“I swear Envy is adopted. No one else in this family acts the way she does. Envy can’t be a real Merci,” Eve said as she sucked her teeth.

Marie diverted her eyes. Her fair light skin turning lobster red.

Both Eden and Eve noticed. They stared inquisitively. The look on Marie’s face was a dead giveaway to a secret. Whatever the look on Marie’s face was, it had the girl’s attention. They couldn’t understand what they said to make her react that way because they’d called Envy worse names than adopted in the past.

“What’s wrong?” The sisters asked in unison.

Marie could feel her daughters’ inquisitive stares without looking at them. Blowing out a breath, she began to unburden the secret she had held for years.

“I never thought I’d be telling you all this. As much as it hurt me, I vowed to take this to my grave. But giving the circumstances, I think it’s about time I shared the Merci family secret.”

“Merci family secret?” They asked confused. As far as they knew, there were no secrets between the three of them.

“Yes, all families have secrets. Ours is no different. I was stern with you two because I never wanted you girls to make dumb mistakes that could haunt you throughout your life. I gave you both unconditional love and attention because you are my babies. I couldn’t do that with Envy because she’s not my daughter,”

“WHAT?!” Eden and Eve screamed out in shock. They had never truly suspected that Envy was adopted. It was just a joke that they shared since Envy had always been the black sheep of the family. This revelation stunned them.

“Wait a minute. Are you saying that Envy isn’t our sister? She’s really adopted?” Eve asked. The surprise on her face would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so serious.

“I didn’t say that. I said she’s not MY daughter,” Marie said with emphasis on the word my. “Envy is your sister. She’s Everett’s love child,”

Revealing the truth, even though it was over thirty years later, made her heart ache. The pain that shot through her body was just as sharp as it was the day she found out her husband had gotten another woman pregnant.

“Envy is Daddy’s daughter? How is that possible?” Eden asked in disbelief.

Her stomach sank to the floor because her mother’s words confirmed that she was a bad judge of character. Her father was the first man that she had ever placed on the “can do no wrong” pedestal. Jermaine was the second.

The fact that her judgement led her to be wrong twice had her second guessing everything she believed was right. Eden wanted to speak but she couldn’t say a word.