Free The Ex Files by Victoria Christopher Murray Page B

seventh birthday, her father came home with a baby. Together her parents introduced her to her new sister, Sabrina. The wiggling, gurgling infant excited her and when her father told her to sit down so that she could hold the baby, Kendall had fallen in love; she had a real live baby doll. It was the best birthday gift she could imagine.
    But by the time she was ten, she came to understand that the gift she thought Sabrina was, actually was a nightmare to her mother. It was her best friend, Brandy, who’d told her the truth.
    “Girl, your father was out screwing that white woman who lived around the corner and they had a baby. And then her family made your father take the baby because the baby was too black for them! So, Sabrina ain’t really your sister. In fact, my mother said—”
    Kendall had run home before she heard any more. It didn’t matter—that truth didn’t lessen her love for her sister. Even though they were almost seven years apart, many kidded that they were twins. Sabrina wanted to be just like her big sister—walking like her, talking like her, dressing like her. And the older sister loved the adoration of the younger one. Over the years, their closeness grew—or so Kendall thought.
    Kendall slammed the door to her car and her memories. There was no need to think about a sister who, to her, was no longer alive.
    Using her keys, she entered the house, and called out “Daddy” the moment she stepped inside.
    The sound of his slippers scuffling against the hardwood floor made her smile.
    “Baby girl?”
    Inside the rich bass of Edwin Leigh’s voice there was nothing but the memory of the best of times.
    He hugged her, held her as if he hadn’t seen her last week. “Let me look at you.” He peered over his glasses.
    She loved seeing her father, but each week, he looked as if he’d aged another year. She was sure that it was the death of her mother—part grief, part guilt—that still rested heavily over him, even twenty years later. He was still in love with his deceased wife and that’s why not even the craftiest of church women had made inroads with Edwin; most had stopped trying years ago.
    “So, what have you got there?” He grabbed the bags and shuffled toward the kitchen.
    “Everything you asked for, and dim sum.”
    He laughed. “That’s a good one.” He pointed to the table. “Sit down; I’ll handle this.”
    She shrugged off her coat and paused. A déjà vu kind of moment: She could feel eleven-year-old Sabrina sitting at the table, dutifully completing her homework. She could see her sister—her hair pushed back with a headband that matched the one Kendall was wearing, hunched over her notebook, struggling through algebra, determined to get straight A’s like her big sister. She could hear Sabrina’s exclamation, “I wanna go to UCLA just like you, Kendall!”
    Kendall sank into the dining room chair, but didn’t let go of that memory. It had been a bittersweet time. Kendall was the first in the family to attend college. Edwin and Sabrina had been so proud. But her mother, who had always told her that she was a star, hadn’t lived to see the day—passing away from a major heart attack on her and Edwin’s twentieth wedding anniversary.
    “This is some feast,” Edwin boasted, interrupting his daughter’s jaunt down memory lane. He handed her a plate; the steam from the rice, vegetables, and shrimp caressed her.
    She grabbed two bottles of water from the refrigerator, then held her father’s hand as he blessed the food.
    He picked up his egg roll, took a bite, and asked the same question he did every week, “How are things at that business of yours?”
    She gave him the same smile, same answer. “Fine.”
    And then came the words she couldn’t hear enough, “Have I ever told you that I’m proud of you?”
    She grinned. “All the time, Daddy.”
    “Yup,” he began, taking another bite, “I’m proud of both of my girls.”
    She pressed her lips together and