Chapter 67
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Savannah and Theo’s new home is a beautiful blend of modern with classic, and the controlled restraint of color that leaves plenty of space for Savannah’s big personality to fill the room.
Not that Theo is a wall flower in his own right.
They are awesome. I love them as a couple, and I’m lucky to call them friends. I haven’t always had the best experiences with lawyers, but Theo isn’t like any lawyer I’ve ever met, then again, neither is his sister, Pippa.
“And the trainer said it will take some time for her to get used to us, but honestly, for her first week home, I think Lumi is doing amazing!” Harlow gushes as she shows us more photos of their adorable puppy they kind of gave each other.
I’m a dog person, so I totally get the obsession.
Plus, Lumi’s face is very squishable, and I’ve already invited myself over to meet her after book club today.
I choose a cozy club chair and settle in close to the roaring fireplace. “I’m so glad I was finally able to attend in person. You are all beautiful on my screens, but it’s so nice to see you in person.”
“Screens? What screens?” Stacy, Savannah’s former neighbor and our book club’s resident clucking mother hen, narrows her eyes at me. She’s across the room, but she does not miss a single thing.
I shrug. “It depends on the location, really. If I’m at my home base, I’ll usually just put it up on one of my larger monitors.”
“Where’s your home base?” Willa asks, but instead of replying, I just wink at her.
Willa’s daughter is twelve, so she should be used to dealing with vague non-answers, although I know I can trust Willa. She knows how to keep a secret. I don’t usually tell people where home is for a reason—the biggest being their own safety.
Not that my home isn’t safe, but if they know where I live, it puts them at risk if the wrong people find out. Even my mailing address is a PO box in two towns over. It’s safer to be vague and mysterious, and I will always choose safety for the people that I have chosen to have in my life.
“How large do my face and wrinkles get, Sophia?” Stacy thinks her snark scares me. She has no idea the dangers I have personally faced, so her barking reminds me of a little designer dog tucked into a purse at brunch.
It’s adorable, really.
“Your beauty is blinding, no matter the screen size, Stacy,” Savannah jumps in before I could reply with something a little sharper, but her route is better for a social gathering.
When I was originally invited to join Vivian and Savannah’s book club a year ago, I didn’t think I’d get into it as much as I have.
I’ve only missed two meetings in the last twelve months, and that was when it was literally impossible for me to safely show up on a screen or potentially have them see where I was.
They don’t get a full explanation, though, and I just say I don’t have a signal.
Which is a lie—I always have signal—but they don’t need to know that.
“Soph, can I get you something else to drink?” Savannah offers and I just lift my extra-large iced coffee to her.
“I’m good. This is enough caffeine for a horse, so it should hold me over for our discussion.” I grin at her disapproving expression.
“That sounds like too much. I’m going to get you a water.”
Okay, so Stacy isn’t the only mother hen in this group. Maybe that’s why I love book club so much, it’s not just the books—which I do enjoy—but it’s the women that have become more than friends, they feel like family.
And that’s sacred to me.
“Sophia, can you help me connect my phone to their TV so I can share the photos from our trip?” Pippa hands me her phone, and a few clicks later, I hand it back after she’s casting to the television over the living room fireplace.
Pippa’s mouth drops and she looks from her phone to me. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
I take a small bow. “Thank you very much.”
“Show us the photos, and then we can dive into the book discussion,” Vivian calls out from the kitchen as she carries another tray of food.
Another reason I love book club? They have the best snacks—every single time.
Pippa and her husband, David, adopted their twins this summer, but this was the first time they had taken Calliope Jane and Fitzgerald Theodore, also known as CJ and Fitz, to London to visit her brother, Van.
His company is headquartered in London, and while Van had been stateside to meet his new niece and nephew, it was the first international trip for the family of four.
“It was really sweet,” Pippa continued while showing us photos from her phone casting to the TV.
“Van was so proud to introduce the babies to his friends. He hosted this little baby shower slash dinner party.” In true Smith-Harrington fashion, the little dinner party is fully catered and decorated to the nth degree.
It’s sweet to think of this tech guru going gaga over four-month-old babies that will never remember this, but Pippa will.
“That’s incredibly sweet of him,” I say as she shows us a video of Van holding CJ and Fitz in each arm and walking around with them amongst his friends. “Where was the party?”
“It was at his home in Chelsea, but he had his close friends and core team members from work come from all over, so it was a bit of a regional thing. Theo told me Van had to pull out the big guns to make an impression on the babies since he will naturally be the favorite uncle by proximity alone.” Pippa and Savannah both laugh at that, and I suspect watching Theo and his brother battle it out will be entertaining for everyone … except for Theo and Van.
The party’s images continue, until ice runs through my veins, and I forget to breathe for a moment. “Sorry, Pippa? Could you … Could you go back to the previous photo, please?” I glance over my shoulder, and Pippa gives me a strange look, but flips back to the previous photo.
I set my coffee down on the table next to me, not sure what I’m looking at, but also telling myself there’s no way I’m seeing what I’m seeing.
It couldn’t be … right? But what if…
I step closer to the screen as the room goes silent.
“Is this the photo you wanted to see, Sophia?” Pippa asks.
I nod slowly, and without taking my eyes off the screen, I ask her, “Can you zoom in a bit? Just pinch in a little?”
Pippa laughs. “To my brother? He is single, Sophia. I’m happy to introduce you.”
There are a few giggles at that, but Savannah stands next to me, and without touching me—she wouldn’t know why that was important, but fuck was it important—she quietly asks, “Soph, are you okay? What is it? What can I do?”
My heart rate is galloping at the speed of light, and I gulp in a large breath that sounds like a gasp.
Harlow stands on my other side and asks if I’m okay, but while I appreciate their concern, I can’t believe my own eyes.
“No, sorry, not on Van. On the girl next to him.” Standing next to Van in the photo is a woman who looks to be in her twenties. She has long dark blonde hair, thick framed glasses, and her head is thrown back with a wide smile from laughing at something.
“Oh!” Pippa’s voice is a bit higher than normal, but she zooms in, and I hear her gasp from behind me. “What are the odds of that? I didn’t notice it until now.”
“What’s shocking here?” Harlow asks.
“I don’t understand how this could be,” I half say to the room and half to myself. Out of habit, I pull my long dark brown hair back and over one shoulder.
And I know the moment Harlow sees it.
On the right side of my neck is a small but distinguishing birthmark that almost looks like the shape of a heart.
The birthmark is in the same location as an eerily similar mark on the girl in the photo taken in Van’s kitchen.
There is a bead of sweat running down the back of my neck, which might as well be a flaming red flag. Typically, I don’t show physical reactions to stress—the control was beaten into me years ago.
But I’m not in control right now, and I’m on the verge of losing it completely.
“Do you … do you know her name?” I finally tear my eyes away from the screen to look at Pippa, who is studying me right now, along with everyone else in the room.
My voice sounds almost normal, but I can feel the slight quiver in my lower lip.
I didn’t bring my personal protection dog with me today, I dropped him off at Liam’s brother’s so he could take Bruno for a run, but I have a sudden need to be near my dog.
I am exposed.
I am vulnerable.
And I am flirting with a full-blown panic attack.
“I met a lot of people, let me think. I think … I think her name was Lenora, or Lennox, or maybe it was Lennon? I can ask Van. Sophia, I can call him right now.”
“Sophia, honey, do you know that woman in the photo?” Savannah asks gently as she stands at my side.
I start to shake, then end up nodding my head before shrugging. “I’m not sure. I didn’t think it was possible, but…”
“That what was possible, Soph?” Harlow asks.
“This birthmark is genetic in my family. My mother had it, her sisters had it, I believe my grandmother had it as well. You have to understand—I thought they were dead. I thought all of them were dead.” Tears start to well in my eyes, and my breath is quickening as the pieces come together of what this must mean.
“You thought who was dead?” Savannah looks from me to the screen. The more I look at her, the more I assume the family resemblance in our facial structures and coloring must be obvious to everyone else.
And that’s before you consider the birthmark. The heart-shaped birthmark that shows up in the same spot on women in my family.
“My family. I…” I close my eyes and take a slow breath, trying to get control of my breath. “I don’t know what name she goes by now, but I think that woman in the photo … I think she might my sister.”