“Do what, Shelley?” Deirdra asked matter-of-factly. “Please cut to the chase. We’re all adults here.”
“You’re right.” Shelley inhaled a deep breath and said, “Here goes. Deirdra, Abby, when your mom was seventeen, she got pregnant, and her parents made her give up her daughter.” Her eyes moved compassionately to Cait. “Cait, honey, you are Ava’s eldest daughter.”
The earth shifted beneath Abby, and her gaze locked on Cait, who looked like a deer caught in headlights, her lower lip trembling. Abby mentally cataloged her features. Tall, lean, green eyes. She had the same high cheekbones as their mother, the same curve to her lips. Was that jet-black hair her natural color?
“What?” Deirdra snapped. “Mom never said anything about having another child.”
Shelley covered Cait’s hand with her own, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I know she didn’t, and I know this is a shock to all of you, but it’s true. Your mother didn’t want to give up her baby. Cait. But her parents were overbearing, and she was only seventeen. She had no other option. Her parents arranged for a private adoption, and even at seventeen your mother knew Cait would have a better chance at a life with her adoptive family than she would with a teenage runaway, which is what she would have had to do at the time to keep her.”
A tear slipped down Cait’s cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. Deirdra looked stuck somewhere between stunned disbelief and frustrated confusion, so Abby picked up her chair and moved between Deirdra and Cait. She put her arm around their half sister and said, “Are you okay?”
Cait nodded. “I’ve just . . . I’ve always wondered why I was given up for adoption.”
“Of course you have, honey.” Shelley squeezed her hand again and said, “Ava loved you very much. I wish I could have convinced her to do this, to meet you, but Ava was an alcoholic, and she wasn’t strong enough to handle it. I think she knew she was sick long before she was diagnosed, because she told me all of this before she saw the doctor the week after Christmas.”
“How did she . . . ?” Cait asked softly.
Shelley’s eyes dampened. “Metastatic liver cancer. By the time she saw the doctor, it had spread throughout her body. She passed a few weeks later.”
More tears spilled down Cait’s cheeks. Abby stroked Cait’s back and said, “I’m sorry you never got a chance to meet her.”
“Maybe she’s better off that way,” Deirdra said.
“What Deirdra means,” Abby said, glowering at Deirdra, “is that the last several years were hard because our mom was drinking, but when we were young and our father was alive, our mother was amazing.”
Cait looked at Shelley and said, “Did Ava run away from her overbearing parents?”
“Yes,” Shelley said. “She left home shortly after the adoption was finalized. She landed here on the island a little less than a year later and got a job working for Dee and Abby’s father, Olivier.” His name was pronounced O-liv-e-ay. “Once they were married, Olivier helped Ava track you down. But Ava made the very brave and very difficult decision not to disrupt your life by trying to get you back. And I’m so sorry, Cait, but Ava wasn’t sure who your father was. She said it could have been one of two of the teenage boys she was hanging out with back then, but she’d lost touch with them when she moved.”
Cait lowered her eyes.
Abby’s heart was breaking for her. What was she feeling, hearing about her birth mother for the first time and knowing she couldn’t meet her? Learning she had two sisters? Abby was excited to get to know the sister she never knew existed, despite the skepticism on Deirdra’s face. She knew how that skepticism could burn, and she also knew Deirdra would come around, so she put her energy into making sure their new half sister was okay.
“It looks like today is our lucky day,” Abby said cheerily. “We have another sister to get to know.”
Cait’s eyes shot up to hers, and her lips twitched into an uncomfortable, disbelieving smile.
“No offense, Cait, but I have to ask a hard question,” Deirdra said. “How do we know for sure that Cait is actually Mom’s daughter?”
Shelley pulled a thick packet of documents out of her bag and said, “It’s all right here. Copies of the adoption papers, her birth certificate, all of your mother’s legal documents—birth and death certificates, social security card, medical records. The paper trail is there, Dee.”
Deirdra began scanning the documents.
“Ava left the house and the business to the three of you in equal shares, along with her life insurance money.” Shelley put another stack of documents on the table and said, “She didn’t have much insurance. It comes out to about twelve thousand dollars each.”
Cait shook her head, fidgeting with the envelope she’d brought with her, her gaze trained on it. “You two can have my shares. I didn’t know her.” She looked up and said, “But I would like to hear about her.”
“Of course,” Abby insisted. “But she left those things to you, Cait. They’re yours.”
Cait’s eyes shifted warily to Deirdra.
“She’s right. They’re yours,” Deirdra said in a softer tone. “You might have noticed that I have some resentment toward our mother, but it’s not aimed at you. I’m sorry if I came across lawyerish or cold.” She smiled and said, “I am a lawyer. I may not be as warm as Abby is, and I don’t get mushy over memories the way she does, but I’m not a cold bitch. So I’m sorry.”
Shelley looked at Deirdra and said, “I see you’ve still got your father’s penchant for honesty.”
“Except she doesn’t cushion things as well as Dad did,” Abby said, earning a smirk from Deirdra and a silent smile from Cait. “Cait, you also need to know that there’s a hefty offer on the table from an investor who wants to buy the Bistro.”
“Oh? In that case, it looks like you girls have even more to talk about today,” Shelley said as she gathered her things.
“I can’t stay,” Cait said softly. “I have to get back to work.”
“Oh, okay. Do you think you can come back tomorrow or another day? We have a lot to talk about, and I really want to get to know you,” Abby said, hoping Deirdra hadn’t scared her off for good.
Cait was quiet for a long moment, shifting nervously in her chair. Abby couldn’t begin to imagine what was going on in her head. Hoping to sway her decision with the lure of sisterhood, she said, “You can stay with us. We haven’t cleaned out Mom’s room yet, but you can stay in the apartment above our garage, help us go through Mom’s things, and learn about who she was.”
Cait smiled cautiously. “Thanks. I’d like that. I’ll talk to my boss tonight about getting a few days off and will try to come back tomorrow.”
“Great,” Abby said, thrilled that she wanted to try to come back.
Deirdra said, “I’m here until Friday morning. I’d like to get to know you, too, if you can get time off.”
Relief swept through Abby, and she saw that relief mirrored in Cait’s expression.
“Okay.” Cait pushed to her feet and said, “It’s all overwhelming. I think I’ll go back to the ferry and try to wrap my head around everything. Can we exchange phone numbers in case I can’t get time off?”