Chapter 10
TEN
Aspen
“Thanks for making time for this lunch.” I greet my brothers as we sit down in one of the suite-level meeting rooms for a lunch Grant’s had catered by the steak house downstairs.
It feels weird to be having what feels like a formal meeting about this, but then it was the easiest way to get us all together as soon as possible.
“Of course.” Grant nods as he distributes the meals that have been brought up before he takes his spot at the head of the table. It’s his ire I’m most worried about. Not for the truth, but for keeping it for so long.
“I just really wanted it to be the four of us for once, so we can talk about some things. Not that I don’t love all my future sisters-in-law. You know I do. But this is gonna be a hard one to have, and I’d rather have the smallest audience necessary.”
“Well, now you’re making me nervous.” Ramsey looks up from his plate, his brows knitting together.
“It’s not like that. It’s just something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time.
I’ve wanted to tell you, but again… There was never a good time or a good place to have the conversation.
And we’re all so rarely in the same place at the same time unless it’s a holiday.
Which wasn’t the right time either.” I take a breath when I realize I’m rambling.
I’m not usually like this, and my brothers know it. I’m focused and to the point. I can feel their eyes on me, questioning what could have me this out of sorts. Ramsey with concern, Grant with pointed interest, but Levi’s relaxed. Like he already knows what I’m about to say.
“We understand.” Grant gives me a look of reassurance, but he doesn’t touch anything on his plate.
“I’m just going to get to the point. There’s no other way to do it, really. Fallon is not Ethan’s daughter. Or rather, she is as far as we’re all concerned, but biologically speaking, she has a different father.”
I pause to read the room, and there’s silence so stark you can hear a pin drop. I reach out and take a sip of my flavored water, twirling the cap of the glass bottle in my hand as I continue.
“I never said anything—well, for a lot of reasons, but she’s… she’s Bishop’s daughter.”
“Bishop’s?” Grant can’t hide the surprise in his voice.
I nod.
“When were you and Bishop—I mean, obviously, I can do math, but I thought you were with Ethan that whole time.”
“The winter I came home from college early for the holiday break and stayed here. Ethan and I had broken up over some disagreements about our future. I came home to get away from him and our friends while I was hurting, and Bishop was here that winter when his active-duty time was up; he was trying to figure out what to do while he was in the reserves.”
“I thought you two hated each other?” Ramsey looks confused.
“We bickered a lot.” I shrug. “But you know how that is.”
“Did he know you were pregnant when he left?” Grant’s countenance takes a darker turn.
“No. I didn’t know I was pregnant when he left.
When I found out, I tried to find him, but he just disappeared.
He didn’t tell any of us where he was going.
I didn’t know any of his friends to ask.
His dad was the only relative I knew, and if I didn’t know where he went, there was no way his dad did.
His phone number was disconnected. He never had a social media presence.
I knew Levi and Dad had looked for him to no avail at one point too.
I even looked up his old unit. Nothing. He was like a ghost.”
Grant nods quietly and then looks at our middle brother, raising a brow.
“You’re taking this well.”
Levi raises and drops one shoulder, taking a sip of water to wash down the bite he’s just taken and leaving us all in suspense. “I already suspected. I just wanted them to tell me on their own time.”
“I’m surprised you’re not halfway to wherever he is now.” Ramsey’s amused that for once, he’s not the drama in the family. “If it were Grant in your position, we know Bishop would have a broken nose by now.”
“You think the nose? I really thought it would be the kneecaps.” I grin at my younger brother, thankful for the moment of levity in what feels like a heavy conversation, even between us.
“Both of them, if he was pursuing my sister when she was already vulnerable from a breakup.” Grant’s brow descends in irritation.
“Or…” Levi starts, eyeing Grant and then looking to me. “He was there for her when she needed someone.”
“He was. My whole friend group and Ethan’s were the same, and I felt like I was on the outside of everything looking in. He spent that whole time trying to cheer me up.”
“Sounds like he was very fucking cheerful,” Grant grumbles, but it’s less threatening than before.
“I mean, who here hasn’t ended up in bed with a friend’s sibling?” Ramsey ribs Grant, and he flashes him another grumpy look.
“I’ve managed to avoid that,” Levi adds but then turns to me with a look that tells me I’m about to have my feet held to the fire. “So just that winter then?”
“No.” I sigh. “Off and on since he moved into the bunkhouse.”
“All that time?” Grant’s incensed again. “Right under our noses? Under Dad’s?”
“It was none of your business. And that reaction right there is exactly why I kept it a secret from you. You and Dad would have ruined it, and I—” I stop myself before I overshare just how much I cared about Bishop at the time.
It would have been one thing if he were still gone, but now that he’s back, there’s an awkwardly painful awareness of how close we once were compared to the stark feeling of being strangers in the present.
“And you?” Levi presses, eyes lifting to meet mine.
“And I deserved to have my own relationship with him separate from yours.” I sit back in my seat, daring any of them to challenge me. Grant begins to speak, an argument on the tip of his tongue, except Levi cuts him off.
“I agree.” It’s a simple enough phrase, but it carries a lot of weight in this room right now. Grant goes silent, and Ramsey takes another bite of his food.
“At any rate, Bishop knows he’s her father now. Fallon’s known for years that she has another father, but I was leaving it up to her to decide whether she wanted to know who that is.”
“And Ethan?” Levi asks, no doubt concerned for his best friend’s place in his daughter’s life.
“Ethan’s always known that the moment could come when she might want to know her bio dad. We didn’t anticipate him being in her life, though, so it’s a bit more complicated. Especially with the divorce.”
“Has she asked about him?” Ramsey looks to me.
“Not yet.”
“Will you tell her?” Levi asks.
“I’m not sure. His being here changes things.
I want her to have the chance to know him.
I just know she’s still hurting from the divorce.
We’re still navigating her feelings about Ethan and me going our separate ways and moving to a new place, starting over for her when it comes to friends and sports and hobbies.
It’s been so much change already in the last year that I just don’t want to do the wrong thing.
I’ve been talking to her therapist and my own, trust me. ”
“Look at me.” Grant waits patiently. “You’re doing your best. You go above and beyond for her. For so many people in your life, including us. We all see that.”
“You’re a good mom. All of us look up to you and hope to be half the parent you are to our own kids someday.” Ramsey gives me a soft smile and a look of encouragement.
But it’s Levi’s approval I want the most in this moment, and he’s quiet for a long beat.
“I agree with them, you know that. You and Fallon come first. But I also want what’s good for Bishop. Everything he’s done for us, for me. I owe him my life, quite literally. I know he’s hurting over all of this.” Levi offers up perspective.
“I can imagine it’s a huge shock to find out he’s had a daughter this whole time.” I feel for Bishop as much as anyone on that front. I spent years thinking about what it would be like for him to hear he’s a dad. The look on his face. The feelings he must be having.
“Especially given his own past.”
“I know that as well as you do. I was there too. And I know that he would be a good dad to her. It was one of the things I regretted most for her, that she’d never know what a great man he was. Now she gets that chance, and he gets the chance to know her.”
“I hope so. All I want is for you all to be better off for it.” Levi makes it clear that he’s not choosing sides in this, but he plans to advocate for Bishop in ways I doubt Grant or Ramsey would. I respect it.
“It’ll just take some time. They’ll get there.” Grant’s steadfast tone breaks through the tension, and Levi agrees with him, his eyes softening as they meet mine.
“I love you. I love Fallon. If there’s anything I can do, I’m here,” Levi offers.
“That goes for all of us,” Ramsey pipes in, and I have to swipe at a tear that’s started to roll down my cheek. I press my hand to my sternum, rubbing over the spot that feels tight from all the emotions dammed up inside.
“Thank you. I knew you all would understand, but I just didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want it to change anything. How you felt about Fallon, or Bishop, or me.”
“Hey,” Levi interjects and holds out his hand. I take it, and he squeezes me tight in reassurance. “Nothing will ever change. I promise you that. This family’s been through too damn much to let something break us now. We love you. We love Fallon. And we’ll always be here to fight for each other.”
“Sometimes I just need to hear it.” I admit to a vulnerability I’ve only ever felt safe telling my family.
And Bishop. Once upon a time. Many, many years ago.