Page 35 of Coveted Justice

“A half-sister. Your grandfather told me about her last night after the dinner.”

Amanda threw up her hands, her cheeks a bright pink.

“How long has he known? Has he known about her all of these years and just never said anything? That’s awful.”

“Please sit down and I’ll explain it all,” Maddie said, sinking into one of the kitchen chairs. “As I said, I’m just wrapping my head around it all myself.”

As thoroughly as she could, Maddie outlined what her father had told her, trying not to outwardly show her own anger and disgust about his behavior. She didn’t want to alienate Amanda from her grandfather. They had a loving and close relationship, and she’d always been happy about that. She didn’t want that to end.

Amanda looked up at Tanner. “When did you find out?”

“Last night. Just hours after your mother. And by the way, I don’t much like that tone, Amanda. We were not keeping anything from you, and we are allowed to have lives without you knowing every single detail. You’re always telling us to give you space and privacy. I would hope that you would do the same for us.”

Maddie completely agreed with her husband. Amanda was known to fly off the handle and take things far too personally on occasion. She really didn’t have anything to complain about here. Maddie had been told about her half-sister less than twenty-four hours ago.

Amanda, however, didn’t like her father’s tone either. That was clear by how her eyes went wide and those pink cheeks turned red with anger.

“You both treat me like a child,” she accused, jumping to her feet. “All I’m asking for is some consideration here.”

Tanner had already raised two teenagers so he’d seen pretty much everything a child could throw at a parent plus more. Maddie, on the other hand, was still coming to grips with the fact that her daughter would be nineteen in only a few days. It seemed only yesterday that she’d dropped Amanda off at kindergarten and then cried in her car.

“You might want to have some consideration for your mother because she is the one that had the bomb dropped on her last night by her own father. From what I can see, you’re only thinking about yourself. I thought you grew out of that when you were sixteen.”

Without another word, Amanda whirled on her heel and stomped from the kitchen, muttering under her breath.

“She has my temper,” Maddie said with a sigh. “She comes by it honestly.”

“That doesn’t give her the right to think that we simply orbit around her,” Tanner said, annoyance in his tone. “Shit, I thought we were out of that phase when she went to college. She’s been so normal and rational lately.”

“There’s a lot going on,” she reminded him. “Marty. Your campaign. Now this. And I’m sure we don’t know everything that’s going on in her personal life. Maybe she and Derek are having trouble. Young love is the worst.”

Tanner scowled at the mention of Derek Billingham. He wasn’t the young man’s biggest fan. He said that the boy was too sure of himself, and kind of a know it all.

Maddie agreed. They hadn’t shared those feelings with Amanda.

“Are they even still dating? I thought they broke up. I heard her tell Brian that she didn’t have a boyfriend.”

“They’re dating, but they both want to have an undefined relationship. They don’t want to call each other boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Why not?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure,” Maddie replied with a shrug. “Amanda talked about how labels don’t define people and that they don’t need them. That they create unrealistic expectations from society.”

“That’s the biggest load of bull I’ve ever heard,” Tanner declared. “That sounds like something a guy says so that he can have a girlfriend but sleep with other girls.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Maddie laughed. “But it came out of Amanda’s mouth. She seemed quite firm on the subject, too.”

“I guess I’m just too old to understand. I just want her to be happy.”

“That’s what I want, too. Do you think we’re treating her like a child? I don’t want to do that. I know she’s growing up and becoming more independent.”

“I don’t think we do but I could be wrong. We’re not exactly unbiased. One thing I know for sure, it doesn’t matter how old she gets. She’ll always be my little girl. I feel the same about Chris and Emily. I still worry about them, and they’re all grown up with families of their own. That’s what parents do. We worry.”

Parenting wasn’t easy, but neither was being the child. Right now, Amanda was upset with her mom and dad. Maddie was angry at her father.

The familial ties that bind were being stretched to their limit. Hopefully, nothing would snap. She had to hold on and make sure that they survived.

Because the alternative simply couldn’t be allowed to happen.

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