Good question. I’m twenty-six years old and meeting my father for the first time. I debated long and hard whether or not to do this, but as the months rolled by after my mom died, I couldn’t stop thinking about Brian Brannon. I’d read everything I could about him and he seemed like a decent guy. And here I was, without any family left except a distant aunt and a handful of cousins I didn’t know all that well, and I just wanted to have someone.

I was simply lonely.

And even more than that, I was always seeking the next grand adventure. I felt that Brian Brannon was a wondrous chapter just waiting to be read in my book of life.

I cough slightly to clear my throat. “I didn’t know about you until just before my mom died. She was sick for a long time, and as the end was approaching, she told me about you. I was just as shocked as you are now.”

“But you said she died ten months ago,” he says softly.

I want to say I hear a slight degree of skepticism in his voice, but I don’t see it in his eyes. I have no clue what he must be feeling, but I guess I’ll find out sooner or later before I walk out of here. So I tell him the truth. “I was scared, to be honest. Not sure you’d believe me. Accept me. I moved to Raleigh from Hartford about three months after my mom died, but it never seemed the right time to approach you. I don’t want anything from you, or Gray for that matter, but I just thought…”

My voice trails off, as I’m too terrified to put my desires out there. I’m strong, but I still have some fears, I guess.

He’s having none of it, though. “Thought what, Lexi?”

“I don’t want to mess your life up or anything,” I assure him hastily. I see a flicker of annoyance in his eyes, but I keep barreling forward. “I was hoping…I don’t know…maybe we could have dinner every once in a while.”

“You want dinner?” he asks slowly.

Skeptically.

“I don’t want your money,” I snap at him, and feel tears start to sting my eyes.

Brian offers a sympathetic smile and then his hand is on my shoulder again, giving me a warm squeeze. “You want a family.”

My head drops and I stare at my lap, blinking my eyes hard so I don’t cry. I nod and say, “And you seemed like the type of man who would want to know.”

Another squeeze to my shoulder, and when his hand falls away, I look over at him. He leans back in the chair and stretches his legs out, staring up at the ceiling. He expels a mighty breath of air from his lungs and murmurs, “Well, I have to say…I don’t know that I’ve ever received such a shock before in my life.”

Brian’s head turns and his eyes come to rest on me. “I’m at a loss.”

“I understand,” I say quietly. “It was a shock when she told me too. I’d grown up thinking my father abandoned me. She’d never tell me anything about you, only that you left when she was pregnant.”

“I swear I didn’t know,” Brian says as he sits up and leans toward me. “I swear to God I didn’t know.”

With a nod of understanding, I tell him, “I know. She admitted she never told you.”

“I have to tell Gray,” Brian says with a heavy sigh, and I can’t tell if that’s because I’ve just thrown him for a loop or because I’ve just complicated his life in a very bad way.

“I don’t want to impose,” I interject, all of a sudden more intimidated by the prospect of Gray knowing than Brian. I’ve read up on my half sister as much as I have on my father, and Gray Brannon is a powerhouse. Genius-level IQ, gorgeous, and driven. Frankly, she scares the crap out of me.

“You’re not imposing,” he says firmly. “It’s just…this is going to be hard for her to take. She’s pregnant, overworked, and I daresay, a bit emotional.”

“We can take a paternity test,” I blurt out, because even though he hasn’t uttered a single word of doubt, he surely can’t be taking everything I’m saying at face value. “In fact…I bought one at the drugstore and it’s in my purse. I’ve already done my swab. You can do one too and we can send it off. It takes a few weeks for the results to come in.”

Brian smiles at me and chuckles. “That’s probably a good idea, but I can see you have my chin and nose. I also have no reason to doubt your mother. She was a good woman. I’m pretty sure I know what the results are going to be.”

“I am really sorry for dropping this on you,” I tell him again. “I thought about writing you, but I couldn’t be sure you’d ever see it. So I thought face-to-face was the best.”

He nods at me thoughtfully and then stands from the chair again. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

A moment of panic surges within me; I’m afraid he’s going to take me right down to Gray’s office and introduce us. Still, I squeak out, “Nothing for a few hours. I have to be into work at 4 P.M.”

“Good,” he says as he leans across his desk and picks up his phone. He stabs a button, pauses, and then says, “Mary, cancel the rest of my appointments today.”

When he hangs up the phone, he turns back to me and smiles warmly. “Come on…let’s go take a drive and talk. I want to hear more about you.”

“You do?” I ask, stunned he just canceled his appointments to spend time with me.

“Well, assuming that chin and nose you’re sporting aren’t coincidence and you’re roughly twenty-six years of age, and given the fact you look just like your mother, outside of the chin and nose, I’m going to accept the fact you’re my daughter. So yes, I’d like to learn more about you.”

He then winks, and it drives away all of the nervousness and fear I’d been feeling.

I give him a tentative smile as I stand. The next chapter in my life is starting. “Okay. I can do that.”

Chapter 3

Brian

I sit in Ryker and Gray’s driveway, drumming my fingers on the wheel…trying to work up some courage to tell them about Lexi. And it pisses me off that this is remarkably hard to do. It shouldn’t have to be hard.

On the one hand, my life changed drastically the minute Lexi walked into my office. Nothing is going to be the same again. Not for me, and not for Gray. But on the other hand, I’m filled with this amazing euphoria that I’ve got another daughter. I barely know her, and yet my soul recognizes her as part of me, as corny as that sounds.