Read Online A Dad At Last by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online

friendly for the most part. “I asked Chelsea to help me.”
    â€œChelsea knows?” Anna’s heart sank. Chelsea had only recently walked away from her television job. Would the prospect of unearthing yet another scandal surrounding the Maitlands prove to be too much of a temptation to resist?
    â€œOnly that I was trying to find birth certificates,” Lacy replied quickly. “I didn’t tell her why or whose. And she didn’t ask,” she added in the woman’s defense. Lacy looked at Megan, hoping she would understand. “I wanted to tell you first, but I didn’t want to come to you until I was sure that Janelle wasn’t making all of this up for some reason.”
    Jake, looking decidedly uncomfortable, turned to his mother. “Lacy’s right, Mom. We found out the same info when we ran a check on Janelle’s finger-prints. I should have warned you, but so much washappening, there never seemed to be a right time. We decided to wait until we had confirmed Chase’s paternity—and then he was kidnapped.”
    Megan could hardly speak. The thought that someone in the Maitland family was capable of these kinds of sinister machinations was difficult for her to reconcile. Hurt and saddened, she could only shake her head. She knew that a desire for money was at the bottom of all this. If Janelle had just come to her honestly, things could have been so different.
    â€œWhere is Robert?” she asked Lacy.
    â€œHe’s dead.” Lacy hated being the one who had to tell her. “He and his wife were killed in Las Vegas some time ago.”
    â€œCar accident?” Mitch guessed. He looked at Anna and R.J., wondering how deeply this affected them.
    â€œNo.” Lacy shook her head. She’d gone through the death certificates, as well, just in case Janelle had lied about her father being dead. “They were gunned down in back of a casino, probably for a gambling debt.”
    Stunned, Megan looked at Anna and R.J. She’d thought of them as her own children for so long, it was difficult to remember that they really weren’t. “I’m sorry, my darlings.”
    R.J. shook his head, touched by what he saw in his mother’s eyes. “Don’t be. He stopped being ourfather a long time ago, even before he left us. William was our father.”
    Anna nodded her agreement. “And we couldn’t have had a better one.”
    Megan smiled her thanks. “I’ll have Max look into this further,” she promised. “That should help satisfy Chelsea’s curiosity, which I know must be bursting. Not that I don’t believe you,” she added quickly, looking at Lacy and Jake. “I just want to make sure this somehow isn’t just another clever twist on that girl’s part.” She sighed, remembering. “There’ve been so many lies this last year, it’s hard to keep sight of what’s true and what isn’t.”
    â€œSpeaking of which,” Abby interjected, “do we send out birth announcements, or what?” When her mother looked at her quizzically, Abby indicated Connor with raised eyebrows.
    Relief flooded through Megan, warm and cleansing. She knew by Abby’s question that at least Abby had welcomed Connor as her brother.
    One look at the faces gathered around her told Megan that they had all accepted Connor. Why had she ever doubted them?
    She unfolded the hands she had been squeezing together so tightly and smiled. “I don’t know, that depends on you.”
    Mitchell pretended to give his new sibling the once-over, then laughed. “He’s a little big for that, don’t you think?”
    â€œYou never get too big to be told that you’re an important member of this family,” Jake interjected, raising a glass in Connor’s direction.
    Ellie, seated closest to Connor, leaned over and placed her hand on his forearm. “I am so glad that the secret is