Free Sister, Missing by Sophie McKenzie Page B

believe this,’ I whispered.
    He frowned. ‘What?’
    I opened my mouth to speak, but it was hard. I still couldn’t quite believe it was true and saying it would make it real.
    ‘ What? ’ Jam said impatiently.
    I handed him the letter addressed to me.
    ‘None of us are really Sam’s kids,’ I whispered.
    I turned back to Shelby’s letter. Much of it was written in a similar style and expressing similar feelings as my own. Again, it assumed an important conversation had already taken place
and stressed how proud Sam was of her. But one paragraph stood out.
    Your mother was finding it hard to be a full-time mom to your older sister and still struggling with the fact that I wasn’t able to give her a child. We even
     separated for a while under the pressure. The affair just happened, Shelby, it was one of those things. Your mom was vulnerable. Simeon Duchovny, as I know she will have explained, represented
     a different world. She never stopped loving me and neither of us have ever loved you any the less because of the circumstances in which you were conceived.
    I read it again. Shelby was the product of an affair. Annie had slept with someone else. Some other man – not Sam and not the anonymous sperm donor who’d fathered
me and Madison – was Shelby’s actual dad.
    I couldn’t take it in. And yet it made sense. Shelby looked so different from me and Madison. Her colouring was different . . . and her body shape. And it was certainly easy to imagine
neurotic, emotional Annie finding it impossible to cope with life and running away from her responsibilities for a while.
    It all fitted.
    ‘This is heavy.’ Jam looked up, his eyes full of shock. ‘Sam isn’t your birth dad?’
    I pressed my finger to my lips and handed him Shelby’s letter. ‘Or Shelby’s,’ I whispered.
    Jam’s eyes widened as he read. ‘Oh, man,’ he breathed. He looked up and shook his head. ‘This is addressed to Shelby,’ he said quietly. ‘We shouldn’t be
reading it.’
    I stared at him. ‘I know, but—’
    Jam turned away. ‘I’ll give it to her.’
    ‘No!’ I reached across the bed and grabbed the letter off him. ‘Wait a sec.’
    ‘Lauren, it’s not your decision. Sam wanted her to know.’
    ‘Well, I bet Annie didn’t,’ I whispered. ‘In fact, I bet Annie doesn’t even know these letters are here.’
    ‘Well, they aren’t from Annie, they’re from Sam, and—’
    ‘That’s not what I mean,’ I said. ‘It’s just that this is a huge deal . . .’
    Jam raised his eyebrows. ‘D’you think I don’t know that? That’s why we have to—’
    ‘I just think we should wait,’ I whispered. ‘Think about it. Shelby’s already upset about Madison. Her dad only died last year. She hates me. And now this . . .’ I
pointed to the letter. ‘Of course she has to know, but if we show her now she’ll have, like, total hysterics. We’ve got to stay focused on getting Madison back . . . which
means we have to keep looking for the things Sam hid.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ Jam looked at me as if I were mad. ‘Where did you find these letters?’
    I pointed to the little metal box. ‘They were locked in there,’ I said.
    ‘Don’t you get it?’ Jam hissed. ‘These letters are the things Sam hid. I mean, you had to break into that box to get them out. And Holtwood said the words
he’d used about what he’d hidden were: something of huge value . Well, what could be of more “value” to Sam than letters telling you and Shelby the truth about your
parentage after so many years?’
    ‘Wait.’ My head was spinning, trying to take in what he was saying. ‘Even if Sam saw a value in the letters, they still aren’t worth any money. The kidnappers won’t
be interested . . . jeez, what are we going to tell them? What’s going to happen to Madison?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Jam said, ‘but I’m going to let Shelby know about her letter anyway.’
    ‘No,’ I persisted. ‘Not now . We