Page 37 of Fighting Happily Ever After

Maybe she hadn’t been fair the night before, but Logan hadn’t corrected her either. When she’d told him the game was over and that he’d won, he hadn’t said anything to make her think any different. Because she’d been right. And maybe that was the part that hurt the most. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, some small part of her had hoped she was wrong. Which was why she needed distance. As much as it hurt, it was the best choice for everyone that she pushed him away. And oh, it did hurt.

Faith had been pushing men away her entire life and it always sucked. In fact, there were one or two occasions when it had even been hard. But it had never made her feel the way she was feeling now.

She’d woken early, hoping to get out of the house before Logan got up. Not that she’d slept much, but she’d obviously drifted off at some point because when she had opened her eyes, Logan was already gone.

That should have made her happy, or at least given her some sense of relief. Instead, it only made her heart ache. She needed to shake it off.

Faith couldn’t remember the last time she’d put on running clothes and worked out. Definitely not since she’d been back in Glacier Falls, but it was the only thing she could think of to get out of her head.

She pushed her body hard as she ran through the wooded trails around their property, dodging trees, rocks, and roots on the paths. It was a good workout, and by the time she’d been out just over an hour, she’d worked up quite a sweat. But still she was restless as she held her side and walked across the yard toward the house. Despite a cramp in her side, the exertion hadn’t helped her work out any of her feelings—quite the opposite, really—and Faith was tempted to turn around and run some more when Stephanie, who had been sitting on the porch, waved and called out to her.

“Faith! I’m so glad you’re back. I’ve been up all night.”

That makes two of us.

Faith took one last longing look at the trees behind her and headed for the porch.

“Ideas, huh?” She collapsed into a chair, suddenly feeling as though she couldn’t walk another foot, let alone a mile. “Tell me everything.”

Stephanie, who must have been up all night looking at Pinterest and dreaming about the perfect elopement ceremony, spent the next twenty minutes telling Faith all of her ideas, or thoughts about flowers, decorations, and dresses, finally finishing with, “I mean, I don’t really know if I need any of that. I’d be happy to get married in a sweat suit if that’s what’s available, you know? I just want to do it.”

Faith turned and examined her new friend. Something seemed a little off about Stephanie at the moment, but maybe it was just her lack of sleep, or her own jaded thoughts. “You okay?”

Stephanie nodded, her red hair bouncing in its ponytail. “I’m just…well, I love Dax. I do. And I want to get married, but…”

“You don’t have to do this.” Faith sat up in her chair. “Not if it doesn’t feel right. There’s no rule that says you—”

“No!” Steph shook her head hard. “It’s not like that. It’s not like I don’t know about Dax. I do…it’s just…it’s nothing.” She looked past Faith, out to the trees and mountains. “I really like being around you guys. Seeing true love like what Hope and Levi have, and you and Logan…it’s inspiring, you know? Like all relationships should be. So strong. So honest, and true.”

Honest and true.

“You can see it just by looking at the two of you, there’s so much pure adoration between the two of you and it really is inspiring. Does that make sense?”

It didn’t. Because Faith was a big fat liar, and she needed to tell Stephanie the truth before it went any further. She took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you, Steph. I probably should have—”

The other woman held up a hand to stop her. “I just need to say one more thing.”

Faith nodded and let her continue.

“I wanted to thank you, Faith, because seeing the love you and Logan have just makes everything so clear. And watching the two of you, I know there’s a chance. After all, if a love as raw and obvious as the two of you can finally be realized after what you’ve both been through…” She shook her head and laughed. “Well, it gives the rest of us hope, you know? And I think that’s what we all need right now. Thank you.”

There was so much more to what Stephanie said than she was letting on, but it made one thing perfectly clear to Faith. There was no way she could tell her the truth about Logan. Not yet. Not now. Not when there was obviously something going on with her. She seemed conflicted about her own wedding and relationship. If Steph was looking to her for inspiration, she was definitely not going to be the one to burst her bubble, not now. It wouldn’t be fair.

“Anyway,” Stephanie ran her hands over her head, smoothing her hair back, “I just needed to get that off my chest, because I really do appreciate you. What is it you were going to say?”

Faith swallowed hard and closed her eyes, searching for something to say instead of the truth that was burning up her tongue. “I was going to tell you about the craziest thing. It’s kind of a secret I’ve been holding onto for a long time and well, I just told Hope, so in case you’re wondering what’s going on, it’s that apparently our mother had a baby about three years before we were born and gave it up for adoption.”

She hadn’t meant to say anything. They’d decided not to. After all, it was a family matter and really none of anyone else’s business, but it had just kind of slipped out. She really needed to get a hold of herself. Or get some sleep. Or just generally pull herself together.

“What?” Stephanie’s mouth slowly dropped open. “You have a sister out there?”

“Half-sister.” Faith nodded. “We don’t really know much. I found a few papers that my mom must have requested from the adoption agency when the baby turned eighteen, but they don’t tell us much. Just that the baby was born in Calgary in September of 1991.”

All of the blood drained from Stephanie’s face, and for a moment, Faith was sure she was going to pass out. She jumped to her feet and crossed the porch to where Steph was sitting. “Are you okay? What’s—”

“I was born in Calgary in September of 1991, Faith. I was adopted in a closed adoption. I never knew anything about my birth parents and—”

“There’s no way.” Faith took a step back. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that Stephanie Starz, the world’s biggest movie star, was their adopted older sister.No. Way.

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