Chapter 221. Be Honest With Me

Chapter 221. Be Honest With Me
By the time Caleb has fallen asleep, the house has become quiet again. The lights in the hallway are dim, and the sounds of conversation from downstairs have faded.

Robert has gone to his room, Samantha has already left for the night, and Madelyn has spent the last few minutes standing outside Roxanne’s bedroom, trying to decide whether she really wants to ask what has been bothering her.

She finally knocks. “Yeah?” Madelyn carefully opens the door and peeks inside.

Roxanne is lying across her bed with her phone in one hand, still dressed in the comfortable clothes she changed into after returning from the hospital. She looks relaxed until she notices Madelyn’s expression.

“What do you need, Maddie?” Roxanne asks without sitting up.

Madelyn closes the door behind her, Roxanne watches her carefully. There’s something unusually serious about her younger sister tonight.

Madelyn is sixteen now, and seeing her standing there reminds Roxanne of the girl she left behind more than four years ago. She remembers leaving Texas with a younger sister who still had a softer, more childish face.

Now Madelyn’s hair is longer, wavier, and lighter, almost like their mother’s, and there’s another layer of adulting in the way she carries herself that Roxanne isn’t used to seeing.

Madelyn walks toward the bed and sits carefully on the edge, Roxanne lowers her phone. “What is it?”

Madelyn hesitates, there are too many questions in her head, and she knows none of them will sound particularly graceful once they leave her mouth. “Alright,” she says finally. “I’m just going to be blunt.”

Roxanne raises an eyebrow. “Go ahead.”

Madelyn takes a deep breath. “Roxie, did you sleep with Alex?” Roxanne freezes, Madelyn continues before she can answer.

“I mean, did you actually have sex?” For several seconds, neither of them says anything.

Roxanne had expected questions about New York, university, her relationship with Alexandra, or even why Alexandra was staying at a bed and breakfast instead of the ranch. She hadn’t expected Madelyn to ask something so directly.

She slowly sets her phone on the mattress. “What do you expect me to answer?”

“The truth.” Roxanne looks at her younger sister.

“Why are you thinking that?” Madelyn gives her an incredulous look after hearing her sister’s words.

“Because I’m not blind, Roxie. And I’m sixteen. I know what sexual tension looks like.” Roxanne closes her eyes briefly, of course, Madelyn noticed.

She remembers being sixteen herself and remembers how easily she could read adults even when they assumed she understood nothing. Madelyn has inherited that same sharpness, perhaps with even less hesitation.

“I’m not asking because I want to judge you,” Madelyn says, her voice quieter now. “I just want to know. And I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Roxanne looks toward the window. Outside, the ranch has disappeared into darkness. Only a few lights illuminate the yard, leaving the rest of the property hidden beneath the night sky.

“If I get hurt,” Roxanne says eventually, “then I’ll blame myself.”

Madelyn frowns. “That’s not exactly healthy.”

“It means I accept responsibility for my own choices.” Roxanne turns back toward her. “I’m an adult, Maddie. I made my decisions knowing what they meant.”

Madelyn studies her. “So you really fuck her? Or she fucks you?”

Roxanne's expression changes, she chuckles hearing that and takes a deep breath, hearing how blunt her sister is. No hesitation, just straight to the point.

“We both fucked each other.” She decided to respond with the same energy. "But that was because I fell in love with her.

“How much?” Madelyn asks as Roxanne gives a small, almost embarrassed smile.

“Badly.” She replies, and Madelyn stares at her.

“I chased her for four years,” Roxanne continues. “I spent four years trying to convince myself that I could stop feeling this way, and I couldn't. I loved her before she ever gave me a reason to believe she might feel the same.”

Madelyn remains quiet. “I also know what happened between us is complicated,” Roxanne adds. “I know exactly who she is. I know she is still married to Brandon, our uncle. I know what everyone would think if they found out.”

“And you still went after her?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I couldn't keep pretending I didn't love her.”

Madelyn looks genuinely stunned. “You're serious?”

“Completely.” Roxanne leans back against the headboard. “It took four years before Alexandra was willing to see me as the adult woman I had become. She kept her distance because she knew I was too young before. When I was sixteen, there was never anything between us. She never crossed that line.”

Madelyn nods slowly. “I know.”

“She pushes me away many times,” Roxanne says. "God, that hurt so bad.”

Madelyn looks down at her hands. “And then?”

Roxanne smiles faintly. “Then I became an adult, made my own choices, and eventually cornered her.”

“When I said I cornered her, I came into her room, half naked.” Roxanne added, and Madelyn shook her head.

“Holy fuck.” Madelyn couldn’t believe what she heard.

Roxanne laughs despite herself. “What?”

“You sound like Mum.” Roxanne rolls her eyes.

“Oh, shut up, Maddie. I'm not like her.”

“You do have some of her guts.”

“That isn't necessarily a compliment.”

“No, but listen.” Madelyn starts laughing. “If you were anything like Dad, there’s no way Alexandra would be completely smitten with you.”

Roxanne's laughter stops, she looks at Madelyn. “She’s smitten with me?”

Madelyn stares at her as though she can’t believe Roxanne is asking. “Are you serious?”

“What?”

“You really don't see it?”

Roxanne shakes her head as she stares at her sister. “She’s always looking at you fondly. She gets jealous. She is possessive. She practically follows you around like she has decided you're the most important person in the entire world. And damn, she’s ready to give you the world, you just have to ask.”

Roxanne tries to hide her smile, but her smile grows. “You really think that?”

“I know that.” Roxanne looks down at her hands. For all the confidence she shows around Alexandra, there are still moments when hearing someone else recognize Alexandra's feelings makes her heart race.

“So,” Roxanne asks carefully, “are you okay with it?”

Madelyn immediately stops smiling. “No.”

Roxanne looks at her, feeling betrayed. Madelyn throws both hands up. “She is still, technically, my aunt!”

Roxanne sighs. “She isn’t your biological aunt.”

“She's married to Uncle Brandon!”

“I know.”

“And you're his step-daughter!”

“I know, and she never adopted me.”

“Still, you're involved with someone who is married!”

“I know that too.”

Madelyn looks increasingly hysterical. “You're the third person in someone else's marriage, Roxie!”

Roxanne doesn’t argue. Instead, she sits quietly for a moment before answering. “I know.”

That admission makes Madelyn pause, Roxanne looks toward the window again. “I've thought about all of it. More times than you probably realize.”

“Then why?”

“Because I know Alexandra.” Madelyn listens.

“I know what her marriage to Brandon is like. I know they haven't shared a room for years. I know they haven't had the relationship people would assume they have. I know she isn't secretly pretending to love me while being deeply in love with him.”

Madelyn folds her arms. “You're sure?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Because she has never given me a reason to believe otherwise.” Roxanne takes a slow breath. “And if she loved Brandon that way, she would never have allowed me to get this close. She would’ve rejected me completely.”

Madelyn considers that. “But that doesn't make it simple.”

“I never said it was.” The room falls quiet again.

Roxanne looks down at her younger sister. “I know there are risks. I know people will talk. I know some people will hate me for it. Maybe they'll hate her too.”

“And you're okay with that?”

“No.” Roxanne smiles sadly. “But I'm willing to accept it.”

Madelyn watches her for a long moment. “You really love her.”

Roxanne nods. “I do.”

“And she loves you?” Roxanne's expression softens. "So she said it yourself that she’s smitten with me.”

Madelyn sighs and drops her shoulders. “I still don't like it.”

“You don't have to.”

“But I don't want you getting hurt.”

“I know.”

“And if she breaks your heart, I'm going to hate her.”

Roxanne laughs quietly. “That sounds fair.”

Madelyn stands from the bed but pauses before reaching the door. “One more thing.”

“What?”

Madelyn points toward Roxanne. “You better not let her make you forget about us. We’re still family.”

Roxanne's smile fades into something warm. “I won't.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Madelyn nods, satisfied enough for now. She opens the door, then looks back at her sister. “Good night, Roxie.”

“Good night, Maddie.” The door closes softly behind her.

Roxanne remains sitting on the bed for a while, staring at the darkness beyond the window. Her sister's questions have left her thinking about Alexandra, about everything they have chosen, and about how complicated the future might become.

Then she takes her phone, which is lying against the mattress. The call is still connected. She looks at the camera and sees Alexandra lying on the bed at the Bed & Breakfast.

“Do you hear that?” Roxanne asks.

“Everything. So I look smitten to you, huh?” Both of them then laugh.

“That was intense.” Roxanne takes a deep breath.