Page 62 of The Restaurant on Plum Island
“What?” Carly felt the blood drain from her face as her body started to go cold with shock, and her brain whirled like a machine with missing data it needed to process. She turned to look at Ethan and saw the words were true. “Paul, is your father-in-law?” Confusion clouded her mind as she turned to Shaun. “Ethan’s ex-wife was your older sister?” Shaun nodded. “The one you told me had died a few years before we met?”
“She had died to me,” Shaun defended himself, his eyes filled with anger and hate as they moved toward Ethan. “He took her away from us. Told her lies and made her disown her family.”
“That’s more lies,” Harriet immediately defended Ethan. “It wasyourfamily that turned their back on Beth, refusing to acknowledge her problem!”
“My daughter didn’t have any problems!” Paul snarled. “It was all lies sohecould manipulate Beth. Use her against me because the Blackwell family was furious when I withdrew from my record label and took my biggest-selling album to a company they then bought!”
Carly couldn’t believe what was happening or that she’d never put the pieces together. How could I not have known that Paul’s daughter was Ethan’s wife? She looked at Paul. Carly hadn’t had many dealingswith him and had only met him a few times while she’d been married to Shaun. But he’d always send Reef a birthday or Christmas card and would add to Reef’s trust fund twice a year on those days.
Carly wondered if Reef knew who his father’s older sister was! Her eyes widened. Did Shay know? Her head shot around toward Ethan, who was glaring at Paul.Ethan must’ve known Shaun was Beth’s adopted brother.
“Did you know Shaun was Beth’s brother?” Carly’s voice was hoarse with emotion as she addressed Ethan.
“No!” Ethan looked at her. “Paul had distanced himself from Beth as soon as we got engaged. He didn’t even come to our wedding, and Beth never spoke about having siblings.”
She wanted to believe Ethan, so she turned to Paul. “Is that true?”
“I’d already broken away from Blackwell Records when Beth met Ethan,” Paul explained. “I warned her not to get involved with the Blackwells, but she didn’t listen.”
“So you cut her out of your life?” Carly said in disbelief. “Because of who she fell in love with. What about your granddaughter?”
“It’s unfortunate that I’ve had to keep my distance frombothof my grandkids,“ Paul said, and Carly saw a flash of pain in his eyes. “Although I make sure I never miss a birthday or Christmas.”
“Throwing money and sending a card isn’t being a part of their lives,” Carly pointed out.
“I send them text messages twice a year as well,” Paul said. “We have a complicated family dynamic.”
“Grandfather of the year!” Harriet said sarcastically.
“Should we discussyourfamily dynamic,princess!“ Paul looked warningly at Harriet.
“Leave her out of this,” Ethan said through gritted teeth. “I may not agree with Shaun onanything,but he’s right about us standing here and bickering. It’s drawing unwanted attention.“ He glanced around.
“Ethan!” Trinity Woodrow rushed through the hotel’s doors as if on cue. She waved at him. They all turned to watch her walk toward them. “Thank you so much for the idea of interviewing Shaun and Paul about Stella Hart’s return to acting.” She turned toward Carly with a smile on her face, oblivious to the sudden tension around her. “Stella, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you agreed to do another segment with me.”
Before Carly or anyone could respond, Trinity looked at her wristwatch. “Oops. I’m late.” She rolled her eyes, waving them off in her wake. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
With that, she disappeared, leaving Carly gaping after her. A thought struck her, and she turned to Paul and Shaun. “Why didn’t she greet you?”
“She already greeted me,” Paul told Carly. “A driver of her show fetched me from Boston airport, and Trinity greeted me on the phone while I was being driven here.”
“Same here,” Shaun told her.
“That witch!” Harriet sneered, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she looked around the lobby. “Do you think she set this up?”
“The timing did seem a little too perfect,” Jennifer agreed.
“Did you help her set this up and agree to another segment on her show on my behalf?” Carly confronted Ethan.
“No!” Ethan told her. “I would never do that.”
“What about Alex?” Carly asked. “It’s not like he hasn’t impersonated you before? If I had to hazard a guess who’d forged the new interview questions, it would’ve been Alex.”
“It wasn’t Alex,” Ethan assured her, but Carly couldn’t help but wonder if he was protecting his brother.
“How can you be sure?” Carly asked.
“Because I am!” Ethan told her firmly.
