Page 38 of Just One Look

Jackson

“You haven’t touched your food, son,”

Clancy says.

I push my plate away, my stomach churning, unable to get Ridge’s words out of my mind. If he’s telling the truth, everything I thought I knew is a lie.

“Don’t have much of an appetite. Sorry.”

Clancy got back from helping Maverick set up for the talent show with Pip in tow about half an hour ago. They instantly knew something was up. I told them about Ridge paying me a visit. A string of expletives flew out of Clancy’s mouth when I broke the news Ridge delivered. Plans for an early dinner at the diner before the talent show were scrapped, and Clancy made mac and cheese at home instead.

“Do you believe it?”

Pip asks, sounding about as shell-shocked as I still am.

I turn in Clancy’s direction since he’s the only person who might be able to clarify whether Ridge was telling the truth that he and I could be half brothers.

“Should I believe him?”

I catch the sound of Clancy breathing a few times.

“There were rumors about your mother and Ridge’s father being more than just friends. Started a couple of years before you were born,”

he says, choosing his words with care.

“That’s not the sort of thing a parent wants to hear about their child, so I ignored the gossip. Then you were born, and the rumors died down. You look nothing like Grant Forrester, so I laid the matter to rest. Especially after your father passed away. It became completely irrelevant.”

I don’t blame Clancy for wanting to sweep it under the rug, but unfortunately, whether or not I take after Grant Forrester and Dad dying aren’t irrelevant. Neither point does a damn thing to change the fact that Ridge and I could be related. Just the idea of it gives me the ick.

“I just can’t believe it. Dad might not be my dad.”

“Now, listen here, Jackson. Milton Hunter was, and will always be, your father,”

Clancy says.

“A DNA test will never change the bond you shared with him, nor the love he had for you. Milton was one of the most decent men I’ve ever met in my life. He loved all three of his kids with everything he had.”

My thoughts wander back through time.

Him letting me ride horses at the center he worked at when I was a toddler. Showing me how to brush a horse’s coat in long, gentle strokes. Being wrapped in his arms, watching in awe as the night sky burst into color at every single fireworks show he made sure we never missed. Him reading to me before tucking me in at night. How can that man not be my dad?

“How did Ridge find out?”

Pip asks.

“What evidence does he have?”

“He said his dad had a heart attack last year. When things were looking grim, his father confessed to him about having an affair with Mom. The timing lined up with me being born the following year. So Ridge hired a private investigator to look into it. An unethical investigator. No surprises there. That’s how he got his grubby hands on my medical records and knew about my condition.”

“So that’s why you punched him,” Pip says.

“Bingo.”

“Those fucking Duporths,”

Clancy hisses, slamming his fists into the table and scaring the hell out of me.

“Sorry, Jackson. Didn’t mean to frighten you. But I’ve had just about enough of those assholes.”

“Why? What’s your beef with them? Seriously, no one gets you as worked up as that family.”

A long silence follows.

It’s times like these not being able to see people’s reactions, the subtle shifts in their features, sucks the most.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell the family, but with Evie’s arrival, everything’s been up in the air these past few days.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

Pip interjects.

“Of course not,”

Clancy replies.

“You’re family, too…whether you want to be or not.”

Pip snorts.

“Okay. Just checking.”

“I was with Maverick when I got the call about Sibella going into labor.”

That I knew. What I’m curious about is.

“Why were you with him?”

Clancy clears his throat.

“The truth, old man. My sight might be almost entirely gone, but I can still tell when you’re lying. Or about to.”

“Motherfucker,”

he mutters under his breath.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. But don’t get mad.”

“Impossible. Go on.”

“I went over there to give him a piece of my mind,”

he says timidly.

“What! Why would you do that?”

“I wasn’t meddling. I was just…trying to help.”

“That is meddling,”

I point out, knowing full well it won’t change the man one bit.

“You were upset, Jackson. I didn’t like seeing you like that. I had to do something. Who do you think Sibella gets her protective instincts from? I knew you were too stubborn to make the first move, so I thought I’d try and convince Maverick he should.”

“For the record, I’m adding this to the list of stuff to be mad at you about.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I look so young for my age.”

I will not give him the satisfaction of smiling at that.

“Still haven’t forgiven you and Sib for kidnapping us.”

“It was her idea, I swear.”

“I know it was.”

She confessed when we got back. Turns out, she’s friends with a woman called Candice Burlington who knows Maverick’s brother Wagner. That’s how all that came about.

“Anyway, back to why you hate the Duporths.”

“While I was over there, Maverick showed me some letters he found when he was going through his grandfather’s boxes.”

“What sort of letters?” Pip asks.

“Boys, it’s a long story…”

A long and ultimately heartbreaking story about Clancy losing the family business and one of the two loves of his life all at once all because of the great-grandfather of the guy I’m possibly related to.

“Not a day goes by when I don’t regret what I did.”

“Oh, Clancy.”

Pip’s chair scrapes against the floor, and I can see his blurry form make his way over to Clancy to give him a hug.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Makes sense why you hate the Duporths so much,”

I say. A low, pained groan rumbles out of me.

“And I could be one of them.”

“Even if it turns out that you are, you’ve got Hunter values instilled in you. Never forget that, Jackson.”

“Hey, guys—I hate to interrupt, but if we want to make it to the talent show, we need to leave now.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go?”

I suggest a bit too brightly.

“We have so much to process. Let’s spend the next four to five hours doing that.”

I’m met with silence.

I’d bet my left ball Clancy and Pip are exchanging one of their looks between them.

“Not on your life, boy. You are coming to this talent show, even if I have to drag you there myself.”

“And you already promised to give me a standing ovation, even if I completely mess up,” Pip adds.

“Fine,”

I say, getting up and counting the paces toward the living room in my head.

“But I cannot handle any more surprises today. If you guys are up to something evil, I need you to know it will kill me.”

With a laugh, Pip squeezes my waist and leans closer.

“Bold of you to assume we haven’t factored your imminent death into our evil plans.”

And on that note, we head into town.