by Kylie Walker
“Samantha,” Chloe said, softly. The poor woman looked like she was about to explode. “It’s all lovely. Thank you. Maybe we should just open the envelope now so that you all of us don’t have to spend too much more time thinking about it.”
Samantha sucked a deep breath in and then held a trembling hand out to Chloe. Chloe took it and Samantha said, “I think that’s the best idea that I’ve heard in a long time.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
They decided after talking to Trevor and Derek to wait until after lunch was over to open the envelope. Trevor had already put the meat on the grill and everything else was ready. Chloe and Derek helped put the salads that Samantha had made out on the table and by the time the table was set, the meat was ready.
Samantha was an excellent cook. Trevor told them that Samantha had made the hamburger patties with her “special” recipe. Chloe had never had a simple hamburger that tasted so good. She hadn’t even known she was hungry because the anxiety had been gnawing away at her guts for so long. Then again, maybe it was just the company that made it all taste so good.
Chloe knew that Samantha and Trevor had to be feeling the same anxiety as she was or worse. Yet they kept the conversation light and amiable throughout the meal, talking about a gala that they’d taken part in planning and simple things like the weather. It was relaxing and pleasant, yet the elephant in the room still stared her in the face as she did her best to enjoy it. She had thought and worried about this for weeks now and she had decided that she was ready to know so that her mind could begin dealing with it one way or the other. She was at a point in her life where she’d finally decided that she wasn’t going to run from any of it any longer. She deserved to have a life and she was more than ready.
After lunch, she and Derek insisted on cleaning up. They were in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher and Derek asked her, “Are you doing okay?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m doing good. I’m still nervous, but I think that’s probably normal in an abnormal kind of situation like this. I’m ready to find out.”
Derek put his arms around her from behind and bent down to bury his face in her hair. Chloe had her arms on top of his and as she felt him nip at her neck, she moaned softly and leaned back into him. He growled and spun her around, slamming his lips down against hers. For a few seconds, she forgot where they were. Hell, she even forgot who they were. The only thing that she knew at that very second was that this man made her feel things that she never even knew existed.
She felt him slide up the edge of her shirt and place his hands on her warm ribcage and that was when reality sat in.
“Um…Derek,” she said, pulling back from the kiss. Her voice was breathless and raspy. “I don’t think we should be doing this here.”
He silenced her words with his mouth. Chloe made another desperate little moaning noise and tilted her head so that his tongue could delve deeper. She felt his hand sliding up higher under her shirt. Reluctantly and almost painfully, she broke the kiss again and pushed against his chest with one hand.
“Stop, you’re killing me here.”
Derek flashed her one of his signature grins and took his hands out of her shirt. He brushed his fingers softly along the side of her face and said, “I’m sorry, I’ll be good. You just make it so damned hard.”
She giggled. “I was washing dishes.”
“And looking so fine doing it,” he said.
“Later?”
“You can bet on it. That door between our rooms better be wide open tonight, or I might have to break it down.”
She reached up on her toes and kissed his soft, full lips one more time. She drew strength from him.
“Let’s go do this,” she said.
He nodded and took hold of her hand. They found Trevor and Samantha on the porch. It was still a gorgeous day and the back of the house overlooked the rolling green hills and made it that much better. Chloe loved the way it smelled out here too; everything smelled clean and fresh and new.
She took a seat at the patio table and Derek took the one next to her. Without saying a word, Trevor handed her the envelope. She stared at the front of it for several seconds. It was addressed to the Whitemore’s and the return address said, “Albany Geno-Tech Lab.”
With a resigned sigh, she turned it over and pulled it open. She took out the letter contained inside. Her eyes scanned the multi-colored report in her hands. It listed all three of their information at the top and underneath that was a graph with multiple columns. The first row at the top listed Trevor as the “alleged” father and stated his date of birth and where the sample was taken from. The next column was hers; she was the “alleged” child. In the third column was Samantha’s information. The lab guy had told them when he took the samples that this was called an ‘inclusion’ report because the samples were compared with both parents. The other type where only the father and ‘alleged’ child are sampled is known as an ‘exclusion’ report. The column along the left side had a lot of words in it like, STR locus and a lot of ‘Allele’s.’ Chloe assumed it all had to do with genetics. She was stalling and she could feel everyone at the tables eye’s on her as she let hers slide to the bottom of the paper.
In the bottom column it said: Statistical results and then Combined Direct Index: 267, 890 and next to that it said: Probability = 99.9999440623%.
Trevor and Samantha Whitemore were her parents.
As ready as she thought she was that sudden fact stole her breath and the heat from her skin. She was suddenly cold and shaking. Her defenses were as thick as the paper she’d just dropped to the table.
Derek didn’t ask any questions. He just moved his chair so that he was facing hers and pulled her into his chest. She melted into him feeling his firm torso as he folded his hands around her back and pulled her in closer. She had to suck in a deep breath of air; her lungs were suddenly burning for it. As he held her, she cried and her body shook.
She was crying for the missed time that she would never get back with her parents and she was crying for the sister she never knew and she was crying for that scared, abused little girl who thought for so long that she’d been thrown away because no one wanted her. She’d placed so much of her self-worth on that, listening to her “father” tell her that he’d taken her in because her real parents had found her to be “revolting.” He would tell her these things as he put his disgusting hands all over her, pounding her self-esteem down as sure as if he’d used a sledge hammer to do it. Now she had proof that he was not only a disgusting pedophile, but he was a disgusting liar and child stealer to boot.
Trevor and Samantha wanted her. They grieved for her for twenty-four years. No longer would she be that abandoned child who bled out emotionally each time she saw a family in the park or at the zoo…loving each other and enjoying life. That wound had been cut open her entire life and now it could heal. No longer would she be at the mercy of the likes of Jesse— someone who could prey easily on her because she was wounded. She hadn’t realized that even with all she’d done to become a stronger person and even with all of her willingness to face Jesse when the time came and finally put an end to this…until just now, that wound made in childhood had still been bleeding.
She finally pulled her head up and looked at her parents. She had parents who wanted her. She had a family. The warmth of that washed over her as she looked at them and they waited. As anxious as they were to know, not a single person had reached for the letter or quizzed her in any way. She had the feeling that if she chose to sit there silently for hours, they would have all let her.
She let her smile find its way through her tears and she reached for the letter. Holding it out towards Trevor and Samantha she said, “It’s true. I am Sarah’s twin. I’m your child.”
Samantha reached out with a trembling hand and took the paper. She didn’t look at it, not even a glance. She handed it to her husband and then she stood up and went to Chloe and she took her daughter in her arms.
; Chloe, at last, knew, twenty-four years later, what it felt like to be in the arms of her mother. She could feel the warmth and the love radiating from this woman’s heart as they held each other and cried. Derek and Trevor continued to sit silently and let the mother and daughter have their moment.
When Samantha was able to release her daughter, at last, she took both sides of Chloe’s face in her hands and said, “I have always loved you. Part of my heart has always belonged to you. Part of me has always been missing until the moment that Derek walked in here with you the last time. I knew then that you were ours. My heart knew. A mother loves her child alive or dead and would move heaven and earth for them if she had the power. That day, the day I thought you died, I would have gladly given my own life if I knew that it would give you back yours.”
Chloe was crying so hard that she could barely see Samantha’s face through the hot burn of the tears. Samantha kissed her cheeks and released her and moved back. That was when Chloe realized Trevor was there. He was standing back just a little bit, unsure she thought of how much she was ready to take. She stood up and he came to her then and she was enveloped in the strong arms of her father.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m so sorry we didn’t get to be there for you.”
Chloe had her head against his chest and she was shaking it. “Don’t apologize. None of this was your fault. I’m so sorry for your pain.” She felt his hand go up and brush her hair. He kissed the top of her head and said, “We have always loved you.”
When Chloe was a little girl and her “sister” Daphne derived her own sick pleasure by telling her, she was adopted and then reminding her each chance she got. Chloe would dream of this moment. She’d imagine her real parents finding her and telling her it had all been a horrible mistake. Then her daddy would pick her up and hold her in the way that daddies were supposed to hold their little girls. She would feel safe and loved at last. That was how she felt now in Trevor’s arms like nothing could ever hurt her again.
Trevor finally released her, reluctantly. She looked at Derek who was watching them with tears in his eyes. She reached out for his hand and he took hers and squeezed it. She felt happy, but at the same time she was overwhelmed and feeling like she could hardly breathe. She looked at her parents, delighting in the fact that she could call them that, and she said, “I’m so glad that Derek brought me to you,” she squeezed his hand and said, “I will be grateful to him for that forever. I want you both to know that I’m so happy it turned out this way, but I just need a minute to wrap my head around all of this and catch my breath.”
Samantha was nodding. “Of course you do,” she said. “Whatever you need Chloe.”
“Maybe a walk,” she said. “Would that be alright if I just took a walk around the grounds?”
Samantha smiled and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “You can walk wherever you want,” she said.
Trevor laughed and said, “There she goes, spoiling her already.”
Chloe smiled and looked at Derek. “Do you mind?”
He reached up and put his hand on her face and said, “Like your mother said, whatever you need.” He pulled her face down and put his lips to hers softly and then he let her go.
“Thank you,” she whispered to him. Then she looked at her parents who were holding onto each other now and said, “Thank you all. I’ll be back soon.”
They nodded and as she walked away, she saw them clutch onto each other tightly and she heard Samantha begin crying again. From here on out, everyone’s lives were going to be different in a good way for a change.
**
Jesse sat in his spot on the little grassy hill with his binoculars and watched the house. Who were these people to her? They’re Stark’s in-laws, so his attachment made sense, but Kelly’s confused him. He watched them sitting at the table while Kelly held an envelope in her hand. She eventually opened it and then suddenly everyone was wracked with emotion. After they’d all finished hugging and kissing and crying, Kelly had left alone, walking out through the pasture behind the property.
Once again, he was tempted to take her right there. He let the binoculars focus on her for a few seconds. She was crying. Still, he could see the tears slide down her face as she walked. “Good,” he said out loud to the hillside he sat on. “I hope the bitch is miserable.”
He moved his attention back to the people on the patio. Derek Stark was sitting there watching after Kelly as she walked away and the two older people sat holding each other and the woman was still crying. There was something familiar about her. Jesse felt like he had seen her before…or he knew her from somewhere. He couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe it was just from what he had seen online when he had researched who they were. He switched his focus back to Kelly and watched her walk further away from the house. He wanted to grab her so badly that it was almost a physical ache in his chest.
He had to take some long, deep breaths and remind himself that being patient was going to make it so much better in the long run. He had to be patient. When the time came, the reunion would be that much sweeter, and he would have everything set up so that there would be no way they could blame her disappearance on him. He would leave no trace and all that would be left of her would be the sweet memory of the realization in her eyes that she was going to die, right before he killed her.
He looked back at the patio again. Stark still hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. He was going to be a problem unless Jesse did something about him first. A plan was beginning to formulate in his head. Part of his plan to not get caught was to eliminate the obstacles that stood between him and what he wanted.
Derek Stark had to go.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Chloe walked along the cobbled stone path in the back yard, past the peaceful little pond filled with colorful koi and the flowers lay out around it like a vivid, multi-colored carpet. She let herself out the wrought iron gate and followed along the dirt trail that led towards the meadows and the green hills. It was so peaceful here. There was no traffic noise and it even lacked the noise of the ocean. She loved living on the beach, but sometimes the amount of people it drew and the noise of the birds and water crashing against the rocks could be distracting. Here, there was nothing but nature and it felt like she could truly be alone with her thoughts.
At the end of the dirt trail, she came to an empty shallow ditch and looked across at the meadow on the other side. The grass was thick and lush there and way off in the distance she could see a couple of tan horses with dark brown manes grazing in the dense tussocks. There was one lone oak tree that stood in the center of it, possibly to provide shady respite for the horses in the late afternoon. She carefully made her way down the small incline into the ditch and up the other side. She was drawn to the tree and the cool shade that it could offer.
She lowered herself into a thick carpet of grass and with her back to the tree she sat and breathed in the fragrant air and like an old movie playing in her head, her thoughts ran back over the course of the past few months. As she watched it all play out, she couldn’t help but wonder how different things would be if Derek had never found her. Would she still be dancing on that pole every night, living in fear of Jesse showing up until she allowed it to consume her every thought and dictate her every move? It was very likely.
Since Derek found her, everything had changed. She had learned to trust something she’d never really had. She learned that not all men were bad. The men that were her examples in life, Jesse and her “father” should have been the ones to protect her and make her feel safe. Just those few seconds in Trevor’s’ arms convinced her that was what a real father was supposed to feel like.
The time she’d been with Derek had shown her what a real relationship was supposed to be about and how a real man was supposed to treat a woman. Derek was loving and kind and supportive and she had reason to believe, judging from his relationship with his in-laws that he wasn’t going to change. This was who he was and she
knew that she was lucky to have him in her life.
She learned so much over the past year. She knew now, thanks to Max that when anxiety and fear grab you by the throat and begin to squeeze. Don’t panic, use it to become stronger. The past made her stronger. She can see the scars now as reminders of what she can survive. She knows now in her heart that she’s not going to let any of it take her down. She’s a good person and for the first time in her life, she has good people in her corner. She had been telling herself for almost two years that she deserves to be happy and she deserves a life not fraught with hatefulness and fear. She was finally coming around to believing it. Fear was only going to hold her back and stop her from reaching her goals. Besides, fear was what Jesse wanted from her. He fed off of it, and she refused to feed the monster any longer.
She looked around her at the wide open spaces and in her head, she called out to Jesse, “Bring it on, I’m ready for you.”
**
When Chloe got back to the house an hour later, she could see the relief in both Derek and her parent’s eyes. None of them would say it out loud, but she could see that they had all worried she would take off— that this would all be too much pressure.
“The grounds are beautiful,” she told them. “I sat and watched the horses for a while.”
“Do you ride?” Trevor asked her.
“No, I’ve never been on a horse,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind trying it someday.”
“Anytime you’re ready,” Derek said, “I’ll take you for a ride. You can ride with me, or you can ride Rocket.”
“Rocket?”
“He’s our gentle horse,” Samantha said. “He’s the best horse to learn on because he’s so calm.”
“That sounds like fun,” she said, “I might take you up on it.”
She sat down at the table and there were a few moments of awkward silence before Samantha finally spoke.