Free A Family Kind of Guy by Lisa Jackson

there’s that cute button of a daughter of hers, who’s around three. My only granddaughter, so far.”
    He looked away quickly, as if bothered by the conversation, and Bliss fought back a feeling of having the rug pulled out from under her. She’d always thought that she would be the one to give her parents grandchildren—when the time came. As the years passed and her friends married and started families of their own, she’d heard her own biological clock ticking away.
    â€œAfter her husband died, Tiffany moved down here to be close to her grandmother—you’ve heard of Octavia—Octavia Nesbitt?”
    Bliss nodded. Who hadn’t heard of Bittersweet’s most prominent and flamboyant citizen? Octavia had inherited the Reed estate years before, as she’d been nursemaid and caretaker of Bittersweet’s oldest and most wealthy citizen. When Cranston Reed had died, he’d left his fortune to the widow Nesbitt.
    â€œWell, when Tiffany’s husband, Philip, died a few months back, she packed her kids into a U-Haul truck and drove south from Portland. She moved into an old house her husband had bought about a year back—it’s been cut up into apartments that she rents out for a little extra money.”
    Bliss folded her arms over the top rail of the fence and watched spindly-legged colts frolicking beside their docile mothers. “So how is Tiffany with you?”
    His eyebrows lifted and he bent down to pluck a long blade of dry grass from the ground. “Not great. In fact, she won’t talk to me.”
    No big surprise there. “Do you blame her?”
    He rubbed his chin. “Guess not. She didn’t know much about me or that I was even alive for a long, long time.”
    â€œWhat?” Bliss couldn’t believe her ears, then mentally kicked herself for being so naive. Hadn’t she been hoodwinked all her life? Why not Tiffany, as well?
    â€œHer mother, Rose, finally told her the truth, I guess, but I didn’t try to get in touch with her until a couple of months ago, after your mother passed on.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œAnyway, I tried to call her, you know, to break the ice, but she hung up before I could say anything other than my name.” He placed the piece of grass between his teeth. “Guess she’s a little ticked. As I said, Tiffany’s mother told her that her father was dead, had died before they could get married—and then she did a quick reversal.” He hesitated, his thinning hair ruffling in the breeze. “Since I never showed any interest until recently…well, it’s been hard for her.”
    â€œBeyond hard,” Bliss agreed, feeling a tiny pang of pity for the older half sister she’d never met. “If I were her, I don’t know if I’d ever forgive you.”
    He sighed. “You’re having trouble now because I’m marrying Brynnie.”
    That much was true, but Bliss didn’t want to think about it. Not now. She hardly dared ask her next question but decided there was no time like the present. “So what about Brynnie’s daughter, Katie? What does she think?”
    â€œThat’s another story,” he admitted. “Katie, too, just found out. Her mother told her a couple of weeks back that she wasn’t Hal Kinkaid’s daughter.”
    Bliss froze. “Wait a minute. Are telling me that Brynnie passed Katie off as—”
    John lifted a hand. “She had no choice. I went along with it.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œIt was probably a mistake.”
    â€œOne of many,” Bliss whispered, wondering how deep were the lies that her father had perpetuated over the years. Her head spun with all this new information about a family she hadn’t suspected existed.
    â€œI know.” He seemed suddenly tired and older than his years. “I’ve done a lot of damage. To you. To your mother. To the other women in my