“Oh! Mom, can you? I can’t get down there like this.” She rubbed the mound of her belly.
“I’ll get it,” her mom said hastily. She leaned over to collect the spilled items while Emory drove off the road and through the wards around Mistwood. By the time she sat back up, they were nearing the manor. “Oh! Is this it? I didn’t even notice it from the road!”
Raven laughed nervously. “Everyone says that. It’s the trees. They make it practically invisible.”
Avery chewed her lip at the way Raven’s voice rose in pitch. It was her sister’s tell when she was lying. Would Mom notice? She released a relieved breath when Sarah didn’t remark.
Thankfully, Emory wasted no time in parking the car in front of the entrance and popping open the back door.
Avery let herself out and sidled up to Raven. “So far, so good.”
The heavy wood of the decorative front door swung open, and Nathaniel welcomed them inside. “You must be Ms. Tanglewood,” he said, extending his hand.
“Please, call me Sarah.”
“I’m Nathaniel. Welcome to Mistwood.”
Mom shook his hand. “You have a beautiful home.”
They were interrupted when Clarissa descended the stairs and hustled to Nathaniel’s side, extending her own hand. “Hello, I’m Clarissa.”
Avery watched all the blood drain from her mother’s face. “Clariss—” For a moment, Sarah stared, openmouthed and wide-eyed. Then she swooned, toppling to the stone threshold to the sound of her daughters’ screams.
Chapter Three
“Mom!” Avery slapped her mother’s cheek gently.
Nathaniel swept Sarah into his arms and carried her to the couch in the main parlor. Although she’d knocked her head when her body crumpled, there was no blood. She was breathing but unconscious.
“Nathaniel, can you get some ice? She’s going to have a bump.”
Her mother’s lashes fluttered. “Avery? Oh…” She rubbed her head. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault you fainted.”
Nathaniel returned with a cloth bag filled with ice, and Avery applied it to the bump.
Sarah’s eyes searched the room, locking onto Clarissa. “No, what I mean is, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. She’s why you haven’t come home, isn’t she? Because you know. She told you.”
Raven moved in closer and set her hand on Avery’s shoulder. “Told us what, Mom?”
Sarah’s brow dipped, and her gaze flitted between the three of them. “That she’s your sister, obviously.”
The room exploded into gasps and murmurs.
“What does that mean?” Avery’s mouth popped open. She closed it and then looked toward Raven as if her sister might have an explanation. But she seemed just as shell-shocked.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Mom, are you serious?” Raven shook her head incredulously.
Clarissa was as still as a statue as she said, “I’m your… daughter?”
Their mother glanced in her direction, then squeezed her eyes shut. “You didn’t know? How could you not know? You all look exactly alike for God’s sake. No DNA test is needed here.”
“Mom.” Raven’s tone was razor sharp. “Start explaining.”
“It was thirty years ago. David and I weren’t ready to have a child. We were too young. We could barely support ourselves.”
Nathaniel appeared with a beverage tray. Avery hadn’t seen him leave the room and assumed one of his oreads, Tempest or Laurel, was actually responsible. “Tea, Ms. Tanglewood?”
“Yes, please. Whatever you have there.”
He poured her a cup. Mom sat up, stirred in a lump of sugar, and raised it to her lips with trembling hands.
“We weren’t even married yet, you understand.” She cast Clarissa a beseeching look. “We had to give you up, and the Blacks were such a good family. I knew they would give you the life you deserved.”
Nathaniel’s empathetic gaze fell on his mate, and he crossed the room to stand beside her. He rubbed her shoulders supportively.
“I was told my biological parents died in an automobile accident.” Clarissa’s throat bobbed with her swallow.
Their mother blinked rapidly and leaned back against the sofa. “Heavens no. Why would the Blacks tell you that?”
“They didn’t. The social worker told me after the Blacks died in a tragic accident when I was five.”
Mom brought her hands to her mouth and gave her head two quick shakes. “But… if they died, who raised you?”
“I was fostered by… many families.” Clarissa’s gaze dropped to the Persian rug but not before Avery caught a flash of pain in her blue eyes. In the short time she’d known Clarissa, Avery had come to understand that her upbringing had damaged her in ways the rest of them would likely never understand.
Sarah’s face paled. “What? But… by the time you were five, we were settled. We would have taken you.”
Clarissa shrugged. “I don’t know how it works.”
“I’m so sorry, Clarissa. I never knew. I’ve followed your career over the years, but I couldn’t contact you because…” She gestured toward her with both hands. “Well, because you’re you! You’re famous. I had no idea if the Blacks had even told you about us. Oh, what a mess.” She buried her head in her hands.
As the initial shock began to wear off, Avery experienced a bubble of elation and rushed to Clarissa to give her a tight hug. “You’re my sister. My real, blooded sister.”
Raven, though, wasn’t ready for hugs and acceptance. She crossed her arms and paced the room. “I can’t believe you kept this from us, Mom. Why?”
Sarah brushed her bangs back from her eyes. “What was I supposed to say? There isn’t really a good time to tell your children that they have a sister out there and that she’s a famous pop star.”
Millions of questions tumbled through Avery’s mind, and she rubbed her temples. “So Dad knows too? He was part of this?”
Their mom nodded.
Nathaniel stepped deeper into the room. “Sarah, is that why you named the bar the Three Sisters?”
For a second, Avery was confused. She’d heard Raven explain the name to him before. It was a historical name. Why was he asking a question he already knew the answer to?
“Oh no. The Three Sisters has been in the Tanglewood family for generations. It was named after a small plantation owned by three Tanglewood sisters from way back when Louisiana was a new territory. As the legend goes, someone burned the place down. One of our ancestors was accused of being a witch, can you believe it? So those three sisters opened the Inn of the Three Sisters, which eventually became the Three Sisters Bar & Grill. My bar.”
“That’s quite the story,” Nathaniel said, suddenly acutely interested. “Three women running a plantation on their own in a colony.”
Sarah shot him a lighthearted grin. “There are all these rumors in our family that they were…” She lowered her voice. “…actually witches. It pops up again and again in our family history.” She giggled as if she found the whole thing ridiculous. “Although my brother and I understand that back then, the word witch was used to describe any woman who dared to think independently. Family legend also said they were Greek, but we all figured they were French like most of the population. Tanglewood isn’t a popular surname, and we can’t trace our roots back before New Orleans. We think the three women invented it because they wanted to hide their true identities. Maybe they were criminals after a new start. It would fit with the city’s history.” She shrugged, her narrow nose wrinkling.