Page 45 of Coveted Justice

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Several times on the way to lunch the next day, Maddie wanted to tell Tanner to turn the car around and go back home. She was meeting her new half-sister for lunch along with her father and stepmother. She’d be a liar if she said she was looking forward to it. She wasn’t.

“I think you were right to schedule this,” Tanner said as they pulled into a parking spot in the restaurant’s lot. “Get it over with. There’s nothing to be gained by dragging it out.”

“The entire way here I wanted to tell you to bail on this idea,” she admitted. “Dad wouldn’t have questioned it with everything going on with the campaign and, of course, Abby.”

After Abby’s television interview yesterday, Tanner hadn’t been happy. He’d wanted to call his ex-wife and tell her how bad of an idea it was, but had decided that it would simply be a waste of his time. Abby only listened to Abby.

Tanner’s son Chris had spoken with his mom instead, but apparently that hadn’t gone well either. He’d called Tanner last night and told him that Abby had said that her attorney advised her to do the interview. It would put a human face on the situation, plus get her story out there without the press twisting it to their own ends.

Abby on television ensured that Tanner would be there as well. Some of the reporters were like vultures and had camped out in front of their home, hoping to get a quote about her interview. Both she and Tanner had ignored them.

“We can’t forget Abby,” Tanner sighed. “I just want to solve Marty’s murder so we can all move on. No one cares to hear about my education plan when there are far more salacious details to dig up.”

He’d told her about Marty and Abby belonging to a swinger’s club. At first, she hadn’t believed him, thinking he must be playing some sort of joke on her. But then when he insisted, she realized that her husband wasn’t the type, and he wouldn’t in a million years joke about something like this.

Now he was concerned about the press getting ahold of that information and blaring it on the nightly news. He could stand up to the scrutiny from the press, but he didn’t really want Chris and Emily to hear about their mother swinging on the local news. He was torn about telling them, not sure if he should. Abby was a grown woman and what she and her husband did in the privacy of their home wasn’t anyone else’s business, but they both knew that nothing was secret in a murder investigation.

He’d decided that Abby needed to be the one to tell them, but so far today, she wasn’t returning his calls.

Maddie glanced at the half full parking lot, recognizing her father’s vehicle. He was already here, and possibly her half-sister, too.

“How long do you think we can sit out here delaying the inevitable?”

Tanner checked his watch. “About one more minute. Anything more and we’d be late. And I know how you feel about being late to anything.”

She hated it. Punctuality was important. Although doctors had a terrible reputation for making people wait, she always tried to run her practice on time when at all possible. Her patients’ time was important. She never wanted to take them for granted.

“Then let’s get this over with.”

The restaurant entrance was only about twenty feet away, but it might have been a mile. She was already beginning to sweat a bit under her blouse and light jacket, the tension in her body pulled tight.

It was a small town and the hostess knew them by name, greeting them warmly and letting them know that their party had been seated. She could see her father and stepmother sitting on one side of a round table, and another person with her back to Maddie.

Her sister.

It was too late to run. She had to just do it.

Her dad looked up and saw her, a grin spreading on his face. He jumped up and hugged her, along with her stepmother Gwen. He put his arm around her and urged her forward. This was it.

“Stacy, this is my other daughter Madison. Madison, this is Stacy.”

My other daughter.

Is that what she was? Just his other daughter?

Don’t be petty. He has two kids now. Don’t be a spoiled only child.

Stacy had light brown hair and big green eyes. Dressed in casual khaki slacks and a cotton sweater, she was an attractive woman.

From the expression Stacy was wearing, she was also thrilled to meet her new sister. The woman squealed and Maddie found herself wrapped up in a tight hug that she couldn’t politely extricate herself from without looking like a bitch. Stacy eventually let go and stepped back, tears glittering in her eyes.

“I’m just happy to meet you. I’m so excited to have family in my life again. I’ve always wanted a sister and now I have one. It’s like a dream come true.”

Maddie couldn’t lie and say that there weren’t times when she’d wanted a sibling. Mostly she’d wanted Sherry to be her sister, but the rest of the time she’d been content with it just being her and her dad.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Maddie said, forcing the words out of her mouth. “This is my husband, Tanner Marks.”