Chapter 46
Indiana
I hate long nights in the office, and one of our authors is on a big deadline.
Noah’s home with a babysitter and I just got off FaceTime with him.
He’s happy as a clam, going on and on about school and what he did at recess with Harley.
He’s unaffected about me working late, while all I want to do is cuddle up beside him instead of being here right now.
I sit back and stare at my computer. I rub at my eyes, no amount of coffee fixing this headache that’s bound to breakthrough.
A few more hours pass, everyone looking just as wiped as I’m feeling as we go through content in the conference room.
Once we get everything in order, we call it a night. I stand up, realizing it’s already after ten. My assistant and I walk toward my office.
“Angela, I’m going to work from home tomorrow. Make sure if anyone needs to get ahold of me, you forward all calls to my cell.”
“No problem, Ms. Ranton,” she says, following behind me. “Is there anything else you need from me before I head out?”
“Not right now. I’ll contact you tomorrow and we can go through a few more items before the Filmore meeting on Thursday.” The up-and-coming author is one I’ve been looking forward to connecting with.
“Sounds good. Have a good night.” Angela leaves my office and I finish gathering my things. I make sure I have everything I need to work from home and head out a few minutes later.
Walking to my car, I start to mentally plan out my morning. Maybe I could work from Tyler’s place instead of my own. Once I drop Noah off at school, I could take my laptop to his house and do everything there instead.
I crave his presence now. For someone that was wanting to divorce Tyler Hunter not long ago, now all I want to do is blanket myself in him. I’m realizing he is everything my life was lacking. And I realize Noah agrees from the way he lights up each time Ty enters the room.
In all honesty, we both radiate happiness at the sight of my husband.
We’ve been taking things slow when it comes to Noah, but behind closed doors, we pick right up from this starting point that we’ve been bound as husband and wife for more than a decade.
I won’t pretend it doesn’t make my heart race.
The drive home is quick due to the late hour. Walking in, I note how quiet it is. My babysitter, Evette, is sitting on the couch with a cup of tea and a book.
“Hey,” she says, placing a bookmark and standing.
“Hi,” I whisper. “Sorry. My night was a lot longer than I anticipated.”
“It’s fine. Noah went right to bed. He’s a good kid.” She waves me off.
“That’s sweet of you to say. I didn’t anticipate it taking up so much of my time tonight. Thanks again,” I say. “Did dinner work out?”
“Yes. It arrived and Noah loved it,” she says, putting her mug in the dishwasher. “He said Hunter makes a better burger though.” She looks at me expectantly, hoping I’ll give her the scoop.
“Hunter is my boyfriend,” I tell her. It’s hard to contain my smile.
“I picked up on that from the way Noah talked about him.” I expect her to press further, but she pats my hand, then gives me a wink. “That boy seems to really like him.”
I smile brightly and nod. “Yeah, he does. They get along really well.”
“That’s good. He had some worksheets to do for school, so we got those done. Other than that, it was an easy night. Hopefully you can relax.”
She gathers her things and starts to head for the door. I follow her, thanking her for everything.
Once I say my goodbyes, I grab my phone and see a missed call from Kalli. Even though we work together, I haven’t seen her since this morning when we had our routine coffee together.
I head to Noah’s room and peek my head in, seeing him sleeping soundly. I let him be, not wanting to disturb him.
Looking back at my phone, I decide to call Kalli back in case it’s an emergency.
“Hey,” she answers. She doesn’t sound upset.
“Hi. You okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. All good. I wanted to see how the night was. I know you had to stay late. Did you just get home?”
“Ugh. Yes. You know I hate when I have late nights like this.” I try to avoid it because of Noah, but it’s part of the job. I go through the cupboard to grab a glass to pour some wine. I need to unwind a bit. “Aren’t you usually trying to go to bed about now?”
Since having her daughter, Kalli is all about sleeping on the earlier side. This is considered late for her.
“I think Vivienne is teething, she woke up an hour ago. She’s finally back down, but now I have a second wind. Julian is snoring and you know if I don’t fall asleep before he starts, then I can’t even think about sleeping. I thought I’d text and check in.”
“I’m sorry. I remember those days when Noah was teething. It’s no fun. Oh, I won’t be at work tomorrow, so raincheck on our morning coffee together?” I grab a bottle of my favorite wine.
“Oh really? And where will you be? Riding some firefighter?” I can practically see her smirk through the phone.
“Maybe?” I smile.
“Such a dirty girl. I approve.” She laughs.
“I knew you would. I still need to ask Tyler if he’s okay with me going over there. He’s on shift right now, but I’ll text him in the morning. I don’t want to bother him while he’s focused on saving lives and all.” I pour my wine and move to the couch.
Taking off my shoes, I sit down and Darth makes his way over to sit by my side. For a cat, he’s quite cuddly.
“I guess things are getting serious?” she asks.
“I don’t think there was ever a time it wasn’t serious with Tyler and I.” I look toward the stairs to ensure I don’t have any little ears eavesdropping then whisper, “We’re married, Kalli. It’s hard to keep things anything but serious, you know? We’re either all in or not.”
“I get that. I love how you were all ‘We’re getting divorced!’” she says that with a gruff voice and I laugh. “And now you’re all in love with the guy. Way to put your foot down, Indy.”
“To be fair, I was lied to. And I was pissed. Not sure I was out of love with the man.”
“Sure. But I can give you a hard time. What a one-eighty you did in a short amount of time, though,” she chides.
“I know. I’m still trying to make sense of it myself.
I think I simply never stopped loving him.
I think I convinced myself that I hated him, but the reality of it is I absolutely loved him to my core.
Every single person I dated after was an attempt to replace the feelings I had for him.
And I never succeeded. No one felt as impactful as Tyler did in my life. ”
There’s silence on the other end of the line.
“Kalli, did you fall asleep?” I swear, if she’s sleeping while I just divulged my feelings, I will lose it.
“No. That’s just really sweet.”
“Well, it’s true. It doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings about him lying to me; and I’ve expressed that to him. I’ve made it clear that what he did was wrong and he understands that his lie caused a ripple effect on my life. But we’ve grown.”
“I’m glad you’ve found your happily ever after, Indy. You deserve it.”
“Thanks, Kalli,” I tell her.
“I’m also glad you’re not with Roger. He was so damn boring.” She chuckles into the phone.
“Yes, we’ve established the fact Roger was as fascinating as watching paint dry.” All I hear is a bark of laughter in my ear.
I just dropped off Noah at school. It was a rough morning today.
He was dragging for some reason. Getting him out of bed was a nightmare.
He has days like that and today was one of them.
Even getting him to agree on an outfit for school felt like an uphill battle.
And he wears a uniform. Apparently choosing from the standard green, red, or navy was a tough choice. The joys of nearly-six-year-olds.
His birthday is approaching, so I chose to distract him on the drive to school by bringing up his plans.
That seemed to brighten his mood a bit. We decided to do a party at the local park, with a baseball theme.
That’s easy enough, although the weather is already horribly humid.
Hopefully on whatever day we plan it, the shade will provide ample support.
I texted Tyler before heading out to drop Noah off, asking if I could hang out with him today. He responded saying he was all for it.
Luckily, now that I’ve left the school, traffic has improved, and my GPS shows I’ll be at Tyler’s fairly soon. I’m listening to a podcast when I get a call through my Bluetooth speaker.
I look down to see it’s Theo, the private investigator I hired to find my biological parents a few months back.
“Good morning, Theo. How are you?” I say.
“Good morning, Indiana.” His gruff voice greets me.
“Do you have some updates for me? I haven’t heard from you in some time.
” Theo warned me since I first spoke to him, it’s usually quiet until he has news for me.
I was antsy in the beginning, but since I’ve been consumed by reconnecting with Tyler, I haven’t really put much thought into locating my biological parents.
“Actually, I do. Do you have a moment?”
“Yeah. I’m just driving right now,” I tell him.
“You sure you don’t want to call me back? We can do this via video call if that’s better.” He sounds hesitant.
“Theo, it’s fine. I’ve got a packed week ahead. I want to know what you’ve found out. Have you been able to get some information?” I can hear the hope in my own voice.
“Alright, I was able to unseal your records and discover the names of your parents and their most current address.”
I feel the uptick to my heart rate as he says this.
“Okay…” I feel the shakiness in my tone.
“Are you sure you want to go over this now while you’re driving?” Theo confirms.
“Of course. It’s fine, Theo,” I say on a nervous laugh.
“I found out you were born at Boston General,” he begins.
That shocks me to hear that I was born right here in Boston. “I’m from Boston?”
“Yes.”
“What small world,” I say on a sigh. I’m nearing Tyler’s place so I slow my pace as I continue my drive down the residential street.
“Your parents were young when they had you. They were both in high school; they were sixteen years old when you were born.”
I arrive at Tyler’s place and park, my hands trembling as I grip the steering wheel. My mind is still reeling at the possibility that I could be closer to my biological parents than I ever imagined.
“Theo, are you saying my parents are here? In Boston? Now?” I ask.
“It’s a possibility from what I gathered. The last known address I have for them is 1585 Quixley Avenue,” he says.
I look down at my map and I can feel the blood drain from my face. Theo’s about to continue, but I finish the sentence for him.
“In Cambridge?” I say.
“You know it?” he asks.
“What are their names?” I ask instead.
“Sycamore. Am I missing something?” Theo sounds hesitant.
I look over at the house I’m parked next to. It can’t be. The coincidence in all of this is just too much.
“Theo, what are their first names?” I ask, and I can hear the thrumming of my heart in my ears.
“Jerry and Scarlet,” he finishes, but I feel like I knew that answer before he ever said it.
It feels like the world around me is spinning. “Did you happen to do any other digging? Do I have any siblings?”
“As a matter of fact you did, a brother; but I’m sorry Indiana, he passed away.” He sighs. Theo knows Bryce died and now he has to tell me another sibling has passed before I’ve ever met him.
“Was his name George?” I ask.
“Okay, Indiana. Who’s informing who now?” I can hear the confusion in his tone.
“Let’s just say, I think my life has played a sick twist on me.” I take a few deep breaths as I see Tyler walking over from my periphery. “Theo, thanks for your call. I’ll be in touch. I need a moment to digest the information for now.”
“Sure. I’ll send over the information we just discussed,” he says and we end our call.
Somehow, I keep my tears at bay and exit the car. I have no clue how I look, but I feel like the contents of my breakfast might reappear.
When I turn to face Tyler and see the way he’s looking at me, it’s clear that he can tell something isn’t right. I don’t know what I’m going to say. This entire time we’ve been more connected than ever. He’s not only known my brother, but he’s been interacting with my biological parents.
He takes hurried steps toward me and grabs my cheeks, looking into my eyes. It takes everything in me not to breakdown.
“Indy, baby, what’s wrong? Is it Noah?”
I shake my head, but my heart feels like it’s going to shatter in a whole new way. I have so many questions and all I want to do is fall to the ground.
“Indiana, tell me what happened.”
“I, um…” I feel the tears in my eyes and I grab onto him for support. “I found my biological parents.”
I see a smile breakthrough his face and the relief is palpable for him. I wish I felt the same way.
“Indy, that’s amazing sweetheart. You must feel such comfort now, right? Did you just find out?”
He’s still looking into my eyes and I wish I felt the way he does. He feels reassurance while all I feel is confusion. Where he feels like floating, I feel like a weight has been set on my shoulders.
I nod, the words not forming.
“Why do you look so sad?” He pulls me into his chest, kissing the top of my head. “Is it bad news? Did something happen to them?”
I don’t answer, just breathing his scent. He just showered and I’m cherishing it right now. His warmth is centering me while I feel like I might fall. I don’t know if this will change things between us. Losing Georgie was catastrophic for him years ago.
What if he leaves when I reveal this news to him now? What if he lets me go because this is all too much?
“Can we go inside please?” I need to sit down. I can’t do this standing outside where everyone can see us.
Tyler looks confused, but he doesn’t argue as he draws me closer to settle into his side. Once inside the house, he pulls a chair out at the kitchen table for me. I sit down, the shock still overwhelming my thoughts.
“Indiana, you’re scaring me. What’s going on? What am I missing?” He moves a chair in front of mine, putting his hands on my knees and squeezing them.
I look down to where he’s grasping me and I just hope he’s still intact after I confess what I’ve learned. It’s surreal to think we’ve been connected for so many years, and this added layer that’s been hidden without either of us knowing won’t destroy us.
What if I hadn’t started looking for my real parents? I haven’t even started to deal with the fact that I know who my parents are and I can meet them. There are so many parts to this right now.
I look over at the table and the lump in my throat grows. Is this where they had family dinners? Why did Georgie get them and I didn’t? I feel a tear slip and that’s when I feel Tyler’s thumb swipe it away.
I swing my gaze back to meet his.
“You’re breaking my heart, baby. What is it?” he says and the look of pain reflected in his eyes guts me.
“My parents,” I say and a sob breaks loose, “live at this address.”