The Charade: A Billionaire/Fake Relationship Romance (Eden Falls Academy)
The Charade: Chapter 43

DR. AARDEN—BRENDON—MY dad came into the room a few minutes later.

‘Hi,’ he said, ducking his head down nervously as he looked at Elyse and me. ‘It’s, uh, it’s good to meet you two again.’ He seemed to study both my sister and me, like he was trying to figure out how to tell us apart. ‘I remember your names, but you may need to forgive me for not knowing who is who right away. Which one of you is Ava? And which is Elyse?’

‘I’m Ava.’ I stepped forward. Not knowing what else to do, I held out my hand for him to shake.

He looked at it for a second before taking it in his and saying, ‘It’s very good to meet you again, Ava.’ And when our hands touched, I felt an immediate sense of calm come over me.

It could have all been in my head because since when did shaking hands with a forty-year-old guy make me feel anything? But it did feel almost like the energy of the universe was trying to tell me this guy was really my dad. This guy standing in front of me was the person I’d been wondering about my entire life.

He felt like home.

He narrowed his eyes and looked down at our hands, and it made me wonder if he felt it, too. The rightness of this moment. Like the universe had actually been conspiring for things to turn out exactly the way they had.

Afterwards, he shook Elyse’s hand next, seeming to study her with curiosity as well as she introduced herself. Then we all just stood there staring at each other for a long time, taking everything in. Mack’s dad—my dad—suggested we sit down and talk.

I shook my head as Elyse and I sat together, realizing it was going to take some time to adjust to calling this near stranger our dad.

Dr. Aarden sat on the leather chair across from us since my mom had moved to a chair in the corner—letting us have our moment with him while still being there for support if we needed her.

He cleared his throat and looked at us with his golden-brown eyes that matched mine and Elyse’s almost exactly—so perfectly that I probably should have noticed the similarity the first time we’d met.

His hair was slightly lighter than mine but had the same texture, fine but thick. And from how tall he seemed when we’d stood in front of him a second ago, I knew that I must have gotten my tall genetics from this man because he was at least six-foot six, maybe a little taller even.

I was sure I’d be spending a lot of time over the next weeks, months, and years studying this man, trying to decipher all the similarities between myself and him. But for now, I would try to focus on being present in the moment and getting to know a little more about him.

He cleared his throat to speak first, leaning slightly forward over his long legs. ‘So, I’m not exactly sure how to maneuver this new situation that we’re all finding ourselves in, but before we get very far into our conversation tonight, I first want to apologize for not being there for you two for the past seventeen and a half years.’ He cleared his throat again. ‘Not being there for you three, actually.’

He glanced briefly at my mom. ‘And I guess your mom probably told you about everything that was going on back when she was pregnant and…’ He tugged on the collar of his white polo shirt. ‘I just want you to know how sorry I am that I failed you all back then. I really am.’ He looked down at his hands, clasping and unclasping them, then back at us. ‘I’m actually really ashamed that I basically just let your mom disappear from my life. If I’d been a better man and actually tried to follow up with her on the miscarriage story, if I’d been man enough to try to comfort her or something like a decent human would, I might have been able to see what was really going on. Then the last seventeen years would have looked very different for all of you.’

‘Don’t blame yourself for believing me, Brendon,’ my mom said. ‘You did just what I hoped you would, so if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.’

He shook his head. ‘Regardless of what happened in the past and the ways we could have handled it better, the fact is that we can’t go back in time and fix things. But we can do better now. We can try to move forward.’ He paused for a moment before adding, ‘So if you’re open to the idea, I would love to spend the next several months while you girls are at the academy getting to know both of you better. And then of course, hopefully continue to move forward from there.’

‘You would?’ Elyse asked, and when I looked at my sister, the raw emotion—the hopefulness in her expression—hit my soul deep. Because I wanted the same thing.

‘Of course.’ Mr. Aarden nodded as he took in the openness of Elyse’s expression. ‘Of course I’d love to get to know everything about you.’ He moved his gaze to me. ‘Both of you.’

And we all must have gotten caught up in the same overwhelming emotion because we all stood up at the same time. When Mr. Aarden held his arms open to us, Elyse and I didn’t hesitate to go to him. He set his strong arms around our shoulders and pulled us close, and it just felt…right.

It felt right to finally hug my dad.

I leaned my head against his solid chest and looked at my sister across from me with tears in my eyes. And when our gazes locked, her eyes had tears in them, too. Because we’d finally found our dad.

And he was a good man.

He wanted to get to know us. He wanted to love us.

That was all we’d ever wanted.

To have a dad who wanted and loved us.

A sniffling noise sounded from the corner—Mom was all watery-eyed as well.

Elyse and I went to hug her next. After we all had a good, happy cry together, we sat down again to make plans for how we would move forward from here.

Mr. Aarden told us about what was going on in his life right then. While his wife, Brianna, knew that he’d slept with our mom after the reunion because he’d told her about it a long time ago, she would still be surprised to find out about Elyse and me.

She was in a delicate condition right now. The tumor was causing more and more issues. ‘But I know you deserve to have a dad and I want to see what it’s like to have daughters—two beautiful daughters,’ he said. ‘I’m planning to tell Brianna about everything tomorrow, and then see if we can arrange a time for you two to come over in the next week so all of us can get to know each other better.’

‘Does Mack know about us yet?’ Elyse asked.

And it was then that I realized that not only were we gaining a dad and a stepmother, but we would also have a brother.

A brother who I had liked from the instant I met him because of his charismatic personality.

‘I was waiting to talk to all of you first,’ Mr. Aarden said. ‘But I’m planning to tell him tomorrow.’

‘Okay, cool,’ Elyse said.

I watched Elyse release an anxious breath, and I realized what must be going through her head. Because even though she hadn’t acted on it at all, she’d had a crush on Mack since we first came to Eden Falls.

So instead of it being me, she was going to be the sister who’d had complicated feelings for our brother.

Life was fun, wasn’t it?

But thankfully, for her and Mack’s sake at least, she’d never said anything about it to anyone besides me.

And of course I would keep it a secret. I of all people understood what kind of trouble could come from not knowing who you may or may not be related to when you came to the world of Eden Falls Academy, where the people were as beautiful and intriguing as the scenery around us.

After exchanging numbers with our father so we could be in touch, we all left Mr. Hastings’s office a little bit different than we’d been when we’d entered. We walked past the ballroom just as the clock was striking midnight. When I peeked through the windows and listened to the sounds coming from inside, I realized that everyone was singing “Happy Birthday” to Carter.

He was standing just a few feet away from the windows, a huge birthday cake with eighteen tall candles flickering in the dimly lit room. He must have noticed our movement from the corner of his eyes, because after everyone finished singing to him and he had blown out the candles, his eyes locked with mine and he mouthed something like, ‘Are you okay?’

I nodded and sent him a small smile before mouthing back, ‘I will be.’

He nodded to let me know that he understood. And then he pointed to Dr. Aarden who was walking a few feet ahead of me and mouthed, ‘Is that your dad?’

I smiled and nodded, tears springing to my eyes because I was so relieved and hopeful about how things had turned out.

When Carter seemed to realize that he was officially off the hook for being my brother, his shoulders relaxed and he mouthed, ‘I love you.’

‘I love you, too,’ I whispered back even though he couldn’t hear me through the window and above the excited chatter in the ballroom.

His family surrounded him then, everyone wanting to give the birthday boy a hug. I slipped my hand in my mom’s and went with her and Elyse back to my mom’s hotel suite, so we could spend some much-needed mother/daughter time together.

Now that I wasn’t on the verge of going crazy because I’d fallen in love with my brother, Carter and I could catch up on everything tomorrow.

Because now we actually had time.

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