“I was in no shape to be a mother. I was barely seventeen, and my boyfriend left town once I told him the news. Jacey had been married for a few years by that time. She and Jared had been trying for a while to have a baby but were struggling with infertility. So she offered to care for my baby and raise her—raise you—as their own.”
Goldie’s vision blanked. Bethany couldn’t be saying what she thought she was. It couldn’t be true. “Are you saying you’re my—mother—my birth mother?”
Bethany’s eyes were glistening with tears. “I didn’t want to tell you like this. For years I wanted to come to you, but Jacey told me to stay away.”
Goldie pushed the album away from her. Disbelief rattled through her like a freshly launched pinball. “Why now?” she managed. “Why are you telling me this now? It’s been twenty-seven years.”
“Your birth father and I have been in contact with one another over the years, and word reached me last month that he’d died in a car accident.”
Goldie gasped. “Oh my goodness.”
“I realized how short life is. He had so many regrets, Gabrielle, about you. He regretted not wanting to try and make things work, to try and be the father you needed. He wanted to contact you sooner, but I held him off. I told him it wasn’t time, and he respected that. And now he’s gone.”
A tear slid down Bethany’s cheek, and her lower lip trembled.
“I wanted to make things right with you. And with my sister,” she finished.
Goldie couldn’t breathe. She’d had a different father. A different mother. And her own mother had never told her?
Did everyone lie? Adrian had been so quick to scheme up his fake girlfriend proposition, never thinking twice about it. Her parents had known she wasn’t really theirs and they’d pretended all her life. She kept it together, though inside she was kicking and screaming like a child.
“I’ve tried repairing the breach between Jacey and me, but she always insisted I stay away, that you never needed to know. She said it would rattle you too much. But I don’t like secrets, Gabrielle.”
“Neither do I,” Goldie managed.
“I’ve wanted to fix things between us for so long. Her pride would never let her welcome me in, not as long as you were in the dark about all of this. But now that you know, maybe she’ll let me talk to her again. She’ll—”
Goldie was speechless. She could well believe it of her—well, of Jacey Bybanks—to keep her own sister half a country away because of pride.
Bethany rose. “I’m sorry to do it like this. I would have preferred a much different approach, where both of your parents were on board.”
“And the reason you weren’t here when I got to town? I emailed you several times. I stopped by every day.”
Bethany had the decency to lower her head. “Your mom contacted me. She told me to ignore your emails and that you’d come back home if I did. I didn’t want to, I replied to the first one you sent. But I was working with the fundraiser the day you arrived, and then I was cowardly after that. I was scared.”
Goldie bit back a scoff. “Scared?” Of her?
“I know it sounds silly, but this isn’t exactly an easy thing for me. I loved you. I wanted you. I couldn’t keep you, and I’ve thought about you every day for years, wishing I could send you cards on your birthdays or call you to see how your life was turning out. I guess I was scared I’d mess this up, too.”
She was wringing her hands and staring at Goldie with pleading in her eyes. Goldie couldn’t process it all. In all the times she’d wondered why her aunt had been ostracized, why her aunt had asked her to travel across the country to see her, she never would have imagined this.
“I need to go,” Goldie said, rising. “I need to think this over.”
Bethany gripped the back of the chair. Her eyes were wide, her face pale. “I understand.”
Goldie made for the door, pausing at the sight of the gray cat sleeping lazily on the back of the couch. She turned back. “You should know, I’m leaving. They gave me two weeks off, but it took three days to get out here, and I’ve waited for three more since searching for you. I have to make it back in time if I want to keep my job. I have to leave.” More so now than ever. She needed to speak with her—well—with the woman she’d thought was her mother.
Bethany folded her arms. “I understand. Thank you for telling me. And Gabrielle?”
Goldie paused at the door and kept her gaze on the blue paint.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Sorry she’d given her up? Sorry for contacting her at all? Sorry for avoiding her? Goldie couldn’t be sure, but in the moment she didn’t want to know. She’d had enough bombshells for one day. It was like cold oatmeal, bland and lumpy and distasteful, making her want to spit out every bite she’d been fed. She couldn’t digest this, not now. Maybe not ever.
Goldie turned the knob and headed back out to her truck.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ADRIAN NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD willingly come here again. Then again, he never thought his mom would have entrusted his inheritance to Danica Foster, either. So many memories were resurfacing, of ten, even twelve years before, back when he’d thought things could be different. He’d thought he could, in fact, set up his business while living at the ranch, to be closer to his family. His mother had been converting their home to a bed and breakfast while his father had been working on constructing a pair of homes. One for him and Danica. One for the rest of them.
But the closer he and Dani had stepped to matrimony, the more choked he’d felt. It was as though a rope had been tied around
