Page 34 of Fighting Happily Ever After

The papers didn’t have much information at all. It was only a birth record, with no name, just the time and place of the baby’s birth, and the sex. Accompanied by a letter from the adoption agency, that there was nothing more they could reveal.

“It looks like Mom wrote for information when the baby would have been eighteen,” Hope said, rereading the letter.

“Right, but that’s not much to go on.” Faith couldn’t even begin to imagine where to start with such a project. It seemed completely overwhelming. “It will take ages to figure it out.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’ve got ages.” Hope grinned. “After all, what else am I supposed to do while I’m on bed rest?” She laughed. “It’ll give me something to do. Besides, I’ve always wanted to play detective. This could be a lot of fun.”

Faith couldn’t help but laugh, too. Telling her sister the truth after all this time had been more of a relief than she could have even known. “Maybe it will be fun. For you,” she added quickly. “I’ll run the business, and you figure out who our sister is. Deal?”

“Absolutely!” Hope stuck out her hand to shake and when Faith took it, she added, “Besides, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of you figuring out your real feelings for Logan.”

Faith’s mouth dropped open and she tried to pull away, but Hope held her fast.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know something real is going on there. I, for one, am totally over it. It’s ridiculous and you know it.”

Faith opened her mouth to say something, but her sister cut her off again. “It is. I know you well enough to know the truth. But I also know you well enough to know you’ll figure it out.” Hope pulled her close and gave her a smooch on the cheek. “Now, can you bring me my laptop? I have work to do.”

She did as she asked and when she finally left the room, Faith leaned back against the wall and dropped her head to her chest. Hope thought she knew what was going on, but she didn’t. At least not all of it. Maybe there was something real with Logan? But more likely, he was just trying to win the bet. That’s the way Logan was. He liked to poke at her and rile her up. And he liked to win.

Hope wasn’t too far off the mark when it came to how Faith felt. But Logan? That was a much bigger question, one she certainly couldn’t answer. And it was an awful lot to bet her heart on after all this time unless she could know for sure.

How were things going with Faith?

His mother had asked a good question. Averygood question, and one Logan wanted answers to more than his mother. Who, judging by the way she wouldn’t let the subject drop, wanted answers very badly.

But Logan couldn’t answer her, if he didn’t know himself.

What he did know was that things were about to get a whole lot more cozy now that Stephanie Starz had moved in. She’d arrived at the house, shortly after Logan himself had returned, with a box of honey buns from Sweetie Pies and a huge smile on her face.

It had been an eventful evening, and not just because they had a guest. But right before Stephanie had arrived, Hope and Faith had dropped a bomb on the guys by revealing the secret Faith had been keeping for years about a long-lost adopted sister. Shocked would have been an understatement, but Hope didn’t seem upset by the news at all. She was excited and energized toplay detective,as she put it. They’d decided to not mention anything to Stephanie about it all, considering she had enough to worry about with her wedding coming up so quickly.

In true Levi form, he was supportive of anything his wife wanted, as long as it didn’t stress Hope out and put the baby at risk.

Not that Hope would do anything to put her pregnancy at risk.

Logan didn’t have much to say about the whole situation. It all seemed so crazy. So he let the others lead the conversation with ideas and strategies about how to go about finding the truth. Instead of contributing, he watched Faith, who was also quieter than usual. Especially considering the topic of conversation. He would have thought she’d have lots to say, but instead, she seemed distant and withdrawn for most of the night. Even once Stephanie arrived, and the conversation changed to weddings, Faith stayed quiet and let Hope lead the conversation. Either no one else noticed, or they’d let it go. But Logan hadn’t let it go. And he’d been hoping to ask her about it, if she ever came up to bed. Which was looking less and less likely because he’d been upstairs for almost forty minutes, and she still hadn’t come up.

Logan was just about to go looking for her, because he was pretty sure he was the reason she was lingering downstairs, when the door to their now officially shared bedroom opened.

“I thought you might be asleep.”

“I thought you might be hoping for that,” he answered with a grin. “Disappointed?”

She shrugged, but then surprised him with her honest answer. “No.” Faith walked past him, across the room and headed straight into the bathroom.

The woman wasn’t boring or predictable, that much was certain. He shook his head with a chuckle and crawled into what he hoped was therightside of the bed and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long this time before the bathroom door opened. The room was dark, but he watched her shadow approach the bed before he felt the gentle dip of the mattress as she laid down.

“I could sleep on the —”

“You’re fine.” She cut him off. “In fact, it’s kind of nice having you here.”

“It is?”

She laughed.

There was something about the dark that maybe allowed Faith to drop her guard. He couldn’t be sure, but whatever it was, she seemed a lot more relaxed than she had in…well…days.

---