The next morning, while sipping my coffee, I looked out the front window across the street. Mona was standing on a stepstool trying to water the hanging plant on her porch. “That woman is a wonder and a menace.”

Grace inched up to look at what I was seeing. “That woman is a saint. She’s been really good for me.”

In all honesty, I thought she’d been good for everyone. “You know her last name is Charming, right?”

Grace let out a laugh. “Yep, it’s kind of fitting in a weird way. Mona spreads her own brand of charm, doesn’t she?”

Mona stepped down from the ladder and moved it toward the next plant before I left for the bathroom. I worried about her doing those types of things, but then again, she’d been taking care of herself long before I showed up.

The sound of Grace yelling cut my shower short: “Oh shit!” Her voice began to fade but not before she yelled, “Call 911!” I didn’t even rinse off. I flew from the shower, pulling on my robe as I ran toward the living room, thinking that something was wrong with Grace or the baby, but she was gone.

My distance vision was shit, but even I could see Grace kneeling beside Mona. She was lying at the bottom of the porch stairs next to the fallen stepladder. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911 as I dashed across the street.

“Oh my God, Mona, are you okay?” I hovered over the old woman, who winced each time she tried to get up. “Stay down, the ambulance is coming.”

“I’m not letting a little fall keep me down.” She tried to lift again, but I leaned over her, making sure she had nowhere to go.

My robe fell off my shoulder, and Mona gasped. Her eyes went wide. “Of course. That’s why you have the house. It’s yours. I heard rumors she’d survived.”

I followed her line of sight to the scar on my left shoulder. “No, you’ve got it wrong. You’re in shock. I got this from a car accident.” I rubbed the puckered round scar that sat just below the edge of my left collarbone.

The sirens got closer. Grace had gone to get a blanket and was back covering Mona up.

Mona pulled me down, so I was looking straight into her eyes. “I’m not wrong. You’re her. You’re Sparrow.”

She was so certain, but I knew better. I knew who I was. I was Ana Barrett. My mother was Kathryn Barrett, and my father was Jayson Creed. They never married. They died in a car accident when I was four. The same age as Sparrow. The world dropped out from under me.

“Move aside,” the paramedic said. I pulled my robe closed and stood back while he and his partner went to work. Mona was lifted to a gurney and placed inside the ambulance. I stared as it faded from view.

“Ana, are you listening to me?” I turned toward the voice. Grace’s voice. Everything played in slow motion. Her hands were on my shoulders, shaking me. “Get dressed and meet me at the hospital.”

While Grace ran ahead to get her keys, I moved like a sleepwalker across the street. Inside the house, she stopped me. “I know this is hard, but snap out of it. I know it feels similar to losing your grandmother. Mona will be all right, but she’ll want us there.”

I nodded as Grace, oblivious to the other reason for my shocked state, ran out the door.

I texted Ryker to let him know that Mona had fallen and was on her way to the hospital in Boulder. He’d left early in the morning to deliver his father’s bike to a buyer in Denver. It was sad for him to see it go, but Ryker was like a protective pit bull when it came to his family. He was committed to finding Decker, and he’d sell his left nut if it would help. I hoped no one wanted that part of him because I’d become attached to every part of him. Especially the lower half of him.

I rushed to put my contacts in and get dressed. The hospital was a good hour away, but if I hurried, I’d only be a few minutes behind Grace, and if Ryker left Denver right away, he might beat me there.

The whole trip I thought about what Mona had said: “You’re her. You’re Sparrow.” I couldn’t be … or could I? A cold feeling swept up my spine. What if I was her? What if my entire life was a lie?

I’d never been driven by the need to research my parents’ death. Grams had filled in all the blanks, but had she? Had she filled in the truth, or had she devised a tale to suit her needs? Why would she lie?

I pulled into the hospital parking lot fifty minutes later, grateful that Sheriff Stuart hadn’t caught me speeding. Since I was a fan of Ryker, he’d decided he wasn’t a fan of me. He’d already ticketed me for a broken taillight, and he’d pulled me over to check for my proof of insurance, all under the guise of making sure the citizens of Fury, Colorado, were following the rules.

When I entered the waiting room, Grace was there pacing back and forth. “She’s in X-ray.”

“Do they think she broke her hip?” That was my biggest fear. Older folks didn’t recover from that type of thing. Generally, it went downhill after that. A tear slipped from my eye. I hadn’t expected to gain a parental figure after losing Gramps and Grams, and now that I had, I wasn’t ready to lose Mona. Although her guidance was flippant and often crude, she told it like it was, and I appreciated that.

Fifteen minutes later, Ryker walked in. His eyes were hard and his body tense. Seeing him this worked up made my heart rattle. He would be gutted if something happened to Mona. She was all he had besides Silas. He and I were in the same boat. We were orphans who had no one but each other and a few others. In fact, he had more than me. He had Nate and Mona and Silas, and hopefully he could deliver Decker soon. I had Grace and Mona and Ryker, but how long would I have Ryker if what Mona had said was true?

I remembered his words verbatim from the day he talked to me about Sparrow. I’m pretty sure if she was around today, I wouldn’t like her very much. I’d hate her for following me into the garage, and I’d blame her for everyone’s death. The same way everyone has blamed me for years.

Oh God. My stomach coiled and roiled. I looked in every direction for a sign that would point me to the bathroom. The blue sign blinked in the distance, and I took off running like a sprinter.

I hadn’t put anything in my stomach this morning but coffee and stress. I never handled stress well.

I washed my face and pinched my cheeks. Until I had solid proof that I was or wasn’t Sparrow, I refused to say anything. There was no reason to stab at Ryker’s heart when nothing was concrete. I’d prove to myself that I wasn’t her.

Ryker was leaning against the wall across from the bathroom door when I came out. “You okay?” He walked forward and wrapped his arms around me. I fell into his embrace. Everything inside me was right when he was around, and I knew I’d do anything to keep him—even if it meant keeping secrets. Hadn’t I lost enough already?

“I don’t do well in stressful situations.” I leaned into his body as we walked back into the waiting room.

“I’ve seen you in stressful situations, and you’re quite the spitfire.” He teased me about standing up to him when most women would have folded and walked away.

I took deep breaths trying to calm my pounding heart. He was right. I couldn’t hide my fear behind the lie of not dealing with stress. But I couldn’t tell him my real fear, so I said nothing.

Grace, Ryker, and I waited until a doctor came out to see us. He held out his hand to Ryker and nodded to Grace and me.

“Are you Mona’s next of kin?” We all exchanged glances and then said yes in unison.

I wasn’t sure whether Mona had family outside the strays she picked up in Fury. There was so much I didn’t know about the old woman. And would I ever learn?

“No broken bones, but I have to ask why a seventy-two-year-old nearly blind woman is climbing on a ladder.” His eyes narrowed at each one of us.

It reminded me of the time someone had colored the nose pads of Sister Theresa’s sunglasses with permanent ink. The bridge of her nose was navy blue for three days. I hadn’t been responsible, but I’d watched it happen, which filled me with guilt.

“She is stubbornly independent,” Ryker said.

The doctor shook his head. “That may be true, but you have a responsibility to make sure she gets help when she needs it.”

He was right. We needed to take better care of Mona. I didn’t push her off the ladder, but I’d known her climbing it was wrong, and I hadn’t done anything about it. Guilt was wrapping its way around my chest like an invasive vine. It was squeezing my insides until I was sure I would suffocate.

As if Ryker sensed my tension, he let his fingers skim over my shoulders. His touch caused a war within me, and I didn’t know why. I wanted his comfort, and yet Mona’s words infused my brain with questions I couldn’t answer. The most pressing was, If I am Sparrow, can I ever be his?

“Can she come home?” Grace asked. Her forehead was creased with worry. She’d really latched on to Mona, and I wasn’t sure my bestie would be the same without the old woman pressing against her spine to make her stand tall and be bold.

The doctor shook his head. “I think we’re going to keep her overnight just to make certain the fall didn’t jar anything else. You can go and see her. She’s in room 112, but she’s not happy.” He looked down at his clipboard and walked off toward his next patient.

All three of us rushed toward Mona’s room. She was already giving the nurse a hard time. “You call this lemonade?” She pushed the cup across her tray.

“I’ll get you something else,” the young woman said. She walked past us mumbling something like that one’s going to be a problem.

“I’m not sure if I should hug you and turn over my knee and paddle you.” Ryker leaned in and kissed her cheek.

“Don’t tease an old woman. I hear that paddling is a thing these days and girls like it.” She looked at me.

“Don’t look at me. I’m not into that.”

Grace stepped forward. “Sometimes it’s good to be bad.” She gave Mona a knowing smile, and I knew they’d be talking BDSM all night. Mona was old; she wasn’t dead.

“Are you feeling okay?” I looked down at her bandaged ankle.

“It’s just a sprain, for goodness’ sake. You’d think I broke my hip by the way you all are fussing over me.”

I sat on the edge of her bed and held her hand. “It could have been so much worse.”

She looked at me as if I was the only one in the room. “Some things are not what they seem. Often we get surprised to find out how things actually turned out.”

I knew her words had nothing to do with her sprained ankle and everything to do with her speculation about my true identity. “Yes, things should always be checked out thoroughly before a diagnosis is made.” She was a smart woman, and I knew she’d get my meaning. I didn’t want her blurting out her suspicions. I wanted time to do some research. If I found out I was Sparrow, I feared my situation with Ryker would become terminal. That little truth would be like a fast-spreading cancer. It had the ability to consume both of us. I didn’t want that.

I rose from her bed and looked toward the two other people who were the center of my universe. “Since you both have it under control here, I’m going to drive to Denver. There’s something I need to check out.”

Grace smiled. “Finally going to get that new software?”

It wasn’t my plan, but it was a good smokescreen for what I was about to do. “Yes. You caught me. Do you need anything?”

Grace put in her order for spaghetti and meatballs from Luigi’s, and I was on my way. Ryker followed me out to the parking lot.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He cupped my face and looked at me with such love that my heart nearly burst.

“Yes, I’m good. It’s just this whole situation with Mona is upsetting.”

He brushed his lips against mine. “She’ll be okay, but I better get back. Mona was plotting her escape when I left to catch up with you.”

I laughed because it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Mona had broken out and gone home. “You better get back before she has Grace sneaking her out the back entrance. I’ll bring dinner home.”

When his lips descended on mine, all thoughts evaporated. It was Ryker and me, and nothing else mattered.