Fatal Charm (19 page)

I also had a special surprise planned for Dominic. While everyone else headed to the dining room, I pulled Dominic aside and handed him a wrapped package.

“For you,” I told him. “Open it.”

He ripped open the paper to reveal a boxed set of books by James Herriot, a famous veterinarian. “Thanks, Sabine. I love this author,” he said. “But what’s the occasion?”

“As if you didn’t know.” I grinned. “Happy birthday!”

He blinked. “Say that again?”

“I saw the date on your license. Sorry, it’s a few weeks late.”

“Actually … ” Dominic looked embarrassed. “It’s a few months early.”

“But your driver’s license showed November 11,” I pointed out.

“All fake. With my past, I couldn’t risk putting down the truth.”

Before I could ask what was the truth, Nona called us into the dining room.

“Thank you all for sharing this wonderful day with me,” my grandmother declared as we took our seats. “May this be a Thanksgiving we’ll always remember.”

Nona had just asked Grady to do the honor of carving the turkey when there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” I offered. I guessed it would be one of Nona’s friends or clients coming over to wish her a happy Thanksgiving.

Wrong.

When I opened the door, I thought I was seeing a ghost. In fact, I would have preferred a ghost over the girl standing on the doorstep.

“Hi, sis!” Jade said with a confident flip of her red hair. She smiled like we were old friends instead of strangers. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

I didn’t invite Jade into the house—not that that stopped her. My half-sister breezed in past me like a force of nature in disguise.

Unfortunately, her disguise looked an awful lot like me.

Jade tossed her brown leather jacket on a coat rack, revealing a sexy, red midriff blouse that showed off her flat stomach. A belly ring flashed with a fiery red jewel above snug bleached-denim jeans with a large red star on a wide leather belt buckle and three-inch red heels. I didn’t have to read the brand-name labels to know who was paying her high-priced bills.

While I was trying to figure out a polite way to say “Get the hell out of here,” she was already on her way into the dining room. I hurried to catch up.

“Nona! You’re exactly as I imagined.” Jade’s voice was deeper than mine, with enthusiastic power that demanded attention.

My grandmother’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Do I know you?”

“You do now.” Jade bent down to give Nona a quick hug.

“Oh my! You look like … but how can that be?”

“Genetics.”

“I don’t understand,” Nona said with a shake of her head.

“Didn’t Sabine tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Jade tilted her head toward me. “Sabine, do you want to tell or should I?”

Like I had a choice? I couldn’t trust what Jade might say. I tried to figure out how to explain her without breaking my promise to Dad. Apparently Jade had never promised Dad she’d keep his secret. Or if she did, she sure wasn’t honoring it. What was she doing here anyway? Shouldn’t she be with her own family on Thanksgiving?

All eyes shifted toward me. Grady set down the carving knife. Velvet leaned forward with a curious lift of her brows. Dominic tilted his head, his expression slightly amused. And Nona, her face flushed, slowly rose to her feet.

“This is Jade,” I spit out the bitter words. “She’s my … my—”

“Cousin,” Jade finished.

“Um … yeah … cousin,” I echoed the lie.

“But how is that possible?” Nona’s silvery brows knit together. “I was certain I knew all our relatives.”

There was a lack of confidence in Nona’s tone that bothered me. She was still sensitive about her memory lapses, so I quickly amended, “Distant cousins. Jade’s from Dad’s side of the family, and we only met recently.”

“Surprise! It’s a girl!” Jade whirled around with a laugh.

I wanted to vomit.

“Sabine, you have no idea how I’ve looked forward to this moment.” Jade flung her arms around me, trapping me in a hug. “I’ve dreamed of coming here since we met.”

I’ve dreamed of you, too, I considered saying.

Her perfume was strong, a heady floral scent that wafted in my throat and made me feel like I was suffocating. I pushed her off, struggling to keep my cool even though I was steaming inside. How could she act like this was all normal? Didn’t she realize what her existence meant to my family? Divorce and heartbreak were a serious risk. Lying about being a cousin wouldn’t fool anyone for very long.

“How did you know I was here?” I asked.

“Your father mentioned you’d moved back. This farm sounded so sweet; I just had to see it myself.”

“Sabine, why didn’t you ever tell us about Jade?” Nona chided.

“I only found out recently.”

“But you said nothing about her. How could you keep such an astonishing secret?” Nona asked with an incredulous expression.

“It wasn’t easy,” I said.

“You two girls look sweet together.” Nona smiled at us. “For distant cousins, you’re amazingly alike. Except for the red hair, Jade could be Sabine’s twin.”

“Close.” Jade winked at me.

“They don’t look that much alike.” Dominic shook his head. “Sabine is taller and has your eyes, Nona.”

I sent Dominic a look of pure gratitude.

Jade smoothed back her hair and looked appreciatively around the room. “Hmmm, all this food sure smells good. I hope you don’t mind my showing up like this. In Sabine’s last email, she said to drop by anytime, and I didn’t have plans today.”

I had not sent her an email. We had not had any real conversations. And the last time I saw her was in a killer dream, which gave me a scared feeling, like I expected her to break down into sobs because her mother had been murdered. Only her mother was fine. Yet my intuition warned that Jade’s whole cheerful attitude was as fake as the emails we never exchanged.

“No plans on Thanksgiving?” Nona asked in astonishment.

“Mom left on a business trip and said we’d skip Thanksgiving this year.”

Nona looked appalled. “Well, we can’t let that happen. Of course, you’ll join us. Sabine, find another chair and I’ll put out another table setting.”

“You’re all so sweet! I hardly know what to say, except thanks! Thanksgiving here would be so totally fabulous!” Jade flashed a sugary smile. She never seemed to stop moving either, whether it was twirling a curl of red hair around her finger or shuffling her feet like she was hearing music. I wondered if she was buzzed on energy drinks or just naturally hyper.

If I’d been in her place, I would have politely refused and said I didn’t want to intrude on a holiday. But I was quickly learning that my half-sister was nothing like me. Her aura pulsed with splashes of scarlet and violet blue; strong, dynamic, and volatile. Being near her was like tiptoeing around the edge of a bubbling volcano.

“Do tell us about yourself,” Velvet asked while Nona rattled plates in the cupboard and I dragged over another chair.

“What’s to tell? My life is dull compared to Sabine’s.”

I wondered what that was supposed to mean.

Jade slipped into the chair I’d added to the opposite side of the table where I sat. “I was born in San Jose and still live there with my mother in the same house as always. It’s in an older area, not the ultra-fancy subdivision Sabine’s family lives in.”

Velvet smiled. “So how long have you known about Sabine?”

“About a year.” Jade shot me a challenging look.

“So what do your parents do?” Nona asked.

Please don’t say your dad’s a lawyer, I thought.

“Nothing.” Jade’s shoulders sank and she blew out a sad sigh. “Dad died when I was twelve.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Nona said.

Even Grady, who had stayed out of this until now, seemed moved. “Tough break,” he said with a sympathetic nod.

“You poor child,” Velvet chimed in softly. “My own mum died when I was small, so I understand.”

“I’m glad you found Sabine.” Nona patted Jade’s shoulder. “And now us.”

Jade bent her head, her red hair sweeping down like a curtain to hide her face. In that moment I sensed something real—grief or sadness, I wasn’t sure. Then it was over, and she was smiling again in that fake, sugary way.

“This food looks fabulous,” Jade said, gesturing at the table. “My mother is away a lot and even when she’s home she doesn’t bother cooking. It’s always fast food or frozen dinners. Last year we had tacos for Thanksgiving. I can’t remember when I’ve ever been to a real traditional Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for inviting me.”

I didn’t point out that she invited herself. And it really burned me to have to go along with her lies. Dominic knew who she really was and he kept shooting me concerned looks. I think he wanted me to stop the lies. But I couldn’t just blurt out the truth in front of everyone. Instead they all fell for Jade’s act.

This was not the Thanksgiving I imagined.

I was forced to nod at Jade’s comments as if we
were
long-lost cousins. According to her, we’d been emailing each other for a year, ever since someone mistook her for me when she’d gone blond at a costume party. She tracked me down through web searches and we’d started sharing emails. She exaggerated a dramatic story about meeting me when I was staying in San Jose—which was close to the truth. Only when our father had accidentally brought us together, we hadn’t talked to each other. I’d stayed in the car, shocked and not wanting to believe my father had a second family. It had been horrible: the complete opposite of the happy reunion she described.

Jade went on to talk about her interests. She described things that could have been from my own life, only better. She didn’t just hang out with cheerleaders like I did; she was the head cheerleader. She wasn’t an anonymous contributor to her school paper; she was editor-in-chief. She’d even taken fencing lessons and won some competitions.

It was like she’d copied the script of my life, but edited minor accomplishments into major successes. Did I believe any of it? No way. But with each of her lies, I was in deeper. I couldn’t confess the truth without ruining everyone’s holiday.

After dinner, I told Nona to relax and offered to wash dishes. Nona took Jade into the living room to show her family pictures. Velvet and Grady followed, but Dominic stayed behind to help me.

“So that’s the half-sister?” he asked in a low whisper.

I ran water in the sink, waiting for it to heat up. “Yep. How’d you know?”

“Not too many girls who look like you named Jade.” He grabbed a dish towel and added with a grin, “Even if you hadn’t told me, you were bristling like a cat getting her fur rubbed with a rake.”

“I’m still in a state of shock,” I admitted. “Seeing her was bad enough, but then she told all those lies and I couldn’t stop her.”

“Why not?”

“What was I supposed to say?”

“How about ‘Excuse me, but she’s a lying bitch.’”

I laughed, loving him even more. “I wish I had! My feelings are all mixed up. At first I hated her, but that’s not fair because Dad was the one who hid his second family. So I decided to forget her—until that nightmare where I thought her mother was dead.”

“That was just a dream. You don’t owe Jade anything.”

“I promised Dad not to tell anyone about her.”

“You told me.”

“I probably shouldn’t have—but I’m glad I did. Only now that she’s here, it’ll be hard to keep her a secret. If Nona figures it out, she’ll go straight to my mother.”

“It’s not your job to protect your parents.”

I frowned, not sure who I was trying to protect. Dad? Mom? Myself? If only Jade had stayed away. What was she doing here?

From the other room I heard laughter and guessed Nona must have been showing Jade the famous picture of me eating from the cat’s food dish. I was only two; what did I know?

I was sick of Jade and didn’t want to think or talk about her.

Dominic seemed to know this without my saying anything. He switched the topic to the campout—which didn’t exactly improve my mood. Camping with my old boyfriend and new boyfriend would be a disaster. I tried to convince Dominic not to go, but he stubbornly refused. Was he insane?

When I rinsed off the last dish and Dominic was drying it, Nona appeared in the doorway. Her arm was draped cozily around Jade’s shoulders.

“We have news,” my grandmother announced.

“Is Jade going home already?” I tried not to sound hopeful.

“On the contrary.” Nona beamed. “I’ve convinced her to stay a few days.”

“Stay? Here?” I was glad I wasn’t holding any glassware that might have slipped from my hands and smashed to the floor.

“It’ll give you two girls a chance to get to know each other better. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Yeah … tons of fun,” I said with zero enthusiasm. “But I’m sure she had other plans with her friends.”

“No plans.” Jade shook her head. “My mother is out of town and I don’t have school until Monday. I’m all yours.”

Nona could have her—I was headed for a camping trip. But I didn’t remind Nona of this or tell Jade. My dear half-sister would figure it out when she woke up in the morning and I was gone.

Nona asked me to show Jade to the guest room, then left to get fresh sheets for Jade’s bed. Dominic covered his mouth, as if hiding his amusement. But the traitor didn’t offer to go with us. Instead he hurried off to join Grady and Velvet, who were starting up a poker game in the living room. Lucky me was left with Jade.

“Come this way,” I said as I started up the stairs. “Your room is just down the hall.”

“I’m sure yours is nicer,” she said, scowling.