Concealed (Unbound, Book 4)

Chapter Forty-Three

*****

The doorbell rang, incessantly causing bells to go off inside my head until my ears throbbed. I jolted awake, sitting up, and felt Calin shifting behind me on the couch. Trying to get my bearings, I looked around, noting that the room was dark. The television had turned itself to idle, the movie long over.

"Ugh." I pushed my hair off my face and looked over my shoulder at Calin. "Did you fall asleep, too?"

He nodded. "Uh, yeah. Sorry."

"It's fine. What time is it?"

"I have no clue."

"Calin! Nora!" Islene yelled from another room. "Come here, please!"

I looked at Calin with wide eyes and blinked, causing him to laugh. "Come on. That's not her scary voice. Don't worry."

"It sounds like we're in trouble," I said and took his hand. "Don't tell your mom, but I am more scared of her than Devland."

Calin laughed again and shifted until he sat beside me. Together, we stood and started walking into the kitchen holding hands. Islene looked over her shoulder at us and smiled, opening the back door wider as we came closer.

"What's going on, Mom?" Calin asked.

I looked around her and gasped, feeling butterflies dance in my stomach.

"Hi," Maible said, lifting her hand in a small wave. "I, uh... I talked to my mom."

I nodded and didn't say a word as I watched her.

Maible shifted her weight and looked at the ground, tapping it with the toe of her sneakers. "I came to, uh... I want answers." She looked up. "And I want to talk to Nora."

Islene didn't hesitate and pulled Maible inside, shutting the door behind her. Once we all stood in the kitchen, she said, "Calin will show you two to the guest room. You can talk there and have a sleep. I'll make breakfast in the morning."

"Come on." Calin nodded at Maible and squeezed my fingers.

We followed him out of the kitchen and down a hallway I'd never been before, and Onyx trailed behind us, having appeared as we left the kitchen. Calin stopped at the third door on the right and opened it, gesturing inside.

"This is the only room with two beds," he said. "I'm going to go to my room and get some sleep. If you need anything, it's the first door on the left upstairs."

He leaned down and kissed my cheek, then turned and walked away.

I felt a moment of panic as he disappeared, unsure what to say without him there to serve as a buffer. Maible and I had been barely getting along, and now we were sisters? Only half, but still. There was a lot to say, and I still didn't know how I felt about everything. When I'd said earlier that I wanted to talk to Maible, I had intended on preparing something to say. Now, I was at a loss.

What do you say to someone who'd come to be your friend, only to find out she was your sister?

"Are you tired?" Maible asked, and I laughed. She went into the room, leaving me to close the door behind us. "Because I am exhausted."

"Yeah, there's nothing like learning earth-shattering news to make you tired."

"Did you know?" Maible turned to me. "About Devland... being my biological father?"

"No." I shook my head. "I swear, I had no clue. I'm pretty sure my mom didn't either."

"Really? She didn't leave because of it?"

"I—no. I don't think so," I said, my voice becoming quiet.

Was it possible that was the real reason that my mother had moved to Briarville? I was the same age as Maible. My mom had been married to Devland a while before I was a blip on her radar, which meant... I didn't want to think about that, though I was sure that my mother wouldn't have hidden the fact that I had a sibling from me. She wouldn't have robbed me of that type of relationship.

Maible sat on the end of the bed on the right and folded her hands in her lap. "So, since Devland is my dad, you're... my sister?"

I leaned against the door and folded my arms, shrugging. "I guess so."

"I don't know how I feel about that."

"Neither do I," I said and pushed off the door. I went to the other bed and sat on the side. "It doesn't really change things that much."

"It changes everything, Nora," Maible said, scoffing. "Maybe not for you, but my father isn't my dad. My mom cheated on him."

"My dad may have cheated on my mom."

"Yeah, but they aren't together, and this isn't going to screw up your entire life."

Only because my mother was dead, I thought but didn't say aloud.

"Doesn't it bother you that Devland had an affair with my mother?" Maible asked.

"As far as it must have hurt my mom, yeah," I said and laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. With a sigh, I closed my eyes. "I just learned about it, too. I'm sure once it sinks in, I will feel more like you. Right now, I'm numb."

"I'm angry."

"Yeah." I breathed deeply. "That too."

*****

We found our way back to the kitchen midmorning. As promised, Islene had cooked a feast and the side table was littered with various dishes for us to choose from banquet style. I filled a dish and went to the kitchen table, sitting beside Calin. He smiled at me and pushed a freshly poured cup of coffee towards me.

"I'll say thank you if it's good," I told him, bringing the cup to my lips and smiled as the first taste burst upon my tongue. "Hmm."

"Good?"

I nodded, setting the cup down as I picked up my fork. Calin's hand dropped to my back, rubbing circles.

"What? No thank you?" he whispered in my ear.

"Thank you." I smiled and bent my head to eat but looked back up as I saw Calin gazing between me and Maible. I dropped my fork to my plate. "What?"

"Just... looking for similarities," he said.

"Are you serious?"

Calin nodded and smiled wide. "I can see some, you know. The cheeks." He waved his hand towards his face and then pretended to be brushing his air through the air. "The hair and—"

"Oh, my God." I grabbed his hand and jerked it down. "If you say that our figures or any other part of our bodies are similar, I swear I will stop talking to you."

Calin laughed but leaned forward and whispered, "Does that mean you'll stop kissing me? Cause that doesn't involve talking."

My cheeks flamed and I picked my fork up, ducking my head.

Yeah...

Even if I stopped talking to him, I couldn't truthfully tell him that I would deny him that.