more next month.”
Everyone except Wyatt opened their packages to find a Me & My Genes test kit.
“Is this what I think it is?” Sean sounded excited.
“I never really knew my parents, and didn’t know anyone on my father’s side,” Wyatt explained. “I did this several years ago and found some cousins on my father’s side. If they’re sent off this week, they should be back by Christmas, and we can compare the results. Even siblings can get varying origin results.” He laughed. “It doesn’t even mean someone cheated. It just means that you get more of your DNA from one side than the other.”
Mrs. Beach stood up and threw the box on the coffee table. “No. Absolutely not. This is ridiculous.”
“Chill, Mom.” Sean flipped the box over in his hands. “I think it sounds like fun.”
“Then one of you can do it, but there’s no reason for these companies to own a copy of everyone’s DNA.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. “This is ridiculous. We don’t need clones running around. I know where we came from. Your father’s family has lived in this area for generations. So has mine.”
Wyatt noticed she gave Mia an odd glance as she said that.
“Clones?” Gray sounded as incredulous as the rest of them looked. “They’re not making clones, Mom.”
“I still think it’s a ridiculous idea and...” She pointed her finger at each of them. “...if any of you do it, you can forget us being part of your life.”
With that, she and Mr. Beach headed straight for the door, with him grabbing their coats and her taking a container of food Wyatt knew they hadn’t brought with them.
The rest of the family stared at each other in stunned silence.
What had he done?
13
What on earth?
Madi stared around the room to find her siblings doing much the same.
“What was that?” Harrison asked a couple of minutes later.
Mia stood. “I guess we know why they’ve always treated me differently.” With a sob, she headed for the master suite.
Madi and Lani immediately stood to follow her, motioning for Eli to stay.
They found her in the sitting area of the master suite with a tissue in her hand as tears ran down her cheeks.
Mia swiped at her cheeks with the already damp tissue. “So apparently, I’m your half-sibling. That explains so much. Mom must have had an affair. That’s why I’m here and why they’ve always treated me so much different than the rest of you.”
“Maybe,” Lani told her sitting next to Mia on the love seat. “But the rest of us love you just the same as we always have. It doesn’t matter to us.”
Madi smushed in on the other side so the three of them shared the seat. “In fact, I’d even say you don’t do the test. It doesn’t matter to us.” She wrapped her arm around her sister. “It explains so much about Mom and Dad, but doesn’t have anything to do with you as our sister.”
Mia sniffled as she wiped her face again. “Thanks. You don’t know how much that means to me. I never even considered something like this. I just thought I’d done something, even before I was born, to make them mad.”
“Like what? Give Mom morning sickness? That couldn’t be your fault.”
“No, but doesn’t it sound just like something she’d blame me for?” Mia sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “I don’t even know what to do with this information.”
“You could be wrong,” Lani suggested.
“I could be, but we all know I’m not.” Mia turned to Madi. “Isn’t that the way you’d write it? The middle kid, who was always treated different and kind of overlooked, is the result of an affair?”
Madi shared a look with Lani. “Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe I’d write it so that it turned out they treated her differently for no reason at all. But either way, I’d write it so it says far more about the parents than it does the child, because it does. And her brothers and sisters wouldn’t care either way. The only reason it might matter to them would be if she needed medical information or something like that.”
“That’s the only reason it would matter to us,” Lani told their sister gently. “We love you. We’ve always loved you. We always will.”
The bedroom door opened to let Sean and Gray in.
“Everything all right?” Sean asked.
Mia shrugged and sniffled at the same time. “I’m probably not your biological sister.”
Sean snorted as Gray rolled his eyes. The