Unless…
Did she work for Uncle Tony and Aunt June?
It seemed impossible, but my uncle was a bad man. It was reasonable to believe he had contacts everywhere.
I jerked out of the bride’s hold—River, I remembered Max saying his cousin’s name was—and started backing away from her.
“What’s wrong?” River demanded, her face scrunching up and reminding me a little of Nova. “Don’t be afraid. I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
Her mouth stopped moving, and she glanced at something over my shoulder. Before I could turn to see what the new danger was, strong arms wrapped around me from behind. My eyes clenched closed as relief hit me so hard, I could actually taste it.
Max.
He hadn’t left me.
I didn’t know where he’d gone, but he hadn’t abandoned me.
My knees felt weak as I turned in his arms and buried my face in his chest, inhaling his comforting scent and letting the safety of his hold calm my racing heart. His hands rubbed up and down my back, erasing the hurt I’d felt when I first thought he’d left me there to deal with his family all on my own.
His thumb under my chin tipped my head up moments later, making me look up at him. “Okay?” he mouthed the words.
I shrugged, not sure if I was or not. My fear that his family would hate me had come true, and now River was telling me her mom had been looking for me. I was scared and confused, my heart still aching knowing people thought I was only using him.
He stroked one hand over my hair, tucking a few strands behind my ear and exposing the earrings that matched the necklace he’d insisted I wear. They were light as air, but right then, they felt like they weighed my head down, making it impossible to lift it high under the weight of the money he’d spent on me, while everyone who looked at me judged me.
Max pressed his lips to my forehead before releasing me so he could sign, “Come outside with me. We need to talk.”
In every book I’d ever read, I knew that those four words never led to anything good. Apprehensively, I let him take my hand and followed him out the door, mostly because I just wanted to be away from all the angry looks everyone was shooting me.
But when we stepped outside and I saw his mom standing close by with the angry woman from earlier, I stopped in my tracks. I didn’t feel up to whatever was going to happen, and I knew before either of them even took a step toward us that something was about to.
“It’s okay,” he tried to reassure me, urging me forward. “I’m right here.”
He’d said that earlier too, but he hadn’t been anywhere when his sisters had tried to confront me and then his cousin Chance had let me know I didn’t belong. Where was he when I needed him?
From the looks of it, he’d been outside with these two women.
Had they told him to send me packing?
Was that what we needed to talk about?
Was he about to let me down gently while his mom watched?
Max kept walking forward, taking me with him. I wanted to drag my feet, but what was the use? If he wanted to get rid of me, then I just wanted to get it over and done with.
He stopped several feet from where the others were standing before turning and signing, “I have something to tell you. It came as a huge surprise to me too, and that was why everything got crazy inside.” He paused and inhaled deeply before blowing it out in a rush. “This is my aunt Kelli. She’s married to my uncle Colt, Mom’s brother.”
I glanced over at the brunette, and she gave a small, almost shy wave. Her face was pale, her eyes glittering with a mixture of emotions I didn’t understand, but she didn’t seem angry like she had earlier. Tentatively, I waved back.
“Okay, first things first,” Max continued once my gaze was back on him. “Did you know that your mom was adopted?”
I frowned at the weird subject change. “Yes. It wasn’t something she kept from me. Her parents were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted her. But they died when I was a baby.” I didn’t even remember my grandparents, but from the pictures I’d seen of them before the passing of my own parents, it was easy to tell that they had loved my mom.
“When you went to live with your aunt and uncle, your social worker was concerned for you. She spent the last eight years researching your mom’s family in hopes of finding someone else she could possibly place you with so you wouldn’t have to live with Garcia.” Max pointed to Kelli. “And she found Kelli. Your mom’s biological father was also hers.”
The news struck me dead center, like getting hit with a wrecking ball, knocking the oxygen from my lungs. I stumbled back a few steps, but Max was there to catch and steady me.
“What…?” I signed, then stopped, unsure what to even say.
“She’s your mom’s sister. Half sister,” he amended. “But still your aunt. The social worker contacted her, but by that time, you had already run away.”
“Mom has been looking everywhere for you, Delaney.”
River’s words from only minutes before replayed in my head, and understanding finally clicked in my brain. Her mom wasn’t looking for me because she worked for Uncle Tony, but because she was my aunt.
The fear that I’d felt began to ease a little, and I glanced at Kelli again. As if taking that as permission, she stepped up beside Max, but he took a step closer to me, putting more distance between me and…my aunt.
I had another aunt besides Aunt June.
That realization was kind of bizarre to me. It was weird to find another family member.
But then again, it had been just
