Laura's POV
I was awoken to a loud banging at the front door. I rolled over to my side of the bed to get a better view of my alarm clock and almost died when I realised what time it was. Without hesitation I quickly shook Ross to wake him up. "Ross!" I hissed into his ear. The thudding continued. "Ross!"
He began to stir slowly and groaned as he turned over to face me. "What is it? I'm trying to sleep."
"The door!" I squealed quietly under my breath. I didn't want to wake Isabella or Bailey up with my shouting despite the fact that someone was hammering their fist against our front door. "Someone is knocking on it!"
"So? Just get some sleep, Laur. It's probably nothing."
I rolled my eyes and pulled the blanket off from him which made him instantly jump up in frustration. "Laura please I'm -"
Before he could finish his sentence the knocking came again and it was even louder this time. My eyes widened. "See I told you!"
Ross quickly grabbed the baseball bat from underneath our bed and ran towards our bedroom door to unlock it. "Laura go and wake the kids! Take them into our bedroom and lock the door, only unlock it when I say so. Do you hear me?"
I nodded my head frantically and quickly ran into Bailey's bedroom, scooping him up into my embrace. "Mom, what's going on?" He asked, rubbing his eyes and letting out an exhausted yawn.
"I'll explain in a minute." I whispered, quickly carrying my eight year old son into mine and Ross' bedroom. I opened our wardrobe and quickly ushered him inside before running back out into the hallway to wake up Isabella. I was shocked to see Rocky as I opened the door to her bedroom sitting on her bedroom floor with no sign of Isabella anywhere. "Rocky, where is she?"
He held his fingers to his lips and pointed to the underneath of her bed. "I told her to hide. I'm not sure what's going on but I figured I'd help her whilst you woke Bailey up."
I managed to smile, despite feeling terrified as I pointed to mine and Ross' bedroom. "Take Isabella to our room and stay out with the kids, don't open the door until I or Ross say so, okay? I'm going to go downstairs and see what's going on."
Rocky nodded in response to me and began to whisper to Isabella as I crept down our creaky staircase with my cellphone in hand. The hard fist throwing against our door was still echoing loudly throughout our small home as I approached the front door downstairs. Ross was sat below it with a baseball bat in his hand and quickly pulled me down beside him. "Laur, I told you to stay upstairs with the kids!" He hissed.
"Rocky is with them." I whispered, trying to keep calm. "I told him to lock the door to our bedroom and hide with them until we instruct that it's safe to come out."
He nodded slowly and took a deep breath in before shakily standing up from the floorboards beneath us and holding his hand to the doorknob. "Stand back Laur. I'm not sure what we're dealing with here."
I bit my lip. My heart was racing one hundred miles per minute inside of my chest as I built up the anticipation of finding out who was on the other side of that door and why the hell they were knocking at three o'clock in the morning.
The front door swung open and Ross held his baseball bat high up in the air, without hesitation he threw it down onto the person's head and began to yell a series of curse words that even I didn't know of.
"Get off me you freak!"
It was a female voice.
Both Ross and I stopped dead in our tracks, his baseball bat falling to the side of him as I cautiously stepped forward into the dim light of our doorway to get a better look at the mysterious female standing on our doorstep. She was a beautiful blonde girl with perky blue eyes and pale skin and to our dismay, she now had a huge gash on her forehead from Ross' baseball bat.
"Who are you?" I asked after what felt like five minutes of complete silence between the three of us. "And why are you here at three o'clock in the morning?" I added, eyeing her up and down in confusion.
She exhaled gently and stuck her hand out to me. "I'm Adeline Shay."
"Laura Lynch." I murmured back, receiving the strangers hand shake.
Her lips curved into a smile as she clicked her tongue and turned to Ross. "Are you Ross Lynch?"
He nodded slowly at her, narrowing his chocolate brown eyes in confusion. "Yeah but -"
"Ross, I'm your sister." Adeline explained, shrugging her shoulders at him. "Or half sister, in this case."
Both of our mouths fell agape. The girl looked no more than a teenager. It couldn't be possible for Ross and the rest of his siblings to have a long lost sister, could it?
"How am I supposed to believe you?" Ross asked, his arms wrapped around his waist. "You could be a total stranger to me... which you most likely are. There's no possible way that I have a half sister."
She sighed and reached into her handbag, pulling out a piece of folded up paper. "I had a feeling you'd be curious about this and you have every right to be. Trust me, I was too when I found out."
She then handed the piece of paper to Ross which he cautiously opened up, keeping a firm gaze on her as he did so. I glanced over his shoulder and felt my heart sink into my stomach when I realised what I was reading. It was a birth certificate.
Legal birth certificate for:
Adeline Louise Shay Lynch.
Mother: Diana Victoria Shay
Father: Mark Lynch.
D/O/B: 09/10/2000
Birth place: Lima Hospital
Weight: 8lbs 5oz
"There's no way." Ross murmured under his breath. His hands had become shaky around the sheet of paper and Adeline was watching him intently from her spot on our porch. "How long have you known about this?"
She frowned as he handed the birth certificate back to her. "A couple of months ago my mom sat me down after a drunken night out and explained to me that she was back in contact with my biological father and that I could meet him if I wanted to."
Ross shook his head slowly back and forth, trying to make sense of the situation. I was just as confused as he was, it made little to no sense to me. I knew that Mark had cheated on Stormie in the past but I never would have thought that there could be a possible love child of his out there in the world somewhere; until she was standing on our porch at three AM that is. "And?" Ross asked, begging her to continue.
"I decided that yes... I would like to meet him. So my mom made arrangements and Mark came down to visit us down in Lima. At first he was shocked and angry but now he's staying with my mom and I decided to come and find you. He said he had other kids so it didn't take me long to discover the Lynch bloodline."
I wrapped my arm around Ross' waist protectively. I was his wife, it was my job to comfort and console him in this strange time of his life. If I couldn't then who else would?
"I just don't understand -"
Before Ross could continue, Adeline quickly cut him off. "Honestly neither do I but I'm telling you Ross, we have the same father. I'm your half sister and whether you like it or not I'd really like to be apart of your life if you'll let me."
Ross held his hand up to his face and cleared his throat. "Is that why my mom was so depressed the other day? Does she know about any of this?"
Adeline shrugged her shoulders with a worried look on her face. "I'm not sure. I don't know anything about your mother... although I don't doubt that Mark has told her about all of this."
Ross exhaled in frustration and gently placed his fist to the wall. "Shit... this is not good."
"This isn't her fault, Ross." I murmured gently, rubbing my hand on the small of his back to reassure him. I glanced up at the beautiful blonde girl in front of us and smiled at her. "Adeline why don't you come in? It's freezing out there tonight. You can sleep on the couch or something."
She nervously pulled her sleeves down of her sweatshirt and switched her gaze back and forth between Ross and I. "Are you sure? I can always get a room at a motel or -"
I quickly cut her off. "No, no. I'd feel better if you stayed here with us... at least until we can get you back to Lima."
Ross sighed. "Laura's right. I don't know who the hell you are but I'd like to get to know you... after all, you're my sister. Half sister."
She smiled. "I'd like to get to know you too... half brother."
They both chuckled at one another and for a split moment I could see the resemblance. They both had Mark's goofy grin and sparkling eyes. There was no denying that she was one of Mark's offsprings. "Come on in." I gestured her inside with my arm and helped her in before closing and locking the door behind us. "Can I get you anything to eat?"
"I'll just take a coffee if that's okay." Adeline replied, hanging her rucksack up on one of the hooks beside the door. "I've got seriously bad jet lag so I could use with a coffee and then a long nap." She added with a giggle.
Ross smiled. "Make yourself at home. I'm going to go and settle the kids and explain this situation to Rocky."
He placed a light kiss on my cheek before heading back upstairs, his baseball bat in hand. I beckoned Adeline out into the kitchen and turned the coffee brewer on whilst grabbing a mug out of the cupboard for her. "So... you must be seventeen?"
She nodded in response to my enquiry as she took a seat at the dining table. "I'm eighteen in October... so next month. I don't really get out much so I had enough money to catch a flight here and find my way to Ross' house."
I began to carefully stir the teaspoon around her mug of coffee and handed it to her with a smile before sitting opposite her and cupping my hands around my chin. "You have other siblings... you know that, right?"
"I know." She replied, blowing into her steaming mug of coffee. "I tried to go to Rydel's house but she wasn't there... so I came here as my second option."
"Did you ever have any inkling of who your father was?"
I felt nosy for asking her so many questions but I was genuinely intrigued. I couldn't believe that Mark had a love child that none of us knew about, not even Stormie.
"No." Adeline murmured, finally taking a sip from her coffee. "My mom has had many men come and go throughout her life... she'd make me call every single one of them daddy and each time they'd leave. In the end I kind of just accepted that literally anyone could have been my father. Hell, I began to think Donald Trump could have been him. But then she told me... and now everything makes sense."
I smiled pitifully at her. I couldn't imagine how painful and awful it must have been to grow up in a household where you had to call so many different men your father, only to watch them leave a few days later. "That sounds terrible." I admitted, shaking my head back and forth in disgust. "I can't even imagine how confused you must have felt over the years."
"It's okay." Adeline gently said with a smile. "I know now... that's all that matters to me."
I nodded and smiled back at her. "I'm glad."
Before I could continue my conversation with her, Ross came back downstairs with a timid Rocky following closely behind him. I stood up from my chair and smiled wearily at her one last time. "It was nice to meet you, Adeline. I think you've got two curious guys who want to know everything about you though so I'm going to head to bed." I glanced at Ross and Rocky who poked their heads around the kitchen door. "Goodnight, good luck." I added to her with a soft chuckle.
The two boys closed the kitchen door behind them and as I ascended the staircase I shook my head in disbelief and laughed. This family was all kinds of crazy. I don't think we'd ever get a moment of peace but weirdly I wouldn't have it any other way.
As I crept into bed and laid my head down on the soft pillows I listened to the quiet muffled voices below me filled with excitement and shock. I felt my lips curve into a smile as I closed my eyes and allowed sleep to take me in.
***
a/n
what do you guys think about Mark's secret?
by the way I know Ross in real life is 22 years old but I decided for the sake of this story he'll be in his thirties & therefore Adeline is a lot younger than him (hope it makes sense!) it's fanfiction after all 😂💕
all my love,
b x