanksgiving, too. She and Peyton had talked to Madison in the Lobby Bar, right under the statue of Daphne turning into a tree, and Madison had acted like she barely knew them. Like she didn’t know she was their sister.