Infinity Chapter 51 - Mommy's Secrets

[itztigress3]

Chapter 51 – Mommy’s Secrets

POV:  Emily

Word count: 4716

January 6, 2014

   We were scheduled to leave the 8^th and Eliza had called my phone every day and it wasn’t concerning the case, no she kept asking to just talk to me, saying she had someone who wanted to meet me, namely her adoptive parents. She had gushed about them about how nice they were, how polite they were, how supportive of her decisions and what she did. Zac had caught my phone when I’d thrown it across the warehouse, I had kind of hoped it would have cracked or broken or something! Taylor and Isaac had no idea about her, no one did. We’d arrived at the studio at 6 am, Alexander had laid back down in the crib and slept another two hours before Uncle Casey brought him breakfast and then fed him, he was currently sitting with him when she called for the fourth time and I just ignored it.

“Please tell me Ian didn’t find a way to reach you? I mean damn you threw the phone across the warehouse Friday.”

“It’s not Ian and I don’t want to talk about it.”

He held his hands up. “If you do, don’t be afraid to ask.”

I was about to finish up the spreadsheet when e-mail beeped and it was her, sending me comparison photos of us! Ones she’d pulled off the internet at various ages, this was ridiculous, was it possible to file a harassment charge against an FBI agent?!

Casey was still there and I knew what Zac would tell me, he’d tell me to entertain her and at least meet her. But, would Casey be the rational person here.

“Casey.”

He looked at me and waited, clear indication he would listen to me.

“What would you do if some random person came up to you and said they were your twin brother? Let’s assume they look like you.”

“When you say look like, do you mean like Zac and Robert or like your brothers?”

“Like my brothers.”

He gave me a quizzical look but sat there a few moments, finished dressing Alexander and then got up and sat down in Zac’s chair.

“Well, I’d be curious; I mean I don’t really have siblings. So, I would want to know him, find out what he’s been doing, where he’s been, how he found me.”

I just stared at him. Seriously? No I’d tell them to fuck off? No, why wait thirty years?

“Clearly that wasn’t the answer you were looking for, why did you even ask Ems?”

I turned the computer screen around, graduation picture someone had gotten a hold of mine and she’d posted hers beside it. He got up and looked at both pictures.

“Um, I have never seen this picture of you and I don’t recall your hair being that highlighted.”

I just looked at him stunned, was he saying I looked like her? Between him and Zac it was getting harder to believe she did not look like me.

“You think there both me?”

“Aren’t they?” he asked.

“No…that’s my high school graduation and this other girl is Eliza.”

“Wow, I knew Zac had some twins but none were ever that close.”

“That’s just it Casey, according to her we are twins, according to her we were separated when we were born.”

“Wouldn’t that be good news? You have a sister, someone tha…” he trailed off as he looked at me.

“I don’t need or want a sister. I don’t want some FBI agent claiming she’s my twin sister when I was a single birth. I called Ace and asked he was positive my mother only had one of us.”

“Emily honey your mom kept a lot of secrets because of David.”

I felt the rage then, but resisted because Alexander was right there and I couldn’t let him see that anger not like David had done to me. Casey sat back.

“It’s her that keeps calling?”

“Every day since she came to the house, she’s the lead investigator for the case. I answered a few times thinking it was because of some development but all she does is want to meet me to talk to me, to catch up, to speak to her father which she thinks is David. Casey she’s a…”

I took a moment because I was about to go on a cursing rampage and with Alexander now at an age where he could learn from us I didn’t want that. Casey waited.

“She’s an FBI agent and she doesn’t know about David, she doesn’t know about Ace, she doesn’t even know that Mom is dead.”

“Well, Emily you can’t deny that she looks incredibly like you. Maybe you should talk to her, what’s the worst that could happen?”

I tilted my head. “I beat the snot out of an FBI agent and little bean is born in jail?”

“Emily, come on you only attack when Alexander is threatened. Meet her here in the store, it’s not set up, it’s clean and you’ll be alone or if you want total privacy use my house. It’s right down the road. I can walk you there and come back.”

“You think Zac is going to let me take him with me?”

“No. Leave him here with us. You don’t trust her it’s clear, Robert is coming in about ten; he and I can watch Alexander while you and Zac meet her. I would image Zac won’t let you go alone anyway. Given he’s been quiet on this I also assume he thinks you should.”

“Oh yeah.”

He smiled and got up. “See if she can Ems, it can’t be that bad. Worse case she pisses you off and we visit you in jail, just please don’t break my TV.”

“Asshole.”

He smiled and left the room and I got my phone, I was going to regret this I was sure. I called her number and her chipper voice answered on the first ring. Good lord it wasn’t even 9 and she sounded like some ray of sunshine.

“Emily! I’m so glad you called!”

“Are you free today?”

“Yes! Name a time and place.”

I rattled off Casey’s address and told her noon, it would give me time to get stuff done and Zac and also its lunchtime so hopefully Alexander would be asleep after lunch.

“We’ll be there.”

I just hung-up, I was certain I was going to regret this. I sent Zac a text to let him know the plan and he was in the office at 11:15 so we could at least eat before going, we’d brought lunch with us. Alexander ate with us and Robert finished when we left, food kept him from crying after us. It was fucking cold as hell to be walking but the cold air seemed to calm me down. Thankfully, Casey’s house was warm and cozy. She was early and there was a couple with her, I was sure they were her “parents”. Zac let them in; he was surely the nice one in this group because he offered drinks, got them and got everyone settled.

“Eliza never was good with manners. I am Gene and this is my wife Mary Ann.” He said.

I shook his hand when extended and hers. “I’m Emily and this is my husband Zac.”

“You look so much like our Eliza. It’s been so long since we saw you both together. Thirty years actually.”

I didn’t say anything and they didn’t react to that.

“It’s nice to meet you both, we’ve not heard much about you or at least I haven’t.” Zac said.

Eliza seemed taken aback that I hadn’t instantly told him everything. “This isn’t your home.”

“No, it’s not. We are busy this week, we leave in a few days for an island event and we’ve been spending long hours at the studio, which is down the street. Our friend lives here and let us borrow the house.” Zac said.

“It’s nice.” Mary Ann said. She was looking around and saw the picture of Casey and Alexander, ones Casey had everywhere actually. He took being a godparent serious.

“He has a son? Cute little boy.”

“That’s our son, Alexander. Our friend is his godfather.” Zac said.

“Oh? I didn’t know you had children. I’m sorry.” She said.

“It’s ok.”

“I bet our Mom and Dad are excited to have him around. Do they see him often?”

I looked at her; she’d been so excited to meet them and wanted to know everything.

“David isn’t allowed to see him, ever.  My mother died hours after I was born, so she sees him just he can’t see her.”

“Isabella died?” Mary Ann asked stunned.

The tone of her voice indicated that she had cared about my mom, that she didn’t know she had died at all. This was weird because Grant indicated that he had read my file about David, it should have been there.

“Yes.”

Eliza just sat there. “But, Dad is still alive right?”

“Yes. David is in a federal prison in Georgia. You know to be an FBI agent you really don’t know much about what happened. Surely you can access those records because you work for the FBI.”

Zac laid his hand on my leg, squeezed lightly.

“Unfortunately your case was sealed and only very high ranking agents can view it. All I know is that someone stalked you for a long period of time and they ended up kidnapping you. I seen some details on the news and Grant told me very little.”

I was positive my bullshit meter was skyrocketing at this point because Grant had read it and yet he hadn’t told her much about the case? Not about David, not Mom, nothing? But, it was a possibility that she didn’t know anything about what happened, yet I didn’t feel comfortable telling her the details. I still didn’t believe this was real; she was surely some imposter trying to weasel her way into our lives.

“So you claim to have some kind of proof about this. What is it?”

“But...”

“Eliza dear, its ok.” she said.

Mary Ann adjusted and looked at me. “You don’t appear to be taking this so easily as we thought you would. Did Mr. Daniels never tell you about Eliza?”

“If he knew, he never told me and I am pretty sure he would have.”

Yep, that would have been a good guilt trip because he could have blamed me for her not being around, could have used that to make me feel even worse about my life. It was clear that David didn’t know about her because he never once used her against me.

“I see. Gene and I couldn’t have children; I had to do a hysterectomy when I was very young because of cancer. Isabella knew us through some friends at a market she frequented; they were friends of ours and spoke about us wanting kids. She found us when she was about five months, it was February. She said that her and her husband had just gotten married and they weren’t in a financial position to care for two. She said this was her first pregnancy and she was afraid.”

Zac looked at me totally dumbfounded because I was the last of her kids; I had five older brothers confirmed by DNA testing! But, she took a sip of her water, clearly not done.

“After the initial meeting we met with her and her brother, Aaron a very nice young man. We drew the papers up in March and by April they were all filled out, signed, sealed, and done. All we had to do was wait for you two to be born. We never met David; she said he was a painfully shy man who didn’t want to see us. Yet, he had signed the papers for the adoption.”

Again, she paused to sip the glass of water in front of her.

“Isabella called us when her water broke and we met her at the hospital. She was a little early, which we expected being her first and twins. Eliza was born at 6:25 but her breathing was labored and the doctors feared her lungs weren’t fully developed. So, they took her out and I and Gene went with her knowing Isabella was in good hands.”

“Eliza was fine it was just a little fluid but when we tried to return to the room a man stopped us and said we couldn’t go back because her husband had forbidden anyone that wasn’t a doctor or nurse from entering the room. We assumed it was because he was so shy.” Gene said.

No, that was just David controlling her and the things around her. He was never a shy man, so that made no sense to me.

“We stayed with Eliza but one of the nurses that was in the room found us and said that you were born at 8:30 and you were breech it was why it took so long. She had a photo of you but said that the father wasn’t letting anyone else around the baby. He was being very protective. She handed us a letter from Isabella that told us she promised us a child and she wanted us to take Eliza, she’d even amended the adoption papers. By all purposes Eliza was ours. She did say David wouldn’t allow you to go, she never fully explained why.”

“The last time we saw Isabella was about 9:45 that night, we were called back and she handed us a letter to give to you when Eliza and you were reconnected. She named you both and we kept her name.” Gene said

I did pick up on the letter he mentioned but there was a question I wanted to ask first.

“You never questioned why a mother would separate twins?” I asked.

They exchanged looks and she looked at me. “No. Honestly, we both should have. But we’d wanted a baby for three years and here we had this perfect little girl that was ours. We didn’t think about it, we just did what she asked. We did question it after a year because we wondered about you. By that point though there was nothing we could do.”

She got something from her purse and extended it to me. “The letter she gave us to give to you. She wanted me to keep it safe and if you found each other to make sure you got it. Apparently, she understood separating you was going to be bad.”

She sure should have, since she already had a set of twins! I accepted the envelope and opened it, Eliza did look a little strange which means she didn’t know about this letter. Inside were two sonogram pictures and I looked at them first, both had her name, both clearly showed the due date to be 1983 and both were indicating twin girls. I swallowed as they were legit sonogram pictures which meant everyone that I had seen was probably a single one. I laid them beside me and opened the letter.

My dearest Emily,

    If you are reading this letter then Mary Ann and Gene have somehow connected you with Eliza Marie. I pray that you both are safe and that you can reconnect in time. My intention was to not even call your father, but he apparently had spies and showed up before I was able to deliver you, he didn’t know I was having twins and I will not tell him about Eliza because I know he will demand she be brought back. I promised Mary Ann a child and I gave her that, I just wished it were under different circumstances and that she could have taken both of you.

I promise Emily that I will tell you about Eliza when you are old enough and I will help you find her when you’re old enough. I know you will be like me, stubborn and hard headed, I could tell when you seemed to refuse to come out of the comfort of the womb. I love you and I love Eliza, but I just can’t subject you both to him, I can’t protect two of you at once and this way I can.

Love Always

Mom

I folded it after reading it twice, it was clear that Mom didn’t know he was going to kill her and that she wouldn’t be there to protect me from him, no one would ever be there to protect me from him. She wouldn’t be there to protect me or my brothers from anyone. I could feel a slight tremble, I heard Zac say my name but I felt hot and just remembering how he was toward us was bad enough. I started to get up and I guess I got up too quick because there was a sudden wave of dizziness and that caused my stomach to do flip flops.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

He was quick to help me to the bathroom where sure enough, lunch came back up. But, he’d had the foresight to pick up the letter and while I drank water and tried to settle the images and the problems down he read it.

He kneeled down and moved the hair from my face. “You always told me you wish you had a sister, you do and she’s a twin.”

“She’s not my sister.”

“Ems...” he pleaded.

“I’m thirty Zac; I’m comfortable where my life is. I don’t need anyone else, I don’t need some upbeat sunshine and roses bitch trying to be all goody-two-shoes to me.”

“Emily, come on she’s curious about her family too.”

“You just don’t understand.”

I got up and walked back to the front. “Sorry, lunch didn’t agree.”

“It’s ok.” Gene said.

“What did the letter say?” Eliza asked.

I sat down on the end of the sofa closest to her. “Basically admitted that she separate twin girls, I guess when David told me she had many secrets he didn’t fucking lie.”

Mary Ann and Gene both sat up a bit, I was sure the anger was present in my tone and physical appearance. I couldn’t quite contain it and at this moment everything seemed so mixed up, it felt like when I found out he wasn’t even my father, when Ace stepped up. Nothing made sense but at the time it wasn’t anger that instantly came it was usually just confusion.

“Then you admit we’re twins? Isn’t that great? I wanted a sister and I have you.”

“I wanted a lot of things and I didn’t get them, we don’t always get what we want Eliza. What I want is for you to stop pussyfooting around calling me ten times a day to chat and figure out who Ian is. So, I can take my son to the park and not fear this man will blow his head off in front of me. What I want is for you to do your fucking job and find him. It’s been 10 days since you picked up those fucking snow globes, yet you’ve called 40 times and didn’t even mention them.”

She wasn’t looking so happy anymore. Couldn’t say I would blame her.

“Thirty years I was content to not have a sister, I have several sister in laws now and I am content. What I want more than anything is to have Ian behind bars or dead.”

“Emily.” Zac said.

I got up. “I have to get back to work, the next fucking time you call me it better be related to the case, to give me news on what you’re doing to stop Ian.”

I got as far as the door before she yet again yanked me around and it was an instant reaction I didn’t even realize it’d happened until it was over. She was holding the side of her face and my entire right hand was burning. Everything crashed at that moment, I just couldn’t stop myself.

“You want to know what happen to our mother. David killed her. He hit her so fucking hard she hemorrhaged after having us, and then he blamed me for it. He killed her because she had me, because she had a girl. You want to know where that fucking jackass is right now? He’s serving life in jail for trafficking and for kidnapping me and for raping me. I should have fucking killed him when I had the chance and if I had known that bastard had caused me to miscarry I would have. I fucking repeat, the next time you call me better be to tell me something about Ian.”

I’d practically screamed most of it and I then just left. I walked alone to the studio, Zac would have to let them out and lock up. I about dared Ian to approach me now, I’d probably strangle him bare handed. I punched the code in and by passed the offices, it was quite and dark so Alexander was probably still asleep.

“Emily?” Isaac asked.

All I had to do was look at him and he backed out of my way, Taylor did the same thing on the stairs and when I entered the studio Robert tried to talk to me but Casey pulled him back, I’m sure he told him to stop but when I sat down at the stool at the drums he was right there in front of me and Casey looked terrified.

“Where is that…”

“It’s advisable you follow Casey before I really do something we both regret Robert.”

Casey got his hand. “Honey, I think it’s best to let her be. She’s apparently not in the mood to chit chat.”

He didn’t move but the first symbol hit caused him to scatter quickly. However, Casey stood close by until Zac came in, and then he left. Zac pulled up a stool and sat a few feet away and he didn’t move for the hour that I totally tortured his drum set for. By that point Taylor, Isaac, and Casey were waiting. When I felt like I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I laid the drum sticks down.

“Is my snare ok? You punished it pretty hard.” Zac said.

“It’s fine, the drumsticks however are toast.”

“I see.”

“So, you wanna tell us why you just killed his drum set?” Taylor asked.

I looked at Casey. “Who is with our son?”

“Robert, because he doesn’t know where you went or why, given Taylor and Isaac’s confusion I’ll assume they don’t either.”

“Good assumption.” Zac said.

I looked at Taylor. “Apparently, I have six siblings and not five.”

“Six? You have another brother?”

“No. I apparently have a twin sister that I’ve never known about. One that thinks the world is sunshine and roses.”

“Is that where you two went?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, I agreed to meet her and she brought Mom and Dad with her.”

I saw Casey sharply look at me; perhaps he was connecting dots faster than the others were.

Isaac smiled at me. “Emily it’s not her fault she wasn’t there.”

“Not my fault she waited thirty fucking years to find me. Not my fault she didn’t know David killed our mother. Not my fault she hasn’t got a fucking clue to anything. Did I mention she’s an FBI agent and she’s handling the case? It so totally fucking explains why she wouldn’t meet with us when we asked, why she insisted it be phone or e-mail.”

“You want to tell them about the red hand print you left?” Zac asked.

“She deserved much more than that; I really don’t care if she presses charges either. Let her fucking try because I’d be glad to bury her ass under paperwork for the next thirty years.”

“Guys, calm down some. Emily you don’t need to increase your blood pressure anymore, your face is already crimson red. Can you take us through what’s been going on?” Taylor asked.

I left that to Zac who explained when she came to the house, what she’s done since and then a brief description of today.

“Emily did David or anyone give you any indication that she existed?” Isaac asked.

“No. David would have used her, odds are he would have told me I was the reason she was dead, that I’d done something. Ace never mentioned meeting them, let along knowing she was having two. Nothing gave me any indication until she showed up.”

“The sonogram pictures and letter, are you sure there from your mother?”

“Yes. The sonogram has her name and it’s the same office and type as the ones I’ve seen of me only it clearly indicates there are two. The letter is adorned with butterflies and the handwriting matches what I’ve seen in her diaries and other written papers. The envelope wasn’t opened or resealed it was taped shut.”

“So you at least admit that the odds are she is your sister?” Taylor asked.

“She’s not my sister. I know my sister’s, Natalie, Nikki, Jessica, Avery, Zoe, Christina, Nadine, and Sophia are my sisters. It doesn’t matter right now because you all need to have me move so you can practice and be ready and I need to get busy too.”

“Are you calm enough for that?” Zac asked.

“As long as she doesn’t call asking to be buddies again I’ll be fine.”

I got up and left the studio went to the office where Robert was finishing up changing Alexander and as soon as I came into the room my phone rang and it was her, I sent it to voicemail.

“What were you going to ask me?”

“There was a book I was hunting, Casey found it for me.”

“Ok. Sorry, but it’s not your fault and you did nothing but if I come in like that again, just back away.”

“Noted, are you ok?”

“I’ll be fine, did he just wake up?”

“About ten minutes ago.”

I nodded and he left, I gave Alexander his mid-afternoon snack and found apple slices for myself since lunch hadn’t stayed down. I then got toys out for him and tried to work but she kept calling and calling, never leaving a message. About 4 I finally answered.

“If this doesn’t have anything to do with Ian I am hanging up and then I am calling your boss.”

“Can you let me in?”

“No. Go do your job Eliza.”

“Quite being stubborn Emily.”

I took a deep breath looked at my son playing, a reminder to not get pissed off.

“I am busy; I have to get stuff done before we can leave. I don’t have time to deal with anything right now.”

“At least acknowledge it.”

“I don’t have too because you haven’t been around in thirty years. I have to go.”

I hung-up and turned the volume down, I just couldn’t process it, I couldn’t deal with it. I couldn’t contain the feelings and she just didn’t understand that. Zac was done long before I was, but he stayed and kept Alexander occupied so I could.

“Do you feel ok?”

“She didn’t stop calling.”

“I told her not to call you that when you were ready, if you ever were that you’d call her.”

“She’s probably outside waiting and I just…”

“If she is ignore her Emily, Taylor was right you don’t need to be this upset right now.”

I sighed and we got ready, I took Alexander because truthfully if she was outside waiting, I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from hitting her again and doing a lot more than a silly slap to the face. But, she herself wasn’t outside. I put Alexander in his car seat and then got in myself. We dropped by McDonald’s on the way home because neither of us felt like cooking and it was already after dinner time.

She called as soon as we got home, but Zac answered, listened, and then told her to back off and if she wanted to do something she could find Ian. She was an FBI agent; she shouldn’t need this much of a reminder!  We got settled and by ten all of us were in bed and asleep.