Page 52 of Submission

“This is going to sound like a very intrusive question, Lacy, but are you sure you have no family?”

She still looks shaken from the recent events (and rightly so), but at my question, she shakes her head, looking confused. “I told you, I was in foster care ever since I can remember. I don’t have any family. I never did.”

I look towards Hunter to say something at this point since I’ve opened the door to questioning. Finally, he does.

“Can you tell me why you’re wearing contact lenses and why you’ve recently dyed your hair?”

“I’ve been hired as a cook, not a server.” She flinches at the questions. “Is there a problem with how I dress or something?“

“There’s a good reason he’s asking that,” I tell her, understanding her defensiveness. “He isn’t criticizing.”

“There is a reason.” She looks between us both anxiously. “When I turned eighteen, I left my foster home. I did a few odd jobs, and I don’t know why, but I learned later that some men showed up at one of my former jobs looking for someone with my description. It freaked me out, so I decided that it was safer to hide my most notable features.”

“Well, that was smart,” Hunter finally says. “You led us all on a very long goose chase.”

Lacy freezes, and I see the panic on her face. “Wait, are you one of the men looking for me?“

“Not in that way!” I say quickly, waving her thoughts away with my hand. “Hunter has a legitimate reason.”

“Do I look at all familiar to you?” Hunter asks, studying her carefully.

Lacy frowns. “Should you?”

He pauses, and I see the flash of hurt in his eyes at her almost careless answer. Seeing this unflappable man express that brief emotion breaks my heart, so I step in. “Lacy, it seems that you actually do have some family alive.”

“What?” She turns towards me, rightfully confused. “I don’t understand how you would know that or why you would care?”

Hunter walks over to her now, holding out the test results. “Fifteen years ago, there was a fire in my apartment where I lived with my mother and younger sister. My sister was three years old at the time, and her name was Lena. I thought she died in that fire, but I recently discovered that she may have been alive all this time. The birthmark on your wrist is the same as hers.”

“No one ever made mention of me being orphaned in a fire,” she says with almost pity for Hunter. “That’s terrible what happened to your sister, but it isn’t me.”

Hunter looks at me for what I think is permission to continue. He’s done some questionable things in the time since Lacy has arrived at the Blue Whiskey and I’m sure she won’t like them, but I give him a head nod of approval anyway.

“So… I took some of your DNA and compared it with mine. I also reached out to the hospital where both of us were born and got a copy of your birth certificate. Your real name is Lena Ray Middleton, and you are indeed my younger sister.”

“You took my DNA without my consent?”

“I’ve done much worse,” he says, not fully understanding how that statement doesn’t make things any better. Lacy doesn’t understand his invasive personality yet, not like I do.

“His methods are questionable, to say the least,” I admit to her. “But just read the results. They were conducted in a reputable lab.”

Lacy’s expression changes as she stares down at the test results, reading and re-reading the summary. She seems so shell-shocked that I lower her into a nearby chair. I’m not big on comforting people and am quite awkward at it, but I try patting her shoulder. “Look, I know this might be a lot to take in.”

“I have a family?” Her eyes pop up and over to Hunter. “You’remy family?”

The tone and the look she shoots Hunter has me wincing and I whisper by her ear, “Um, try not to look so offended.”

“Sorry, it’s just…you’reyou.I just– this isn’t some sick sort of joke, is it?”

I can see her trying to grasp this new reality and I kind of feel sorry for her, actually for them both.

“I know it’s a lot of information to take in,“ I say.

She cuts me off, looking directly at Hunter. “Why is she doing all the talking? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I just told you everything,” Hunter replies, standing to his feet.

“What does this mean for me?”

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