6
JAKE
Jesus Christ.
What the hell did I uncover here?
Knowing what I know about Adam and Noah’s sperm donor, Hope’s story isn’t hard to believe. My reaction to her spilling her truths isn’t as volatile as the women. I feel fucking awful for the girl, suffering for years after being violated by a piece of shit like him, but I barely know the people involved, so there’s a certain degree of separation.
I remain seated on the couch while the girls comfort their friend. I wait quietly, patiently. This can’t be easy for any of them, and they need time to come to terms with what they’ve learned. I think about leaving but can’t bring myself to do it. This situation might not involve me directly, but it does involve Adam in a roundabout way. I can’t ignore what I’ve learned.
That thought has my eyes drifting toward the hallway where Penny took the little girl after I got here.
Mercy.
Some of the pieces of the puzzle started coming together instantly when Hope showed recognition of Noah’s name, but the girls still haven’t figured it out. Understandably distraught by the trauma their friend revealed, they haven’t had time to realize what it all means.
Yeah, Mercy might be Noah’s daughter, but she’s more than that.
Something about the little girl struck me as familiar when I looked at her.
The same thing I saw when I looked at Riley.
I didn’t realize then what it was, but I do now.
Her eyes.
Mercy and Riley have the same eyes.
The same eyes as Adam, Noah, and Felix.
Regardless of who fathered the little girl, she and Riley are related by blood.
I have no doubts.
And they have no idea.
I ruminate on what to do with this information and inevitably get lost in my thoughts. I don’t know how much time passes when something in the atmosphere shifts and brings my attention back to focus.
I notice that the women are no longer crying but talking in hushed tones. It’s obvious that emotions are still high, but it seems like things have calmed down enough for me to remind them of my presence.
Clearing my throat quietly does the trick.
Lexi looks back at me, eyes widening as if she forgot I was here. With everything happening, there’s a good chance she did. I’m not offended. Tipping my head toward the kitchen, I move to my feet and leave the room, knowing she’ll follow.
Lexi joins me and immediately tries to apologize, but I stop her because it’s unnecessary. None of them have a goddamn reason to apologize to me. I watch her closely as she divides her attention between me and the women in the other room. She’s torn, but she’s smart enough to know I wanted her in here for a reason.
I’m not sure how Hope will react to the now-obvious relationship between Riley and Mercy when it’s revealed, so I want to run it by Lexi first. Subtlety isn’t my thing, so keeping my voice low, I go with the direct approach and rip it off like a band-aid.
“You realize this means that Mercy and Riley are related.”
Her brows dip, creating a cute little crease between them as she thinks about it. Her eyes widen when she processes everything that’s happened and realizes I’m right.
“Holy shit!” she whispers, eyes darting back to her sister in the living room. “It seems so obvious now. How did I not see it before?”
She’s not looking for an answer, but a simple one exists.
Lexi is too close to them and has never had a reason to think they could be related, so she didn’t see what I saw when I looked at the two of them. The similarities they share with Noah, Adam, and Felix are obvious to me. Now that it’s been pointed out, it’s impossible not to see the similarities between Riley and Mercy as well. Of course, there’s always a chance I could be wrong. Since we haven’t technically confirmed Riley is related to the guys in Blackwood, this could all be one big coincidence. But my gut is telling me that’s not the case.
“Look,” I begin, “I know you all need some time to come to terms with what you found out. I didn’t realize I’d be opening Pandora’s box when I came here today. I can come back later so we can finish talking if that’s what you need me to do. Now that the truth is out there… it can’t be ignored. I don’t want to be the bad guy here, but I’ve met Noah, Lexi. He’s a good guy. I heard Hope say he can never know, but if there’s a chance Mercy is his daughter… he has the right to know.”
“No. You’re right. He deserves to know. Hope is…” She glances back toward the living room, sighing when she turns her attention back to me. “She’s a mess, honestly. She’s our sister, and we love her, but things have always been complicated with her. At least now I can kinda understand why, but—”
“Hope is—what’s going on?” Riley asks, looking back and forth between the two of us when she realizes she’s interrupted something serious.
I have no problem telling her what we’ve been discussing, but I turn to Lexi for guidance because I’m not sure if now is the time.
She must think it’s fine because she nods.
“We were talking about you and Mercy,” I tell Riley.
“Me and… oh. Oh!” Her eyes widen when she immediately connects the dots. “Fuck. I never realized…”
“None of us did,” Lexi reassures her. “None of us had a clue, not even Hope. She couldn’t have known you might be related to Noah.”
“Yeah…” she says absently. “This all seems so surreal. This kinda shit doesn’t happen in real life.”
“I assure you it does. More than you’d think.”
I’d know. I’ve taken on some unbelievable cases over the years.
Stranger things have happened.
“We should go back in there,” Riley says, not addressing my statement. “That’s why I came to get you. Hope has calmed down, and I think we can continue… hopefully, without any more surprises.”
Lexi snorts but follows Riley when she leaves the room.
I trail behind the two of them, more than willing to let them deliver the latest realization to the other two waiting for us.
Riley is the one to tell Hope and Penny.
The latter seems to have already come to the same conclusion, but Hope doesn’t take the news nearly as well, especially when Lexi brings up having DNA tests done to get definitive answers. She starts getting worked up again, and immediately starts rambling.
“We can’t. It’s not possible. Noah can’t know what his dad did to me. He can’t know. I won’t tell him. I won’t.”
“Hope…” Riley says her name softly, talking to her as if she’s a wounded animal.
“No, Riley. No. I won’t tell Noah, and there’s no way I’m going near him to get a DNA sample. I can’t—”
“He’s dead,” I tell her bluntly, hoping it will ease at least some of her tension. I can see from across the room how tightly her body is wound.
Her eyes meet mine from across the room. “Dead?”
“I can show you the death certificate if you’d like. He died years ago in a drunk driving accident.”
“He’s dead,” she says, the relief obvious in her tone.
She finds at least some comfort in the news, but it’s not enough. It’s clear to everyone that she’s still on edge, still bothered by the truths she’s revealed to everyone today.
No one seems to know what to say. The room goes quiet.
It’s Penny who finally breaks the silence.
“How can we figure out who fathered Mercy without DNA from either man?”
She hasn’t said much since the connection between Hope and Noah was uncovered. I’m betting there’s something more to the story we were told, but if Penny hasn’t said a word, I’m guessing it has nothing to do with the situation at hand. She doesn’t seem like she’d hold back, especially when it comes to Mercy. I saw the two of them together a lot during my surveillance. The love Penny has for that little girl is unmistakable.
“If there’s a blood relation between me and Mercy… we may be able to find out from testing the two of us.”
Riley’s right, of course. Genetic testing has come a long way. I won’t pretend to understand all the finer details of DNA tests, but the results should help them determine which man fathered Mercy based on comparing the percentage of shared genetic markers between the two.
I’m still not sold on not telling Noah, but I can tell now isn’t the time to push. Hope is teetering on the verge of another breakdown, and I’m not sure if the other three will be able to hold her together if it happens.
“Would you be okay with that, Hope?” Lexi asks.
“I don’t care what you do… as long as no one tells Noah.”
Hope pushes out of the recliner and leaves the room without sparing anyone a glance.