Chapter 33: 8: The Truth Unveiled

SHAY

“Josephine, could you change Nate and let him play a bit? I need to pick up the twins from school,” Shay requested, handing over the baby to her.

“Sure thing, Shay. I’ve already folded the laundry. It’s in the basket at the bottom of the stairs,” Josephine replied, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Nate. His wide eyes were open, his mouth opening and closing in the most adorable way.

“Thanks, Jo,” Shay expressed her gratitude. She couldn’t imagine managing without Josephine’s help. Jo had been a godsend, helping with the kids and around the house, even cooking lunch sometimes.

Shay had met Jo at the park. Jo had just been let go by her previous employer because they were relocating and couldn’t keep her on. Shay had hired her on the spot.

Jo was a black woman in her early forties, with a son in college and a husband who was a middle school teacher. The only downside was that Jo couldn’t drive, but Shay was willing to overlook that minor inconvenience.

“I’ll be back soon, okay?” Shay told Nate, planting a small kiss on his curly hair. Nate had inherited her mother’s afro curls, unlike her other children.

With a wave to Nate and Josephine, Shay grabbed her keys and headed out. She trusted Josephine implicitly with her baby. As she closed the front door behind her, she made her way to her Range Rover.

As she walked across her house, passing the giant windows, she took a moment to appreciate her beautiful home. She had been lucky to get it at such a good price. The white and gray interior was stunning, and despite the challenges of having twins and white furniture, she had found a company that made kid-friendly, washable, and crayon-proof white furniture.

She unlocked her car, settled in, and started the engine. She glanced at the other cars in her garage. She had two more cars besides the Range Rover, one of them a Porsche 711, a gift from her father when she started driving again.

She made a mental note to start the other cars. It had been a while since she had done so.

Shay drove off to the school. She had enrolled the twins in a private school because she wanted the best for them. The school also had better security, which was one of her main concerns.

She wanted to ensure the twins were safe from strangers, paparazzi, and even Ethan, who she feared might try to take them away from her. She arrived at the school just as the kids started to come out. Some parents had parked their cars in the lot next to the school, while others, like her, were in the queue for pick-up.

She recognized many of the faces and cars in the queue. She smiled as she looked out of the window, recognizing a few parents.

She turned on the radio and put on her playlist. It was a relief to listen to something other than Baby Shark or nursery rhymes. As the latest Ariana Grande song played, she bobbed her head to the beat, maintaining a safe distance from the car in front of her.

She remembered the twins’ first day of school. She had watched them walk in and had cried as she drove away. It was emotional watching them grow up.

The twins were good boys. They enjoyed school and always came back with stories. The car rides home were filled with their chatter and stories.

She loved listening to them talk about their day. She knew this wouldn’t last forever, so she promised herself to cherish these moments before they hit puberty and things changed.

She saw the twins running toward the car as she approached the gate. They were in their khaki-colored polo shirts and royal blue shorts with pins. The teachers recognized her car and the twins.

She smiled, unlocked the car door, and the teacher helped the boys into the car.

“Eli, Liam,” she called as they got into the car. They took off their bags and buckled themselves in. She had trained them to always wear seat belts.

“Mama,” Liam called.

“Mom,” Elijah echoed.

“How was your day?” Shay asked as she carefully drove off.

“Brady fell down during lunch and tore his pants,” the twins began, laughing as they recalled the day’s events. Shay listened attentively as she drove them home.

As they neared their house, she felt a wave of gratitude for the home she had bought. It was perfect for raising her kids, with plenty of space and room to expand as the twins grew.

Her phone buzzed beside her. She glanced at it and saw Ethan’s name. She ignored it for now, grabbed the garage keys, and opened the garage before driving in.

She parked the car, quickly checked her phone, and saw a message from Ethan.

From: Ethan

To: Shay Haze

I can’t stop thinking about you

She felt a flutter in her stomach. Shaking her head, she locked her phone and put it away. She then unlocked the car and let the twins out.

“Do you guys have a lot of homework today?” she asked as she locked the car.

“Yeah, Ms. Gloria gave us homework, and we have math,” Eli answered. She nodded, knowing she would have to help them with their homework later.

“What homework did Ms. Gloria give?” Shay asked, kissing the boys on the top of their heads as they walked toward the house.

“We have to do a family tree,” Liam answered. Shay froze. She knew the questions were coming. Her heart started to race and she felt a cold sweat break out.

“Who is our father, mom?” Eli asked the question she had been dreading. She took a deep breath.

“Let’s go in, shower, have lunch, and then I’ll come up and help you with your homework, okay?” she said calmly. The twins nodded and ran upstairs. She sighed in relief. She needed time to gather her thoughts and talk to her husband, Adam.

Shay tossed her keys into the bowl, acknowledging Josephine with a swift nod. She then hurried upstairs, retrieving her phone from her bag.

Once in her room, she shut the door behind her, her bag landing with a thud on the floor. She began to pace anxiously in front of her bed.

Shay’s heart pounded in her chest, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts. She was torn between telling the twins the truth or keeping it from them. With shaky hands, she dialed her husband’s number on her phone.

Ring

Ring

“Sweetheart?” Adam’s voice came through, deep and comforting.

“Adam,” she choked out, her pacing continuing.

“Is everything all right?” His voice was laced with concern.

“The twins’ homework is a family tree, and they’ve been asking about their dad,” Shay managed to say, stopping in her tracks. She wasn’t sure how he would react.

Silence

She could hear the faint sounds of his surroundings and his steady breathing, but she couldn’t decipher his thoughts. Her heart still pounding, Shay sank to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest, filled with worry.

“Adam,” she whispered.

“Just tell them the truth,” he finally responded.

“Are you sure?” Shay questioned.

“We’ve discussed this, Shay. We knew this day would come. We can’t hide the truth from them. We don’t want them to resent us later,” Adam reasoned.

Shay nodded. Even though he couldn’t see her, she agreed. She knew he was right. They had talked about this before they got married, about how they would handle this situation.

But they hadn’t anticipated Ethan coming back into their lives. That was completely unexpected.

“Shay?” he called out.

“Yeah,” she sighed, stretching out her legs and leaning back against the wall.

“Everything will be okay. I promise,” Adam reassured her.

“Okay,” Shay agreed, quickly ending the call. She told him she’d see him at home for dinner.

***

^Flashback^

“The twins are wonderful,” Adam praised, stepping away from their room. Their soft snores filled the quiet house.

“They can be a handful, but they’re amazing. I love them with all my heart,” she replied, taking his hand and leading him to the living room. This wasn’t the first time Adam had met her kids.

They had played together a few times and seemed to get along well. She was grateful for that. She needed a positive male figure in their lives.

Her brothers were great, but they weren’t always around. The boys needed consistency.

Settling onto the couch, Shay tucked her legs beneath her, watching Adam as he sat down next to her. His features were striking, his jawline strong. She was glad she had met him again.

The first time she met Adam was after the accident. He was the officer who arrived at the scene and interviewed her. Even then, she found him attractive.

She remembered how his presence had calmed her during such a traumatic time. Their fingers intertwined, she sighed contentedly, staring at their joined hands. His index finger traced a heart on the back of her hand.

Shay had never thought she’d fall in love again, not until the twins were eighteen at least. Meeting Adam was a stroke of luck. She remembered how he had approached her and how their relationship had blossomed from there.

They took things slow, making sure they were both comfortable with each step. Now, sitting on the couch with him, she was happy.

With Adam, everything was peaceful. She loved him. Shay wasn’t sure when or how she fell in love with him, but one day she just realized she did.

Everything since then had been blissful. Their relationship wasn’t based on passion or lust. It was nothing like her relationship with Ethan.

Shay couldn’t deny it, she thought about Ethan every day. She hadn’t forgiven him, she didn’t even want to see him, but she missed him.

She still loved him, and that was the one secret she kept from Adam. She could never tell him the truth, that she would never stop loving her ex. Despite how he had treated her, she hated herself for still having such strong feelings for him.

“They love you, you know?” she broke the comfortable silence.

“I can’t wait until we get married,” he confessed, pulling her closer to him and inhaling the scent of her hair.

“Me neither,” she sighed.

“Have they asked about their father yet?” Adam asked, broaching a sensitive topic she knew was inevitable.

“No,” she sighed, shaking her head as she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, staring into the distance.

“Do you want to know what I think?” he asked, and she nodded slowly.

“I think that when the time comes, you should tell them the truth,” he said gently.

“What exactly should I even say?”

“I just think that you should tell them that it didn’t work out between the two of you and maybe one day they will get to meet him, maybe when they’re older,” he explained.

She mulled over his words, imagining different scenarios with the twins. She was nervous. She knew the day when the twins would ask was imminent and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

She could only hope that they would be much older when they became curious.

“Okay,” she finally agreed.

^End Flashback^

Shay sat on the floor, trying to calm herself, her phone lying next to her. She considered calling Ethan. For some reason, she really wanted to talk to him.

He always knew how to soothe her. Adam wasn’t as good at it, but she tried not to compare the two.

In the early days of their relationship, she couldn’t help but compare Ethan and Adam. They were vastly different, but she knew that her relationship with Ethan wasn’t real.

Still, he had treated her well, even if it was all a facade. He had made her feel loved.

Picking herself up from the floor, Shay changed into more comfortable clothes. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting on her bedroom floor, but she could hear the twins running up the stairs, signaling that they were done with lunch.

Slipping into a pair of beige sweatpants and a tank top, Shay instantly felt more at ease. Picking up her phone, she slowly made her way to the twins’ room, her socks sliding on the wooden floors.

“Hey, guys,” Shay greeted, her smile a little too tight.

They were busy unzipping their backpacks, pulling out textbooks and pencil cases. They glanced up at her, making room at their shared table. This was their usual routine, Shay sitting between them, guiding them through their homework.

Shay slid into the open space, her hands gently ruffling their hair.

“How was lunch?” she inquired.

“Good, Mama,” Liam responded.

Shay nodded, taking a deep breath as they spread their homework across the table.

“All right, Eli, pass me a pen and paper,” Shay requested, her gaze landing on the notepad next to him.

Eli complied, and Shay took the offered pen, the paper following soon after.

“You wanted to know about your family tree, right?” Shay asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Yeah,” Eli confirmed, with Liam nodding in agreement.

“Okay, so,” she paused, glancing between the two of them. “You guys have three sets of grandparents, while most people have two,” she began, jotting down her father’s name, her mother’s name, and her stepmother’s name.

She explained to them, slowly and carefully, that Billie wasn’t her biological mother, and that she had a stepbrother. She sketched out her side of the family tree, even mentioning that she was a twin—the younger one.

“Now, on your dad’s side, your grandfather’s name is Alaric, your grandmother’s name is Constance.” She paused, watching as they studied the paper intently.

“Your dad has a brother. His name is Arthur, but we all call him Artie.” Shay’s voice faltered slightly, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Do you guys remember Ethan?” Shay asked, and they nodded in unison.

“Is Ethan our dad?” Eli asked, his voice small.

Shay nodded slowly, the truth finally laid bare.

“What about Adam?” Liam questioned.

“Adam loves you both very much, and Adam is Nate’s daddy,” she clarified.

“Why aren’t you with Ethan?” Liam’s curiosity was palpable.

“That’s a complicated story. One day, when you’re both older, I’ll tell you.” Shay reassured them. “For now, just know that we all love you very much,” her gaze shifting between the two.