Content warning for anyone with grave medical concerns, this is not light reading. It involves the h living with Lupus, an auto-immune disease that is non-curable merely treatable, it is chronic and it can be incapacitating. In my opinion the story focuses largely on Arden’s symptoms and the romance was secondary.
Arden is best described as being the baby sister to four over-protective brothers and attributes her reaction to Liam, as a ‘Lupus-induced fantasy’. They first meet at the hospital, as Arden gets an infusion treatment from sun exposure.
Liam and his family were attending a wedding reception. The impact from falling scaffolding injured him to the extent he’s in the bed next to Arden at the hospital.
At home, his brother reminds him that for insurance purposes, the hospital needs his birth certificate (this is unprecedented), hospitals and the healthcare system in my experience, do not require a birth certificate.
“My birth certificate? Shouldn’t an insurance card work?”
“They said they needed a copy for something. It’s probably for insurance or something. Or whatever.”
“I found it. But…I don’t think it’s right. It…it has Mom’s name. But…there’s something wrong, Liam.”
“It doesn’t have Dad’s name. It doesn’t say Timothy Montgomery. It has
some guy named Steve on it. Who is Steve?”
At the sound of a shocked gasp behind Ethan, Liam turned. There was his
mother, her face dead white, her hand over her mouth, and his father, Timothy
Montgomery, looking as if they had seen a ghost.
Before he was born, his parents fought constantly...they did not take a break, but ended their relationship. She goes out, has one too many drinks, makes bad decisions, takes precautions and ends up with an unplanned pregnancy. They reconciled the next month and based on the timeline, Timothy is not the father.
“I adopted you, your mom and I got married, Steve signed over his rights, and I adopted you. In the state of Colorado, you can get that changed on the birth certificate, especially within the first year. I am your father. I raised you. Your mother and me. I have always been your dad. You are Liam Montgomery. You’re not that guy, Steve’s.”
His paternity revelation at thirty-five has him unraveling...and resentful by the secrecy of their misguided intentions.
“What if I had done one of those AncestryDNA kits that are all the rage right now? What if I had figured something out on my own? Why the hell did I have to figure it out this way?”
“We should have found a way to tell you what happened, but we didn’t. I’m your father. I was there when you said your first word. Dad, by the way. I was there when you took your first steps. I have always been there. Your mother has always been there. We’re your parents. Not some guy whose name was on your birth certificate for a month of your life.”
Liam was once a model, but he got tired of the lifestyle and his marketability was abating as he aged. Therefore he decided to enter the second stage of his career, as an author.
Arden’s life is remote, living the best life she possibly can. Her isolation is not self-inflicted but a matter of circumstance. Her visits to Senior citizens are sometimes a chore, not because it infringes on her time but because, despite her being significantly younger, she feels positively ancient.
Arden’s condition is challenging, she has limited energy to expend and oftentimes, she is confined from doing other things.
Despite Liam asking for her number, initially he doesn’t ring her because of his inner turmoil, but ironically he lives in her neighbourhood. They bump into one another as she’s chasing her Siberian Husky, Jasper. Jasper plays a featuring role and he was my favourite character.
Coincidentally, Arden is a fan of his writing recognising his name and serves as a researcher for his book compendiums.
Arden is battling her disease as she tries to have as normal a life as possible and Liam was sympathetic and understanding.