CHAPTER 16
As soon as the limo pulled away from the coliseum, Maren turned and stared at me. I had seen and talked to her hundreds of times since I came to California, but this was the first time I'd ever seen her flustered.
"So," she said, "is it actually true you're his daughter?”
I suppose I deserved that comment after spending the last month and a half lying to people about my identity. “It's true,” I said.
Her lips pursed together. “Really? And who is your mother? Why didn't this surface before?”
Out the window I could see cars passing by as though the world hadn’t just changed. It seemed odd when everything felt different for me. I wasn’t even upset about the things Maren had said earlier or was saying now. Suddenly she didn’t seem very significant. "My father knows who my mother is. I don't have to explain anything to you."
Maren leaned back against her seat, turning to see me better. "So you’re saying it was a coincidence that I picked you—Alex Kingsley’s secret daughter—out of the millions of girls in America to be Kari’s double?”
"It wasn’t coincidence,” I said. "You picked me because I looked like her, and I looked like her because she’s my half sister. Our mothers resembled each other too. If he wants a DNA test for proof, that’s fine. But I doubt he’ll ask for one. He knows who I am.”
I think it was at this moment that Maren believed me. She let out a sharp breath and laughed. Not regular laughter—uncomfortable, stumbling laughter.
"Well, isn't that ironic. All this time. You're his daughter." She put her hand over her chest as though checking to make sure her heart was still beating. "You should have confided in me from the beginning. Things would have been different.”
"Oh. You mean like you wouldn't have slapped me back in the green room?"
She winced. "I’m sorry about that. It was the stress of the moment. If I had known you were Alex’s daughter—”
"Then you wouldn’t have threatened to press charges against me if I crossed you?”
She attempted a smile. "I think we got off on the wrong foot."
"The wrong foot? I’ve lived under your roof long enough to know you don’t have any right feet."
She gave a little laugh as though I'd been joking and unclipped her phone from her belt. "I'd better see about getting you a plane to West Virginia."
I didn’t mind the break in the conversation. I called my house. Mom was out with Larry, so I told Abuela I was on my way home and would get the flight information to her later.
After several minutes on the phone, Maren wrote down an airline and flight number on a piece of scratch paper and handed it to me. "You'll be in first class on the next flight out. I'll send your things to you tomorrow."
When the limo finally pulled up to the airport, Maren leaned over and put a hand on my arm. She might have been talking to Kari for all the sweetness in her voice. "Really, Alexia, I would have helped you. I still want to help you. So we should forget the past, especially certain . . . regrettable parts."
I stepped out of the car, pulling my arm away from her as I did. "Thanks for your help. But I'm still going to tell my father everything you've done.”