Chapter 40

(*Aaron*)  

Apprehension fills my gut as I watch Rylan’s face as I tell her my theory about Charlie. We both took turns cleaning up in the small, attached restroom. Once we were presentable, I decided it was time to rip the band-aid off. 

A myriad of emotions crossed her face as I explained who I thought Charlie might be to her.  

The first was anger, and that I have a feeling was more for bringing up another woman so soon after we had just done on that table. That I understand, and my timing sucks ass. I should have told her about my stupid theory last night.  

Then came disbelief and denial. Which I had expected too. I mean, if I were presented with this from someone else and I had a possible missing sibling, I would not believe it either.  

However, it was the shock on her face when I showed her a picture of Charlie that I pulled up from her website. I chose not to show her the ones on my phone in case she saw that as another reason to doubt what I said about not sleeping with Charlie. 

Men shouldn’t have pictures of other women on their phones if they are in relationships. That was a lesson I have never had to learn, but it is a no-brainer. The only exceptions are mothers and sisters, or if we ever have children, our kids’ pictures are safe. 

That thought gave me a slightly odd feeling as I watched Rylan pace back and forth in a tight circle. What would our children look like? Would they take after one or both of us? I can see little raven-haired kids running around my house, and it makes me smile.  

“What are you grinning at?” Rylan asks with anger in her voice.  

I raise both my hands in a peaceful gesture. “I will tell you later. What do you think?”  

“It is absolutely eerie. Do you have a picture of me on your phone to compare it to?”  

“Promise not to get mad? I have all the pictures that I sent to Mac and then a few of you and Rosalie. He made a mock-up picture of the three of you for a side-by-side comparison. 

She frowns at me, then holds her hand out for my phone. I held my breath as she scrolled through the pictures. When she gets to the last one, the one that Mac made, her eyes go wide in shock.  

“Holy fucking shit, Aaron. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me about this when you figured it out? She looks so much like me and Rosalie. How the fuck could my mother keep...” Her voice trails off, and a new fire lights her eyes. 

I push off the edge of the table that I was leaning against and step up to her. I grip her shoulders to stop her from moving. “Look at me.”  

Her eyes meet mine, and if I were anyone else, I would be afraid of the rage I see in her gorgeous blue eyes. I will do everything in my power to help her through this situation since I was the one that pulled that dark, dirty secret out of the past.  

“Your mother is a piece of work, and I will be with you when you confront her about this shit. I am sorry that I didn’t tell you about this yesterday; I should have, and there is nothing I can do or say to make you forgive me for it.”  

“That bitch never wanted me. She only had me to trap my father into marriage. That backfired on her because he stayed with his wife instead. He never loved my mother; that is a fact he told me when I was sixteen.”  

Wow. What a shitty family. Wait, her mom tried to baby trap her father. That is new information and makes me dislike the woman even more and respect her father just a bit more for staying with his wife after the affair came to light. 

There are now two affair babies in that family.  

Well, maybe three if Charlie was a product of a previous affair. 

“If Charlie is my half-sister, how did she end up in England?”  

“I have Mac working on that information.”  

“Of course you do.” She glares at me. “You told Quinn too, didn’t you? You told him before you told me!”  

“Baby, I wanted to be sure and have more facts before I brought this shit show to your attention. I asked for their thoughts to make sure I wasn’t seeing shit that wasn’t there. As it turns out, there is something there, and Mac will call you, not me, when he gets the information for you.”  

She takes a deep breath, then punches me in the shoulder. “No more keeping things from me that affect my life. My life is a mess right now, Aaron. I don’t need this on top of everything else.”  

I pull her against me and smile to myself when she snuggles against me. “I will be right here with you.”  

“Oh, Aaron, how can you say that when you have your own problems to deal with? Don’t let my stuff interfere with your PTSD treatment.”  

“You are important to me, Rylan. I love you and will be there for you, just like you have been for me. We are a team, babe. You and me against the world.”  

“I like how that sounds, and oddly enough, it makes me feel a little better. What is she like? Charlie?”  

“Will you get mad at me for telling you about another woman?”  

She huffs against my chest in annoyance, but then laughs. “I guess I had that coming with my jealousy issues. No, I won’t get mad. Please tell me about her.”  

I do just that for the next ten minutes. I tell her everything that Charlie told me about herself while we were in London. There wasn’t much to tell, just the basics. Then I told her what I observed about the women. 

By the time I was done, Rylan looked like she was ready to take on the world. 

Or at least the art show.  

“Does she know what I look like?” Rylan asks me.  

“Only that you two look a lot alike. I believe I mentioned that to her the night we met in that club. She was curious about you because I talked about you quite a bit during the time she was with me. She wanted to know about the woman who held my heart.”  

“Aww, you are a sucker for me!” Rylan looks up at me and gives me a radiant smile.  

“Always.” I tell her, then lightly kiss the tip of her nose.  

Her expression falls as she looks at me. “I am sorry that I got so jealous.”  

“Given my history with women, I understand. However, I thought you knew me better than that. Now, let’s drop it. I forgive you and, in a way, find that mean, jealous streak you have rather hot.” I waggle my eyebrows at her, which causes her to laugh.  

“I didn’t like the feeling one bit, so don’t give me another reason to feel that way in the future.” She glares at me, but there is laughter in her eyes.  

“Oh, baby, trust me, I am a one-woman man. Yours.”  

She tilts her face up for a kiss, and I happily oblige her. I keep the kiss gentle and short, even when she tries to take it deeper. I could spend all day and night buried in her if we had the time. 

Sadly, we don’t.  

At least not right now.  

“Now, are you ready to face our friends and Charlie?” I ask her after I break the kiss and step away from her. 

“Can we avoid her for a bit longer?” I want to talk to Quinn and Annie and get their opinions on this situation.” Rylan asks with a hopeful smile.  

“Would you like me to bring them in here?”  

She wrinkles her nose and laughs. “It smells like sex in here. Let’s go out and mingle, look at some art, and have some champagne. If we happen to run into Charlie, then I will deal with it then.”  

I take her hand and thread our fingers together before leading her to the door. “Together.”  

Rylan squeezes my hand, then gives me another one of those radiant smiles. I open the door and the music from the party rushes in. Our little bubble explodes as I step into the hall with Rylan right beside me. 

(*Rylan*)  

My mind is in complete chaos right now. After making up with Aaron and the bombshell he dropped on me, all I want to do is go home. My home, not his. However, I am not a quitter and need to see Charlie for myself. 

I need to see this through.  

Then I am going to call my mother and have an all-out cat-fight with her if what Aaron suspects is true. Hell, I have a gut feeling that it is. The physical similarities between the three of us are insane. 

This woman looks like she could be my twin sister, just like Rosalie. I thought when she was little that she looked a lot like my baby pictures. I thought the same thing about me when I saw some of my mother’s baby pictures. I looked like her when she was a baby. 

My maternal grandmother said it was uncanny how strong our genetic line is for such striking similarities to shine down through generations. She once showed me pictures of her mother, my great-grandmother. 

“Quit thinking so loud,” Aaron whispers in my ear when we stop to grab glasses of champagne. 

“I can’t help it. This entire situation is insane. We will need to get a DNA sample. I will need concrete proof when I talk to my mother.”  

“That can be arranged. Your mother is an only child, right?”  

“She had a brother, but he died young. My grandmother is an only child.” I frown when I think about my family tree or what I know of it. I have more family on my father’s side than I do on my mother’s side of the family.  

Not that it matters. My paternal grandparents were never very accepting of me. Catholics and illegitimate children are mortal enemies. They were never outright mean to me, but they were not exactly kind either. 

That is a shitty thing to experience as a child that just wants to be loved.  

“Oh, there you two are. I was getting a little worried. I thought about sending in the cavalry to rescue Aaron.” Annie joked when we finally reached their table again. 

“It was touch and go there for a bit, but he survived.” I tell her with a laugh. “How are you feeling, Annie?”  

“Ugh, I knew carrying twins was going to be rough, and I am so ready for them to be here with us already.” She says as she rubs her belly.  

A small part of me wonders what it will be like to bring a life into this world. Then, on the tail end of that thought, there is the fear of fucking up that child’s life just like my mother did mine. 

Yes, I had everything I needed. Clothes, food, toys, and I was often pushed into activities that I had no interest in. Yet, I was neglected in the most important ways. I learned at a young age that just because you can have a baby; it doesn’t mean that you should.  

My mother should never have been a mother. 

She is right. 

I would have been better off away from her. My grandmother would have taken me in, and she even offered it once when I was seven, but my mother declined the offer. I wish she would have let me go.  

“There you are!” a sultry voice says from behind Aaron. 

I whip my head in that direction, and my mind just goes blank. Charlie is walking up to our table with a wide smile on her face. That is, until her gaze lands on me. 

Her steps falter. That face, so like my own, goes blank in confusion. I watch her hand, a hand that trembles slightly as it moves to cover her mouth. She is seeing for the first time what I saw in that conference room.  

I know those eyes of hers so well. They are from our mother. Same with the small beauty mark near her left eye. I missed out on that, but Rosalie didn’t, and neither did Charlie, it seems. This woman is the spitting image of my mother, and it is creepy as fuck.  

“What the bloody hell is going on here?” Charlie asks a moment later. “Aaron?”  

“Charlie, meet Rylan. My girlfriend.”  

“This is Rylan? When you told me that there were similarities between us, I didn’t think it would be like this. How is this possible?” She asks the last part while looking directly at me.  

“Honestly, I have been asking myself that question too many times in the last few minutes. I have some questions to ask you, but this is something that is better done in private.”  

“Wait,” she rounds on Aaron with fire in those blue eyes of hers. A fire I know all too well. She has a temper just like me. Just like our mother. 

“Did you come here tonight just to confront me about this?” she motions with her hand between the two of us. “Did you come here to seek something from me just like my asshole husband did before I came to the states?”  

The accusation stings and pisses me off at the same time. “I don’t know what you think about me, but let’s get one thing clear right now. Until tonight, I did not know what you looked like or anything about you. I have no need for your money, nor would I want it. If you think I am after anything from you, I can tell you right now that you are dead wrong. I want nothing from you at all.”  

I yank my hand from Aaron’s and then walk away from the table before I say anything that can’t be unsaid. Aaron calls after me, but I just keep pushing through the crowd until I am at the elevator. There is no fucking way I am staying here any longer than it takes this elevator to open.  

The second the doors open, I rush in and stab at the buttons for the ground floor. I may have ridden here with Aaron, but that doesn’t mean I have to leave with him. I will call a cab when I get to the lobby.  

“Rylan, wait!” Aaron yells when he reaches the elevators. 

Too late, the doors closed, and I did nothing to stop them.

*Author's Note*

I update ONCE a week only. Friday is the day. If you want to know more about what is going on behind the scenes, then please join my Facebook group, NorthRoseNovels. THAT is where I tell my fans when I can't update and why.