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over, staring at it once more.  It was not the photo Jaden had assumed it was.  It was an old Polaroid of course, but the woman in the photo was not Jaden’s light haired, blue eyed mother.  In fact, it was of a tall brunette with long wavy hair and caramel colored eyes.  Samuel frowned and gently touched the photo with his thumb, as though he were caressing the woman’s cheek.  Frowning more, and blinking away tears, he slipped the photo back into the top drawer of his desk, and held his head in his hands.
    ***
    Riley stood in his kitchen staring out the window, waiting for party guests to arrive.  It was five of four and people had yet to show up.  He knew for a fact that at least forty people had RSVP’d and he wondered if Alex had put the wrong time on the invitations.  He wouldn’t have been surprised if she did.  It was Alex after all.  Finally, a large green van pulled up in front of the house and Riley smiled to himself.  It was Olivia’s mother’s van, and she only took it out when she was taking Danica, Olivia’s eighty-nine-year-old grandmother out.  He watched as Jaden and Olivia got out and opened the sliding van door.  Riley realized that they didn’t have a handicap ramp for Danica’s wheelchair and he rushed upstairs to his parent’s bedroom to get his father.  Their bedroom door was closed, which was unusual.  He could faintly hear them arguing inside and he pressed his ear to the door.  Their voices were muffled, but he could make out what they were saying.
    “Bridgette, you don’t seem to understand.  He’s getting out of hand.  He’s called me three times in the past hour,” Riley heard his father say.
    Who the hell is he talking about?  Riley wondered.
    “Then maybe it’s time that you reconsider letting him back into the pack, Colin,” Bridgette retorted, aggravation in her voice.
    “That isn’t what he wants, Biddy…he keeps calling about seeing her .  This could turn into a serious problem.  For everyone!”  Colin snapped.  Riley was shocked he had never heard his father raise his voice to his mother.  He frowned and continued to listen, hoping to dispel his confusion.
    “Well, then maybe, just maybe, you made a mistake.  Have you ever thought about that?  He is her birth father.  Maybe we’ve kept them apart for too long.  Perhaps a daughter is what Samuel needs,” Bridgette’s response was tender and hesitant, as if saying the words would cause some harm to her and Colin.
    “He doesn’t need another child.  He barely cares for Jaden.  Christ, the boy has been practically on his own since he was sixteen!”  Colin sneered.  Riley could almost see the disgusted look on his face.  Colin did not like Samuel Adler, and he didn’t keep it hidden from anyone in the pack.
    “Jaden’s eighteen years old.  He doesn’t need his father’s constant supervision, he hasn’t for a long time.  The boy is simply independent, that’s all…Colin, all I’m trying to say is maybe if we let Samuel see the young one, receive some type of closure, he’ll stop locking himself away for days at a time.  He’s the God damned sheriff.  We need to be concerned that he may not be in the right frame of mind because of decisions that you and I have made.”
    “He doesn’t lock himself away because he doesn’t get to see Samantha.  He could give a damn!  He hides away all of the time because Arabella died giving birth to Jaden, and barely a year later Elizabeth broke it off with him because she wanted to stay with Rodrigo and the affair was a mistake.  He’s caught up in what-if’s and could-have-been’s.  Giving him another reminder of the love that he’s lost isn’t going to help him or Samantha.”
    Riley caught his breath.  He was certain that he had heard his parents wrong or that they were talking about another Samantha.  They had to have been.  There had to be more than one Samantha in the pack.  The pack had 23 members in total!  He