Chapter 13

Faith was bored out of her mind, but her mom made her come. She envied Johnny, Katie, and Christian, who were out somewhere awesome with the nanny rather than stuck here at Society with Abby and the grown up's celebrating Chance's homecoming and their baby's gender reveal party. The only bright spot in the whole thing was that Kyle had recovered from the shooting, so tonight would be his first night out in public since. Noah was also still in town. He said it was to support family, but Faith believed he was falling for this girl named Sally from L.A. and didn't want to leave. When he brought her as his date to the party, Jack, Kyle, Summer, and Phyllis all frowned in unison. Faith had no idea why they hated her so much, but it was fun to see Noah of all people creating a scandal in their weird joint Abbott/Newman family.

Lola was back in town, too. She was off tonight to attend the party, which meant that her stepdad was on his best behavior. Faith had learned over the last few weeks that Rey liked to play the victim when it came to the problems in his marriage to her mom. Everything wrong with their marriage was Adam, and by extension, her mom's fault. But, tonight, by all appearances, everything was as wonderful as could be. When Moses came as her plus one, he whispered to her how Stepford Wife her mom looked. She looked happy on the outside, but Faith could tell she was just keeping up appearances.

In the time Faith spent with Adam recently, he talked a lot about her mom. He told her stories of things Sharon had done that no one else had ever told her, probably because they didn't know them since no one ever asked Sharon or Adam about their relationship. Faith had learned about both big and little milestones they'd shared. When he told her about her mom's chocolate fountain fight with Phyllis and laughed as he recalled how adorable she looked drenched in chocolate from head to toe when she came home, Faith knew without a doubt that he was still in love with her.

Connor had come home two weeks ago and was having a hard time adjusting to Chelsea being at Fairview, so Faith offered to babysit one night a week at the penthouse to spend time with him and help him get used to being back. Rey hit the roof when he found out about it. Even though her dad was the one taking her over and her mom was avoiding Adam like the plague, he still couldn't stand it. So, while they were a happy couple on the outside, Faith knew it was all a show for the family.

Now that the flurry of Noah's date had died down, the party was going smoothly, which, when it came to Newman's and the Abbott's, meant that it was the calm before the storm and she should be prepared for anything. Adam had Newman Media business in Chicago today, so he arrived late, but his arrival caused less of a stir than it normally would have. She, Victor, Nick, and Devon greeted him warmly. Victoria, Billy, and Rey didn't even acknowledge his presence. The rest of the partygoers said lukewarm hello's. Her mom, however, said far more with her body language than she ever could with words even though she stayed at least ten feet away at all times, glued to Rey's side. How could Faith have never noticed any of this between them before? As Faith looked around the room, she realized her grandfather, Mariah, dad, and Rey were as in tune to Sharon and Adam's interaction as she was. And they were all scowling. Was what Adam said about her dad on the plane true? Given his reaction, Faith couldn't help but wonder.

The lull came to an abrupt end, however, when every cell phone in the room chimed with a notification. First there was dead silence, then intakes of breath, and then chaos thanks to Billy's latest headline: "Switched at Birth: The Untold Faith Newman Story. How does a mother justify loving her baby's kidnapper to the daughter he stole? Read on to find out in our exclusive story."

Faith's tears of humiliation turned to outrage as she read the details of the conversation Adam and her mom had with her and Noah on the flight back from Miami. In the article, Billy questioned Sharon's judgment and mental stability and Adam's motives for telling the truth now. He quoted her mom's declaration of love, the comparison to Victor and Nikki, and wondered why Noah would sit idly by and allow his mom and sister to be sucked back into Adam's head games.

Faith knew that Adam had run Delia over and covered it up, but she couldn't understand why Billy constantly went after him and kept disregarding the impact he had on her and her parents by continuously dredging up her birth. She was about to stand up and go confront Billy, but she was beaten to the punch, literally, by her mom.

Faith could tell her mom was three-name-furious. Whenever she was really in trouble, her mom called her by her first, middle, and last names. If her mom had taken the time to speak, she would have used all of Billy's names before giving him a verbal set down of epic proportions. Instead, she punched him so hard in the eye that he fell backward, right into the punch bowl.

Faith smiled.