Then something clicked. According to what Dominic said, Brittany had just moved here a little while ago. “It’s Brittany.” I stated. Oh shit! Holy shit, Brittany was my half-sister? No, no f**king way!

“I’m afraid so. I’ve known for a while that Jason had another daughter. Now, knowing who it is and what everyone thinks she did, it’s time that everyone knows.” He looked off into the distance, “I made your mom a promise, years ago, that I’d always look out for your family and I’ve kept that promise. I’ve kept tabs on your dad all this time. He’s been staying out of trouble since that last time things went down. I believe he was cheating on your mom though, since Brittany is a year younger than Jaylinn.” I wondered if Mom knew about this. “Brittany’s mom passed away from breast cancer when she was three and it’s just been the two of them ever since. I knew that he’d lived in Virginia but didn’t realize that Brittany was going to school with you and MacKenzie.” He looked disgusted, “I didn’t see a need to keep an eye on her too,” he huffed, “guess I was wrong.” I could see the disappointment on Andrew’s face; he was probably feeling awful that he hadn’t been more thorough in his investigation.

Fuck! This is a lot to process. I kicked a rock that was by my feet and walked to where it landed and did it again and again until the sidewalk stopped at the end of the block. The guys were hanging back a few feet. I continued, walking the same path to the ball field that I’d made hundreds of times, and mentally checked out.

So not only was my piece of shit dad around, but I had a half-sister as well and she’s bat shit crazy. This bitch tried to run my fiancé, my son, my whole world, off the road and then left them there to die. Did Mom know about Brittany? She couldn’t have; she would have told me, surely. How would I ever explain this to CC? She’d never forgive Brittany for what she’d done. Would I ever be able to forgive her? After all, it was her nephew that she’d almost killed. Did she even know about Jaylinn and me? Was this all part of a plan to hurt my family again?

CC and I never discussed the accident. I’d known who hit CC the second the detectives gave the car description. She talked to the detective a few days after she’d gotten home, but after she told him what happened and that she didn’t know who it was, that was the end of it. She’d never brought it up and it was a chapter in our book that I wanted in the past. I knew that in the end, Brittany would get what was coming to her. I knew, just by protocol, that I wasn’t allowed to be involved in the case. It’s a matter that involved my family and it affected me personally, I’d put my feelings before the law. Because of that, and everything that had happened, I was ordered to take time off due to the Family Medical Leave Act, for at least six weeks. This actually worked out well for me, there’s no way that CC could manage herself, let alone a newborn — she needed care twenty-four hours a day. Plus, with everything going on it was exactly what I needed. I also knew it was their way of making sure I stayed out of the investigation and let the law do its job.

I had too many questions that remained unanswered; and there were only two people that had those answers. I made my decision, it might not be the best one, but it was the best one for now.

I stopped walking and turned to face the guys, “I can’t tell her yet. I need a little more time.”

Mason cursed under his breath, Jackson sighed loudly and Cooper hung his head. I knew this was going to be hardest on Mason. Hailey knew about everything and was putting the pressure on him to tell CC. I couldn’t blame her, they were best friends.

Andrew walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder, “Your family and mine will all stand behind you,” He gave my shoulder a squeeze, “but I need to talk to MacKenzie. I’ve kept my involvement in the FBI from her for long enough.”

And that was the start of the can of worms. In a matter of time CC would know everything that everyone she loved had been trying to protect her from. My only fear was that she wasn’t going to handle being betrayed by her family, all of her family, very well. She’s strong, confident and has the patience of a saint, especially when dealing with her brothers, but there is only so much one person can take.

When the boys got back from playing baseball at the field behind our house, all of their moods were shitty. I was sitting at the kitchen table feeding Ryder his bottle when they walked in, Hunter came over and ran his fingers over Ryder’s face and his eyes fluttered closed.

“You have the magic touch, you know that?” I was amazed. Every time Hunter did that to Ryder he’d have him asleep in no time at all.

He winked at me, “It only works if you’re holding him though.”

Hmm, I’d never thought about it that way. He was right though, most of the time we were cuddled with Ryder. I’d tried a few times when Hunter was sleeping or ran out to the store but he never fell asleep for me.

“I’m going to go wash up.” He kissed my head, letting his lips linger a little longer than normal.

Since we’d gotten back from the mall, the girls and I had been talking about the wedding. Mom kept trying to get the date out of me but I’d told her she had to wait for Hunter to get back. We were talking about different venues. After I’d told them I wanted a Winter Wonderland wedding, everyone started voicing their ideas about what this should look like and how that should look. The girls wanted to go out and see what kind of dresses would look good for the theme; I told them I wanted to wait until my casts were off so I could enjoy it properly. They agreed and we set the date that we’d start as the weekend after Thanksgiving. I was due to have my cast removed the week of Thanksgiving, providing everything healed the way it’s supposed to.

Mason had walked up behind Hailey and put his hands on either side of her hips. He whispered something into her ear and they left the room. Just a few minutes later, Hailey walked into the kitchen, face all red, “Hey Kenz, I’m going to head out. I have a killer headache. I’ll call you tomorrow, ok?” She rubbed her hand over Ryder’s curly dark hair and smiled down at him all snuggled up in my arms.

“Hails, look at me.” She looked up, “What’s going on?”

She just shook her head, “You’ll find out soon enough.” She said it just loudly enough so only I could hear her, but walked away before I could ask her what that meant.

“Dinner’s done.” Mom yelled out towards the living room where I assumed everyone else had disappeared to.