Chapter One

"Analeigh," My mother called. "There's a candle missing for the menorah. Will you go see if it fell out upstairs?"

"Fine." I sighed. I put down my book and went up to the attic.

I fumbled around the hot, stuffy attic trying to find the light switch. In the process, I tripped over a box and fell on my face. I flipped the switch on the wall and tried to gather the fallen items back in the box. As I saw the items, I realized that a lot of them were essays that I had written or pictures I had drawn; I guess this was where my mom put stuff after it came off of the fridge. There was a photo album too. There were various pictures of my life: a page for embarrassing school pictures, pictures of me and Frederick, etc. There was even a picture of my mom holding me at the hospital after I was born.

I continued to look through the pictures and put things back in the box. I found a file folder and opened it up. I was expecting to see a collection of report cards but instead I saw something very different: my birth certificate.

For most of my life it was just me, my mom, and Frederick. Well, besides the few years she was married to Brian. Brian was the closest thing to a dad that I ever really experienced, but I knew that he wasn't my real father. Their marriage only lasted a few years and after that, my mom never really had another serious relationship. I know that she did the best that she could raising both Frederick and myself, but I always wondered how my life would be different if Brian had stuck around or if I knew my real father. Even though me and my mom have gotten closer in the past two years since Frederick moved out to college, my father was still a taboo topic of discussion.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see. There was my name, Analeigh Danielle Sternin; My mom's name, Lilith Sternin; and under the father's name I was expecting to see, I don't know, some random guy's name or maybe "N/A". But I had heard this name: Frasier Crane.

That was Frederick's dad. My dad, too, I guess.

I quickly shoved everything back into the box and began searching for that darn candle. Why didn't she tell me? Why did Frederick get to visit him and not me? Does he even know? What did Mom tell Frederick? Am I the only one out of the loop?

After finding the candle, I went down to the living room and stuck it on the menorah.

"Hey, you found it!" My mom said with a smile. Should I confront her about it? She probably would have told me if she had wanted me to know.

"Yeah." I said. "Frederick's coming home tomorrow, right?" I asked.

"He is. He's bringing Krysta, too." Krysta was Frederick's fiancee. They had been dating for a year and a half when Frederick popped the question. They'd be getting married the summer after graduation.I wondered if Frederick knew that we had the same dad, and if he did what he would tell me.

My mind kept spinning over the information I had learned. Day turned to night, and night turned to day and the next thing I knew, Frederick and Krysta were pulling in the driveway.

"Hey, Ana." Frederick greeted when he came into the living room.

"Analeigh. My name is Analeigh."I returned. "Krysta, it's always nice to see you."

"And you, too." She said with a smile.

"Where's Mom?" Frederick asked.

"Out." I said simply. "We weren't expecting you until five."

"Sorry. We had accounted for traffic, but there wasn't any." Frederick went outside to get their bags from the car.

" How's the wedding planning going?" I asked Krysta.

"Pretty well." She said as she sat down next to me. "I was hoping that you and your mother would come with me and my mom next month when I go to try on wedding dresses."

"Fun." I said, facetiously.

"Please. I'd really like your opinion." She gave me those big, brown doe eyes. "You have such a great sense of style."

"Flattery will get everywhere." I sighed. Frederick came in with the bags and headed up to his old room, which had been turned into a guest room.

"Excuse me." I said to Krysta as I got up from the couch.

I ran up to the guest room and closed the door behind me. Frederick jumped a little when he saw me.

"Sorry." I said quickly, ready to talk about what I came up here for. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"I was up in the attic yesterday-"

"What were you doing in the attic?"

"I was looking for a candle that had fallen off the menorah. Why does it matter?" I said. Frederick just had to question everybody's motives, it was so annoying.

I went on to tell him everything that had happened yesterday and how I had found my birth certificate.

"Analeigh, everyone has a birth certificate-"

"I know that, nimrod." I snapped. "It's what was on it. Where the name of the father is supposed to be listed, your dad's name is there."

I waited to see his face change into a look of shock, or horror that we were actually related. Instead his face showed guilt.

"You knew?" I shouted. He quickly covered my mouth. "You knew?" I whispered this time.

"Yeah, I knew." I sighed. "Mom told me everything when she got pregnant with you. She told me that she thought it would be best if neither you nor Dad knew."

"He doesn't even know I exist?"

"I wasn't supposed to say anything to Dad when I went to visit him." He said. "And I definitely was not supposed to tell you."

"Was there ever a part of this master plan where I found out?" I was suddenly angry, but tried my best not to let it show.

"Look, I don't know-"

"Did you invite him to the wedding?" I interrogated. "Did you ever think that I was going to be there and that he was going to be there and that maybe we would end up figuring it out? Either that or I'm just not supposed to act like your sister and Mom's just gonna ignore me the entire time."

"I'm sure she didn't have that figured out. I mean, I was only five at the time-"

"Frederick, this is Mom we're talking about." I reminded. "I'm pretty sure she thought everything through up to her death."

Suddenly the alarm chimed and we could hear the garage door open.

"You and me are gonna talk about this later." I said as I opened the door and went to greet my mother.

When she came in, I gave her a hug and took the grocery bags out of her hand.

"Hello darling." She kissed me on the forehead.

Act normal, I reminded myself. You know nothing.