“And also a venti bold with cream and a shot of boring.” She grinned as the barista laughed over the intercom.
Sarcasm was a good sign on Ember’s emotional barometer. Even if it was fleeting. Once we retrieved our drinks and paid, she pulled into a parking space and shut the car off after rolling down the windows. I left my coffee in the cup holder, knowing it would be too hot for me to drink for the next several minutes, but I watched Ember take her lid off and close her eyes as she took a deep breath, inhaling the rich aroma of the drink.
After her first sip, she put the lid back on and set the coffee in the holder next to mine. She closed her eyes once more and rested her head against the headrest.
“Well,” she sniffed as she let tears roll down her face, “Willow and I really are half sisters.”
“Shit,” I puffed out my cheeks as I exhaled and grabbed her hand. I knew this information, given Solstice had said it several hours ago, but hearing it from Ember made it more real. “Who …” I didn’t know how to ask which man had fathered two daughters.
“My dad.” Her voice went up several octaves as tears choked her tone. “Ashby … he … um.” Ember leaned forward and pressed her head into the steering wheel.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned over as far as I could, wrapping as much of my body around her as possible, trying to shield her from the internal onslaught of emotions.
She coughed and sniffed as raw tears flooded the inside of our tiny rental car. “He’s Willow’s biological dad, too.”
“I knew it,” Ember continued as she leaned into my chest but kept her hands on the steering wheel. “I just fucking knew it the second Willow said something to me.”
I rested my chin on the top of her head, which was hot from the force of her crying. “Is that why you didn’t want to talk to them about it? Your parents, I mean.”
I felt her nod beneath my chin. “I knew she had to be right. Why would she make that up?”
“Well … she’s not exactly on high moral ground.”
Ember sniffed. “I know. But coming on to you was out of character for her. I knew she was acting out.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I guess.”
Finally, Ember sat up, wiped under her eyes, and looked at me. Her eyes weren’t as empty as they’d been when she left the RV earlier, but they weren’t filled with anything pretty, either. Rage, torment, and a splash of something unidentified. Something I didn’t want to try to name.
Ember dug her fingers through her hair and left them resting against her head. “This whole time I was afraid to ask my parents because I didn’t want to lose my dad. I knew we didn’t share a mom, that much was obvious. So, one of us grew up with the wrong dad. Over the last few months I’ve looked through all the oldest pictures I could find. I dug through my parents albums, and never once were either Willow or I seen with anyone but our parents in family pictures.”
“So what—” I don’t know what I started to ask,but Ember cut me off.
“I was so focused on the fear of losing my dad, it never once fucking occurred to me to envision how I’d feel if it was the other way. If he was also … her dad.”
I took a sip of my coffee, wishing I’d had something stronger. “Did your mom know? Did … anyone know but your dad? Did he even know?”
“I don’t know how any of us could be surprised, really. For fuck’s sake they’re all free love …” Ember looked down for a second before turning her gaze out the window.
“Was anyone surprised?” I was trying to get details in an order that made sense to me.
“The summer and fall before we were both conceived, they’d just ended a several year run at the top of their charts. They were preparing to take a break then head to the studio for what was slated to be their best album yet. They partied hard, apparently.” It seemed as though Ember’s tears dried suddenly, and the anger was ready to take center stage.
“November, I’m so sorry. I want to take this away from you, I do.” I pulled one of her hands out of her hair and kissed her knuckles, settling our hands on her lap.
“Marry me, then.”
“What?” I tilted my head to the side as my ears started to burn.
Ember looked at me with a straight face. “I just told you that my parents never married. That they were part of a culture where that wasn’t a requirement. Apparently fidelity wasn’t a requirement either, the way it is when people legally marry. I want you to marry me, Bo. I want to be your wife.”
“I’m not going to cheat on you, Ember. If you think—”