Chapter 68 Karen's Keeping Secrets
The temptation to stay the night with Case was real, but Andrea decided in her emotional state she shouldn’t be making those sorts of serious decisions. So she had asked him to take her home later that evening.
Her mom was two hours ahead of her, which meant it was 11:00 in the evening when she sat down on her bed and puzzled over her phone. Chances were, she’d still be awake. Karen Testa was a night owl. With a deep breath, Andrea dialed her mom’s number, half hoping she didn’t answer because she really didn’t want to talk about Alan Locke any more.
“Hi, honey!” her mom’s voice sounded in her ear. “How are you? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s not okay, Mom. How are you?”
“Oh, dear. I’m fine. What’s happening? Did you and Case have a fight?”
“No, no, nothing like that.”
“Good. I just love that boy. He’s so cute….”
“Mom….”
“Sorry, honey. What is it?”
With a deep breath, Andrea said, “I met Alan Locke today.”
Karen was quiet for so long, Andrea thought maybe the call had dropped. Eventually she asked, “Where?”
“On set. He came to visit… Sarah.”
“I see.”
Her mom didn’t seem surprised. She didn’t even ask why her ex would be visiting another actress on the set of her movie. Then, it occurred to Andrea that her mom hadn’t been completely honest with her. “Mom, did you know?”
“Uhm… well….”
“Mom! You knew that Sarah Lockton was my half-sister, and you didn’t say anything? You knew where our dad was, and you never told us?”
“Andrea, keep your voice down. There’s no need to shout. I did it for your own good.”
“My own good? How could any of this possibly be for my own good?”
“Because… by the time I realized that Sarah was your sister—”
“Half-sister!”
“Yes, half-sister, the two of you were already fighting. I didn’t think it would help for you to know after you already had that problem with her.”
“Mom, maybe it wouldn’t have helped Sarah and I to get together and be friends, but it would’ve been nice to be prepared. How did you find out?”
“Well, I thought she looked a little like you, back when your hair was brown. I saw her in that movie… Western Bride. She had brown hair in that movie. Anyway, I thought you had a similar nose and your eyes were about the same, though not the same color.”
“So… how did you confirm this?”
“I looked her up online and saw her dad in a picture. I knew it was Alan right away.”
“Yet, you said nothing.”
“I already told you, dear, I didn’t think it was the best time to tell you.”
Andrea shook her head. “Did you know about his other family? That he was already married when he met you?”
“I didn’t know at the time, honey. But I found out when he left. I didn’t know about Sarah at all, though. Not until I saw that picture of them together.”
Running her hands through her hair, Andrea said, “Mom, you should’ve told me. I didn’t think we kept secrets like that from each other. I even told you about what Sarah did to me, even though I signed a nondisclosure.”
“I know honey, and I’m sorry. In retrospect, I should have told you. But… maybe this is good news, now that you know. Maybe you and Sarah can start to get along with one another.”
Andrea laughed. “Ha! Not a chance. She’s still awful, mom. Being my half-sister doesn’t change that.”
“Well, you never know. You and Leslie fight a lot, but you manage to get over it because you’re sisters. Sarah doesn’t have any other sisters or brothers. Maybe she’ll be happy to hear about this.”
“She didn’t seem happy when we were filming earlier.” In fairness, Sarah hadn’t been quite as mean as usual, though. She hadn’t hit her or spit on her this time.
“Give her some time to think about it. You’ll need some time, too. How does Case feel about this? Did you tell him?”
“We didn’t really talk about how he felt about it,” Andrea admitted. She’d already told her mom about Sarah’s pregnancy hoaxes earlier that week. “I guess he is probably a little confused, too.” Now, Andrea was wondering if Case was only with her because she reminded him of Sarah—but not her evil ways. She shook her head. She needed to stop being so insecure.
“You should ask him. He’s a good man, Andrea. He needs to know you’re thinking about his feelings.”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll talk to him about it. And you need to tell Leslie about this.”
Karen was quiet for a second. “Do you really think she needs to know?”
“Mom!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell her.”
“You better!” Andrea softened and added, “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, dear. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Andrea hung up and took a deep breath. She wanted to be angry at her mom for keeping secrets, but she could never stay mad at her. She yawned and decided she needed to go to sleep. She could think more clearly about all of this in the morning, after a good night’s sleep.
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