Chapter 2: Family Ties

My mom ended up marrying a big shot from Chicago’s business scene. Their whirlwind romance left everyone buzzing, and before long, she walked down the aisle with the whole family’s blessing.

The wedding was a blur of blush roses and clinking champagne flutes, all set in a Lake Michigan ballroom with the city skyline glittering in the distance. People from both sides of the family danced and toasted until midnight. The air smelled like vanilla cake and spilled champagne, and my shoes pinched my toes, but I didn’t care—I just wanted to stay close to Mom. The Carter name, even at three, felt like something out of a storybook.

Naturally, I was brought to the new house.

She got married when I was only three—barely old enough to remember my old life.

The house was massive, one of those old brick colonials in Lincoln Park. The hardwood floors creaked under every step, and stained glass windows splashed the walls with color. There was always the scent of fresh coffee from the kitchen and the quiet shuffle of housekeepers dusting endless bookshelves. I’d tiptoe down the hallway and peek into rooms bigger than my whole apartment now.

I grew up in the Carter family. My stepdad adored my mom, and because of that, he treated me like his own.

He taught me to ride a bike, running beside me on the sidewalk outside. He never missed a parent-teacher conference, even the boring ones where we glued pasta to cardboard. When thunderstorms scared me, he’d let me crawl into bed between him and Mom, promising everything would be alright.

I truly saw him as my dad, and his son as my brother.

When we were little, my brother was wonderful to me. But as we got older, we drifted apart.

It made me sad. I remembered the last time he helped me with my math homework—how he ruffled my hair, then vanished to his room for hours.

Later, I learned even biological siblings grow distant as they get older.

Sometimes I’d feel a pang of loss, but that’s just life—things never go exactly the way you want.

It took a lot for me to accept that I’d gone from being his precious little sister to just a distant relative. And then, something completely unexpected happened.