Sophia couldn’t help but feel bad for the older woman, even if she was a pain in the ass.
But she couldn’t be distracted.
Bad shit happened.
Occupational accidents and comas occurred all the time.
But a murder? Of someone she knew? That was different.
She closed her mind to all those things and stared at the pregnancy test stick. Even if the world around her was spinning out of control, this—a baby—could change everything.
She felt her teeth sink into her lower lip.
Sitting down on the lid of the toilet, she knew she’d made a mistake. She’d lost her heart. To James. That hadn’t been part of the plan.
And now . . . God, and now, she was losing him, feeling him slip between her fingers. Because of Rebecca Travers. Her heart ached at the thought. How could it have happened? Why would he take up with Rebecca again? It just wasn’t fair.
Sophia had thought—no, prayed—-that he would fall in love with her, really fall in love, and that no other woman could turn his head.
And then Rebecca had shown up.
Sophia’s blood began to boil at the thought of it. Because it was her own damned fault. But she wasn’t alone in that screwup; Julia had been involved too. In fact, the whole Megan going missing thing had been her idea.
Life was so damned unfair!
She squeezed the stick in her hand so hard that she caught herself, noticed the impression on her palm, and reminded herself that she had to stay calm and keep her temper under control.
It wasn’t as if the unfairness of the universe were a new thing.
It always had been unfair.
She thought of her years growing up, alone and isolated, an only child of cold-hearted parents who eventually divorced and shuffled her back and forth like some piece of unwanted furniture.
And then . . . and then, miracle of miracles, through a genealogy search company, she’d connected with Julia and learned a whole lot about who she really was. The first time she’d seen her twin, Sophia had been stunned. It had been like looking into a mirror. After connecting on the Internet and, yes, seeing pictures of each other, they’d finally met face-to-face at a little bistro in San Mateo. Sophia had watched as Julia had locked her car and walked into the outdoor area of the restaurant, which faced the street. Sophia couldn’t believe it. They were so much alike! From the blue of their eyes to the white-blond of their hair to the same dimple. Julia’s hair had been a couple of inches shorter, and she’d dressed with a little more flash, but they were definitely identical. They’d eaten Italian food and talked and laughed, and the hole that had been in Sophia’s heart began to slowly close. Finally, after years of loneliness, Sophia felt connected to someone who was truly like her—so much like her that it was a little eerie. At first, they became friends, learning all about each other, each explaining how they’d felt incomplete. It was as if Julia had insight into Sophia’s mind, and they started hanging out, talking about the future, and within a week or two, Julia had explained that she’d done more research on their family, their biological family, and had discovered that they were related to one of the richest families in the Bay Area. They were, by rights, heirs to the Amhurst fortune, and as they spent more time together, Julia hatched a plan to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. However, it involved a “little bit” of deception, Julia explained. Well, it had turned out to be more than a little bit, and Sophia had resisted, didn’t like lying or “playing” a guy the way Julia had suggested in order to get to James Cahill, but then Julia had said it was fine, she would go it alone. She really didn’t need Sophia to be a part of the plot.
“I just thought you’d want to,” she’d said as they were driving into the city one day, the traffic stalled as they were trapped on the Bay Bridge. Rain had been steadily falling, the water on either side of the bridge choppy, cars all around them. “I’m going to do it! I’m going to make James Cahill fall in love with me. It would have just been easier if you helped me out, you know. He’s got a wandering eye, but we’ll see to it that he is kind of like blinded by us—can’t get away from us, you know, sees us everywhere he goes so that he can’t get us—or you—or me—out of his mind. We’ll be everywhere—looking hot, hot, hot—always ready to be with him, you know, sexually or romantically or whatever, so that he never gets a chance to find someone else; then we could really get him to marry us. Other guys will look at us, but we’ll only have eyes for James!”
“Marry?” Sophia repeated.
Julia’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Of course, silly.” She laughed in delight, her enthusiasm contagious. “How else are we going to get what was really ours in the first place?”
Julia had explained how their mother, Deidre, had given the twins up for adoption even though she herself had been estranged at one time from her mother, their grandmother, Marla Amhurst, who had married a Cahill—James’s father!
“So he’s not related to us?” Sophia had asked, intrigued, and really, James was handsome. She’d seen pictures Julia had on her phone.
“Not really. His mother is half-sister to our grandmother or something like that. It’s no
