9. Everett

EVERETT

" F irst up is a sixteen-year-old"—Noah hands me a piece of paper with the girl's school picture printed out. Dark hair, blue eyes, she could be Evie's younger twin. And as it stands, she is her sister. My heart melts just looking at her. "Her name is Harper Harper. First name and last are indeed one and the same."

" What ?" Evie squawks so loud that the ornaments on the tree rattle. "No freaking way." She hops this way to get a better look at the girl. "Oh my gosh, it's her!"

"What do you mean by her ?" Lemon asks, matching Evie's shrill tone.

"That's Harper Harper," Evie says. "I know her. I mean, I know of her. I'm, like, constantly stalking her on Tickety Tok."

"Oh?" Lemon looks up at her. "Is she one of those influencers?"

"She dances," Evie says. "That's how she got famous."

" Ooh ." Lemon looks impressed and so am I.

"Is she a ballerina?" I ask. "Maybe we can get tickets to see her perform?"

Evie shakes her head. "She's not that kind of dancer."

Both Lemon and I recoil in horror.

"Relax." Evie rolls her eyes. "She's just a kid who dances around her house, her kitchen mostly. She's, like, totally cool and always gives updates on whatever's happening in her life. Hey? I bet she'll talk about you!" She sucks in breath. "I bet she'll talk about me! I mean, I've got quite the following on social media myself. I bet she'll want to do a collab."

"I'm going to look her up and we'll watch every single video," Lemon says, patting me on the knee. "Go on, Noah."

Noah glances back to that stack of papers in his hands. And is it my imagination, or are they growing by the minute?

"Harper is indeed heavily on social media. Her mother is Elizabeth Liz Harper, and she runs a farm-to-table restaurant out in Stowe."

"So right here in Vermont?" Lemon presses her hand to her chest as if she were pleased. I am, too.

"That's right," Noah says. "No marital records for Liz." He glances up at me. "Does her name ring a bell?"

I shake my head. And I'm sorry to admit it.

"Next up we've got Mia who's fourteen." He slides a piece of paper with the girl's school picture and both Lemon and I shake our heads.

"She looks just like Harper," Lemon points out. "Who looks just like Evie."

" Eh ." Carlotta shrugs. "So what if Sexy is a Johnny One Note? He could sure play the heck out of that note."

"There is no bigger truth," Lemon says. "The girls are gorgeous."

"Mia and her family live in New Hampshire," Noah continues. "Her mother's name is Cassandra Miles. She's a tech entrepreneur, and so is her husband. They have a successful startup focused on green technology. They also have a son together who's eleven."

"Oh, that's wonderful," Lemon says. "Everett, do you remember Cassandra?"

I wince as I try to rack my brain. "I'm afraid I don't. I'm pretty sure I was in law school at the time. It was all a blur."

"Yeah." Carlotta laughs. "And we know what you did in your downtime to blow off a little steam."

"Again, eww ," Evie says, picking up the cats.

"It's not all so rosy for Mia." Noah grimaces a moment. "The girl has a rap sheet."

" What ?" I growl at the thought of anyone letting her run wild enough to garner one.

"Just a few shoplifting charges, nothing serious—yet." His eyes enlarge for a moment before he looks back down at that stack in his hands. "Next up—I don't know if you'll be relieved to know this or not, but the next two are a set of twins."

" Twins? " Everyone in the room seems to shout at once, and I think I heard my own voice in the mix, and maybe a cat or two.

"So two of the girls on the Family Tree Tracker site were sisters," Lemon says.

"That's right." Noah passes over more school photos he printed out and they are dead ringers for the other girls we just looked at, and, of course, Evie. I really am a Johnny One Note. Not a bad note, if I do say so myself.

"You're a twin maker, Dad," Evie is quick to say. "I wonder if I'm a twin? Knowing Cressi- duh , she probably traded my twin for a Gucci bag."

I nod because I wouldn't put it past the woman. Cressida Bentley is Evie's biological mother. The mother who hid Evie from the world and me for more than half of Evie's life.

"Twins run on the mother's side," Lemon tells her sweetly.

"Twins," I say as my heart swells just looking at the girls' pictures that are laid out before me. My girls. "Tell me about them."

"That's Ava and Olivia, fraternal twins. Their mother is a pediatrician right here in Fallbrook."

"Fallbrook?" Lemon gasps. "Everett, that's your hometown!"

"Their mother is Dr. Haley Griffin," Noah goes on. "She's deeply respected in the community and often works with underprivileged families."

" Aww ," Lemon coos. "Everett, does Haley sound familiar?"

I wince again. "Not even remotely. I'm sorry," I say. "In fact, I feel as if I owe you and Evie an apology. And I need to apologize to each of these girls and their mothers for being so reckless."

"How'd you let this happen, Sexy?" Carlotta lifts her chin. "Are you afraid to glove up?"

"Someone shove a muffin in her mouth," Evie calls out while lifting the cats to her ears in an effort to muffle the noise.

"I'd better hit the shower," Noah says, leaving the rest of the paperwork on the coffee table. "I've got all the contact numbers and addresses you'll need. Start with their mothers. There's no guarantee they'll let you anywhere near those girls, but you never know. You might get welcomed into their lives with open arms. Do your homework first. Go slow. And maybe factor in the holidays."

We stand and I offer him a pat on the back.

"Thanks, man. You don't know how much I appreciate you."

"You've already shown him how much you appreciate his wife," Carlotta snorts. "So much so you put a set of twins in her!"

Lemon shoves a chocolate muffin into Carlotta's mouth before she can say another word.

Although she did speak the truth.

Lemon and Noah were together first.

Noah takes off and Evie offers me a firm embrace.

"I love you, Dad." She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. "You're the best dad there ever was and those girls will be lucky to have you." She wipes her face down on my jacket. "I can't believe Harper Harper is my freaking sister! Dash is going to freak out," she says as she runs up the stairs.

"We're not telling anyone just yet," I call out after her.

Dash would be her best friend and her roommate down at Ashford University. I think both Lemon and I realize that Dash will know within the hour. And perhaps Evie's boyfriend Conner will be filled in on every last detail, too.

"Oh, and by the way"—Evie backtracks a notch—"I had Conner take a DNA test just to make sure he's not my brother, and thankfully he's not. Good work, Dad." She continues to skip up the stairs and I shake my head.

Lemon comes over and wraps her arms around me as best she can and one of the twins gives me a swift kick from Lemon's belly to my side.

"I think they're excited about having more siblings," Lemon says, not sounding too convinced. "I'm excited about the girls."

"I'm thrilled, too," I say as I land a kiss on her forehead. "Let's just hope the girls will be excited about this turn of events as well."

But something tells me they won't.

Lemon gets ready to head to the bakery and I scoop up that stack of papers Noah left behind before I head off to the courthouse.

Harper—sixteen, already famous for her dance moves.

Mia—fourteen with a rap sheet.

Ava and Olivia—twins who are growing up in the same town that I grew up in.

I'm not sure how it happened, but my heart is filled with as much love for them as I have for Evie and Lyla Nell. They're a part of me. And I want to get to know them. I have nothing but good intentions.

But then, we all know what road is paved with good intentions.

Here's hoping for a little holiday magic.

Something tells me I'm going to need more than a miracle.