June 20, 2002

School had been out for about a week now and like every weekend for the past few weeks Riley spent it with the McMahons. She enjoyed getting to know Vince and Linda and her older brother and his wife. She even really liked Paul … but Stephanie still wanted nothing to do with her. It was her loss Riley deduced. She was sitting in the McMahon family parlor watching a movie. She was wearing a comfortable pair of workout pants and a white tank top which read Dr. Cox is my hero. She rested her sock clad feet against the coffee table and munched on some honey baked trail mix that she had made herself. Stephanie crossed the threshold and Riley tried her best to ignore her older sister.

"Hi" Stephanie said.

This had been one of the few words Stephanie had spoken to her since their little verbal argument in the dining room weeks earlier. The elder sister stared at her nails uncomfortably waiting to get some reaction from her younger sister.

"Hi" Riley replied her attention still on the huge plasma screen television mounted to the cream colored wall in front of her. She popped a honey covered pretzel into her mouth and chewed it carefully.

"What are you doing?" Stephanie asked trying to start a conversation.

"Watching Dirty Dancing" Riley replied thinking that it was kinda obvious and also finding it rather suspicious that Stephanie had sought her out to ask her what she was doing.

"Would you mind if I joined you?" she asked not really expecting the younger girl to agree.

"It's a free country" Riley replied. It wasn't exactly the answer Stephanie had expected but she wasn't shunning the older woman either. She had a seat next to her sister and concentrated on the screen. Riley cast a momentary glance at her older sister and wondered what kind of evil plan the older woman was concocting in her mind.

"You want some trail mix?" Riley asked trying to be a little hospitable. She held the blue plastic bowl out to her sister who took a handful of the snack. Popping some of it into her mouth.

"This is really good where did you buy it?" Steph asked.

"I didn't buy it I made it" the younger McMahon corrected her.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah I like doing stuff like that you know baking and knitting" Riley informed her.

"You knit?" Stephanie asked incredulously.

"Yeah, my nana taught me how when I was a kid. I can also mend clothes and crochet"

"Listen … I want to apologize" Although it was hard for the older woman to admit she was wrong about Riley she knew she had to. Riley brought a new dynamic into this family. She was like a fresh spring rain on a sun parched country road. She made everyone around her happy and Stephanie had to admire that about her.

"If anyone should apologize it's me I should never have called you a bitch … that was incredibly disrespectful and uncalled for"

"You had every right to call me a bitch because I was being a big one … I guess I was afraid of not being daddy's little girl anymore"

"Stephanie" the younger girl sighed "I already was daddy's little girl to someone else … I had my life all figured out and then I find out my parents aren't my real parents and now I'm trying to get used to the fact that I have been living a lie for my whole life and sometimes all I want to do is go to sleep and wake up and have this all be a dream"

"Are you not happy here?" Stephanie asked.

"No, it's not that at all I love getting to know Vince and Linda and Shane and Marissa and Paul and now you I guess if you'll let me but I dunno … it's just that I'm just so confused all the time and I still have no idea what to tell my other parents"

"If I may give you some sisterly advice I'd say that no matter how you put it the news is going to devastate them even thought you don't want it too but the sooner you tell them the sooner the grieving process can start. But you know something nothing will ever change the fact that they raised you and you will always be part of them just like Sawyer will always be part of us it's just that right now you need to get to know your biological family"

"Did mom and dad send you to talk to me?" she asked. She was just starting to refer to Linda and Vince as mom and dad which they were thrilled by.

"I'm almost 30 I don't have to do what they say anymore" the older woman scoffed.

"They did didn't they … what did they tell you they were cutting you out of the will unless you and I became friends" Riley laughed a little.

"No I decided to do this on my own. It finally hit me that maybe I could enjoy having a little sister around. You know someone to stay up late talking to and to go shopping with"

"You know I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted us to be good friends" Riley said.

"Well nothing is stopping us now is it" Stephanie smiled.

"Thanks for the advice … sis" Riley surprised her older sister by giving her a hug.

"You're welcome kiddo" Steph replied hugging her little sister back.

--

Vince and Linda watched their daughters from the doorway of the living room. Both wore smiles on their face.

"We have some great kids don't we" Vince said to his wife.

"Indeed we do" she agreed.