He chewed his lip, continuing to give me his undivided attention. Wren’s face was turning redder by the second.
“After you lost your mom,” I said, “I felt helpless, because even though I knew I’d always be here for you, I never felt like I was enough. You deserved so much more, so I thought it would be a good idea to try to find your…biological relatives.”
Rafe’s expression was stoic.
“I want to make it clear that my actions in no way had anything to do with wanting someone else to take care of you. That’s my responsibility. I just wanted to see if I could brighten up your life a bit, in case there were people who didn’t know about you and might have wanted to.”
“What do you mean?” he interrupted. “You found my birth mother?”
“The investigator I hired did.” I forced myself to take a breath. “She wasn’t in a place in her life to meet you. She still has a lot of issues. But we learned through her that she’d also given up another child…more than a decade before you were born. A daughter.” I paused. “And I located her.” I looked across the table at Wren. “That’s what led me to Wren. I know you’ve assumed all this time that she was my friend. And she is.” I looked into his eyes. “But she’s also your sister.”
He immediately looked over at her, but his expression was hard to read. If anything, it was pure shock.
I gave Wren a supportive nod, which was her cue to speak.
“I’m your sister, Rafe,” she said shakily. “It was never our intention to keep this from you for very long. Dax needed some time to learn about me to make sure I would be a good influence in your life. He didn’t tell me right away, either, because he wanted to be very careful to make sure neither one of us got hurt. So I didn’t know who you were when we first met.”
He blinked several times. “When did you find out?”
“Right around the time I started coming over more often, back in February.”
Rafe looked away. “I can’t believe this.”
Wren’s eyes glistened. “I know it’s a lot to take in. It was for me, too. But in a good way. I never thought I’d have a sibling. Finding out about you was the best news ever.”
“Wait…” he said. “You’re still leaving, right?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, I am. That’s part of why I wanted to make sure you knew now, so you’d understand why I need to keep in close contact with you while I’m away. I don’t want you to feel like I’m abandoning you. I will never abandon you, Rafe. I’ll only be a plane ride away if you need me. And it’s only for two years. You’ll blink, you’ll be almost sixteen, and I’ll be back. I realize the timing is not great. And please don’t take my leaving personally. This adventure is just one I need to take right now.”
Rafe finally looked over at me again. “I don’t know what to say.”
“It’s going to take some time for you to absorb this. You don’t have to say anything,” I assured him. “We just needed you to know.”
Shannon remained quiet. I was about to open my mouth, but Wren took the helm again.
“It took me some time to process, too.” She let out a quivering breath. “I know the past couple of years have been so tough for you. It’s not my intention to make your life more complicated. I want to make it better. I hope you’ll let me. And I hope, once it sinks in, that this is happy news for you.”
She started to tear up, and I wanted so badly to reach across the table and hug her. I was fully responsible for anything negative that might come out of this. Everything was still in limbo because I couldn’t gauge how Rafe was feeling about it.
“I did sense something weird when it came to you,” Rafe finally told her.
She wiped her nose with her forearm and laughed. “Well, I’m a weird person, so…”
“I don’t know how to explain it but…it finally makes sense now.” He nodded. “You finally make sense.”
Wren visibly relaxed. “I love you, Rafe. I want you to know that I’ve loved you from the moment I found out you were my brother.” Her lip trembled. “Are you okay? Do you have any questions for me?”
He shook his head, seeming dazed. “Not right now. Maybe later I will.”
All our eyes were on him. My heart felt heavy, but in a good way, in a relieved way.
He finally turned to me. “May I be excused?”
“Of course.”
As he left the room, the three of us sat in silence for probably a full minute until Shannon broke the ice.
She smiled. “Well…I think that went…okay?”