In less time than normal, Valentina turned into the entrance of the Stel residence, impatient with the wait for the gates to open enough for her car to pass through. She had remained vigilant during the drive over, always checking her mirrors to see if anyone had followed them. If anyone had, they would have been very stealthy or used numerous cars since Valentina had not seen anything suspicious. Of course, she was probably being overly cautious, but her sense of imminent danger was heightened almost to the point of paranoia.
Coming to an abrupt stop at the front entrance, Valentina cut the engine and pulled the keys from the ignition. Not bothering to wait for Jon to join her, she rushed to the main door and knocked several times loudly. Until that moment, it had not occurred to her that they might not be home. As the seconds drew out, she felt her anxiety mount to a new level. When the door began to open, Valentina almost cried out with relief.
“I’m so glad you’re home!”
Chapter Fifteen
“VAL, THIS IS a surprise. What’s wrong?” Amanda asked swiftly as she saw how tense Valentina looked.
“Can we come inside to talk? I don’t trust anywhere anymore.” She pursed her lips, silently begging Amanda with her eyes to let them inside without any further conversation.
“Of course! Yes, come inside. Hi, Jon.” She nodded to each of them as they filed past her into the foyer and through to the living room. Jon shrugged his shoulders as he passed, letting Amanda know he was just as in the dark as she regarding their visit. This did nothing to inspire any confidence in her as she shut the door to bring up the rear of the group as they took seats in the living room.
“Who else is here?” Valentina asked Amanda.
“The girls and myself. Riccan should be back shortly. Why?”
“Can you call the girls in here as soon as possible?”
“Sure.” Amanda turned and yelled back toward the foyer, “Girls! Please come downstairs!” She returned her gaze to Valentina and said, “That should get them down here shortly. Can I get any of you anything to eat or drink while we’re waiting?”
The pair shook their heads.
Amanda sat across from Valentina to wait. Luckily, the tone of Amanda’s voice was such that the twins hurried to see what was wrong. She watched as they each entered the foyer and took notice of their unexpected guests. As soon as they were all assembled, Amanda gestured for Valentina to take the lead.
“I’m sorry to come over here unannounced; however, I learned something today which affects us all.”
Noises from the kitchen interrupted, causing them all to turn and see Riccan coming in from the garage. He tossed his remote onto the countertop and turned only to be surprised to see a house full of people. “What’s going on?”
Amanda jumped up and went to him, “You’re just in time. Val wanted to talk with all of us. Come, sit.” They settled in the chair, where Amanda nodded their readiness to listen.
“What is it?” Juila asked impatiently, leaning forward eagerly.
“Mom, I mean Zoey, was the one who contacted Dr. Gascon. She was the one who arranged for Vinia to be kidnapped and taken to New York. Since Behn has decided to leave because of…” she gestured to Juila helplessly and left the rest unsaid. “Anyway, Mom was furious and threatened to call the police on Vinia. She’s furious with Vinia for interfering with her family, which is the only reason she said anything about Dr. Gascon in the first place.”
“Okay, so now we know the connection between Vinia and Dr. Gascon. That’s good news, don’t you think?” Riccan asked.
“It would seem so, except for one small detail.”
“Which is?” Riccan prompted.
“Dr. Gascon knows where we live and quite possibly that we’re Vinia’s children. Don’t you think he might try to round us up to study as well? Who knows what Mom said while she’d been held captive?” Valentina looked at each person in the room to emphasize her point. “I don’t think any of us are safe to remain here on Earth anymore. Maybe Behn’s the only one of us who’s safe at the moment since he’s in Tuala.”
“I think that might be assuming a bit much…” Amanda began before Riccan placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head lightly. “What is it, Riccan? Do you know anything else?”
“Actually, I do,” he answered, tipping his head down, gathering his thoughts before speaking. Slowly, he looked up to share what he knew in the quickest way possible. “When I went to get Vinia from the hospital, there were other people there who were also interested in Vinia. Dr. Gascon was blocking their entry into Vinia’s room, allowing me enough time to go in and rescue her before they got to her.”
“What? How come you didn’t say anything before?” Amanda demanded.
“Who were they?” Juila asked at the same time as her mother’s question.
Riccan looked at both of them, deciding to come clean at last. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want any of you to worry.” He nodded toward Valentina, adding, “Your suspicion that we might be in trouble is valid. If it were just Dr. Gascon involved, then I’d be able to handle it. However, now that AFOSI is involved, this just got a lot more complicated.”
“AFOSI? What’s that?” Amanda asked.
“It stands for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. When I returned home after taking Vinia to Tuala, I did some research on them. Typically they perform investigations outside of the traditional Air Force chain of command, usually on UFO sightings. I’m not sure why they were called in on this, but now we have a government entity who’s interested in whatever Dr. Gascon discovered. Does anyone have any ideas of what it might have been?”
Seeing everyone’s looks of dismay and worry, Riccan added, “Maybe we should go see Vinia and ask her what, if anything, she remembers.” He looked around to count the people in the room and added, “We have just enough seats to accommodate everyone.” Riccan slapped his hands onto his thighs as he stood from the arm of the couch and asked, “Are you all in?”
“Sure,” Jon said eagerly. Mostly he wanted to check up on Behn since his brother had been so despondent when he had last seen him at school a few hours earlier.
“Great! Let’s go,” Riccan announced, leading the way toward the kitchen to grab his telepod remote. His research on AFOSI had not given him much comfort given their history with investigations. They were not known for their tact with the public, and he did fear for his family’s safety as long as he remained ignorant of what they might know about the Tualan people living on Earth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vinia’s heart physically hurt; she held her hand to her chest as she tried to come up with another way to explain the situation. Her choices were terrible: either she let her son’s heart break in thinking his girlfriend was his first cousin, or she tells him the truth about his birth and let him know his whole life had been a lie. No matter which way she put it, she knew Behn would never forgive her for keeping this secret from him.
Even though her son had spent half of his life away from her, she still could see his spirit was broken by the revelation of her own relationship with Amanda. They were twin sisters, something she still found hard to believe. The idea that they had both time-traveled was the only explanation they were ever going to get. She still had no idea why her parents had taken her in and why they had lied to her as well. Perhaps it was true they had never known the truth, even if she found it hard to believe a mother would not know her own child from the moment of birth.
She looked out the window and watched Behn sitting disconsolately on the porch. He had refused to go back to Earth. He had said it was too hard for him to be near Juila, knowing he could not be with her. His dejection finally made her decide to tell him the truth.
“Behn, can you come inside? I have something I want to tell you.”
Behn pulled himself up from the chair as though the weight of the world were on his shoulders. His feet shuffled along as he responded without enthusiasm. His entire existence was broken, and there
was no way out in sight. No amount of conversation was going to fix his unique problem. He sat at the dining table, where they always had discussion times.
“I need to tell you a story,” Vinia began. “Before you were born, when I was pregnant, I had been in an accident, and my head injury caused me to lose my memory for a few mesans.”
Behn’s interest was piqued since he had never heard this particular story before.
Vinia could tell she had his attention and continued, “I was held captive by Petre MacVeen. During my incapacitation, Petre took advantage of me. I believe that was when I got pregnant.”
“Are you saying you were raped? You got pregnant with us from being raped?” Behn asked angrily. “Why are you telling me this now?”
“Let me continue, please. So I escaped from his captivity, and then I found out I was pregnant. I tried to convince myself that my fiancé and I had been intimate, but I couldn’t find him to confirm or deny it. Anyway, I was afraid for my life because Petre was looking for me. He was telling everyone that I was his wife. Barla and Captain Ahn took me in until after I delivered.”
She paused for a moment and took another breath before she got to the part which was certain to upset Behn. “Another pregnant woman was staying in the house and we both ended up delivering our babies within hours of one another. She refused to keep the baby since he would interfere with her line of work. Barla told her she would find him a good home and the woman left the house the same night. Before she left, she told Barla that the baby’s father was also Petre MacVeen.”
“So you’re saying we have a brother out there somewhere? What’s his name? Where is he?” Behn was fascinated despite his painful situation.
“No, Behn, he’s not out there somewhere. Barla brought the baby to me and asked if I would take the child in as my own. Since my twins were fathered by Petre and this boy was, as well, and they were all born on the same day, it was as if they were triplets. I agreed, and I’ve never regretted my decision.”
“So Jon, isn’t your son? Mom, how could you keep this from us? We wouldn’t have treated him any differently.” Behn recalled how sickly Jon had been all during their childhood anons. He was always different than himself and Valentina, it all made sense now.
“No, Behn, Jon is my son. It’s you who was born to Hashma. I took you as my own that night. Do you see what this means?”
He began breathing harder, almost hyperventilating with the suffocating anger rising inside him. “Yes, you lied to me my whole life!”
“But, Behn, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Don’t you see? You’re not related to Juila at all! You are free to be with the girl you love. I’ve loved you all of your life, and this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But I’d rather you hate me than live your life without the person you want to be with.”
Hope rekindled within him even as he felt another tear in his life as his mother turned out to not be his mother after all. He asked, “Where’s Hashma? Does she know about me? Has she kept in touch with you?”
“No, she never knew where Barla placed you.”
“But you know where I can find her, don’t you?” Behn persisted.
“Behn, please don’t do this. Please leave this alone. You know the truth, isn’t that enough?” Vinia desperately pled with him to stop seeking information about his birth-mother.
“I. Want. To. Know!” He enunciated carefully and forcefully.
Sighing with resignation, Vinia answered, “She lives at the Lookout Tavern in Ishal.”
Behn’s expression became confused, “She lives at a tavern? Does she work there?”
“Yes. Behn, your mother was a prostitute! There, are you happy? Does that make you think any differently?” Vinia jumped up from the table and began pacing the floor while holding herself with her crossed arms. This was why she had never wanted to tell Behn the truth. The last thing she expected was to hear him begin laughing. She whirled around and asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Do you know how many times we got teased about you being a prostitute because you had three children and no husband? I lost count, and I always defended your honor. Just think, when they were taunting me, it was the truth and I just didn’t know it!”
“That’s not funny, Behn, please stop.” She saw the expression on his face had changed to a hard look, nothing at all like the carefree boy she had always known.
“Oh, it’s funny, all right. Terribly, terribly funny.” He chuckled several more times with a hard edge to it.
“I don’t understand, Behn. You’re not making any sense.”
“Okay, then let me spell it out for you. While you may have cleared your conscience by finally telling me the truth, there’s nothing I can do with it except live a lie. The lie you created, and I have to accept it as my own.”
“Why? You can go and be with Juila now!”
“Really? You think so? And just what do you think my brother and sister will say when they see us together? Will they accept the idea that I’m willing to have a relationship with my first-cousin and be disgusted with me the whole time? Or, better yet, should I tell them what you told me and let them know they’re also a product of rape so they can live with the shame of it?
“I imagine Elder Debbon will be thrilled to have his son married to a bastard, a daughter of the horrible Petre MacVeen who everyone hates. That will go over great, don’t you think?” He pushed the bench away from the table so fast that it turned over with a loud thump. Behn did not even flinch, but rather turned and left the house, slamming the door in his wake.
Vinia sat and began crying again. Rather than fixing the situation as she intended, she had made it a lot worse for everyone. How was she going to help any of her children when all she had ever done was lie to them?
Chapter Sixteen
FRAYA COULD HARDLY believe all that she had overheard from Vinia’s open cabin window. She had been passing by when she had heard Behn yelling in anger. Of course, she had to find out why he had been so quiet and withdrawn.
She ducked behind the corner of the cabin as Behn stomped out of the door. There had to be something she could do to help. Without giving it a second thought, she followed Behn.
Thinking he had probably gone into the woods, based on the trajectory of his path, she hastily stepped into the underbrush and pushed through until she got to the trail. Her instinct had been correct, and she arrived just ahead of where he was walking with this head down and his attention elsewhere.
It was a simple matter of standing still on the trail for him to run into her. Just as she had hoped, he grabbed her arm to balance them both. “I’m so sorry, Fraya. I didn’t see you. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine. Are you okay? You look pretty upset.” She stared up into his eyes, willing him to see her.
“My life is just a mess. It’s nothing for you to worry about, I’ll be fine. I just thought a walk would help clear my mind.”
“Do you mind if I walk with you?”
“Sure, but I doubt I’ll be very good company.”
“I don’t mind.” Fraya fell into step beside him, letting her hand brush against his as if it were accidental. She kept stealing sideways glances at him, appreciating his handsome features. She could still remember the strange little boy he used to be only an anon before, and her fascination with how he had aged made her speak out. “How is it that the three of you got so old so fast?”
“So fast?” Behn stammered, not following her question since he had been so deep in thought over his own issues.
“Yes, only last anon you were a little, annoying boy; then you came back here a full-grown man. Did living on Earth do that to you?”
Behn chuckled at her idea, realizing it would appear strange to the Roanoke people who kept themselves apart from everyone anyway and had no knowledge of the world outside their small beliefs. “No, it’s not quite that simple.” Nothing is, he thought to himself bitterly.
Seeing Behn
did not plan on saying more, Fraya pushed for an answer, “Try to help me understand.”
“When the three of us were sent to Earth, we did not have the luxury of using a sanctioned Gate. Mom…Vinia that is…didn’t know that she would be sending us back in time when she sent us away. It was an accident, I guess.”
Like the three of us were, he suddenly realized. It’s no wonder she didn’t have any trouble sending us away. She didn’t want us in the first place, she said as much when she admitted to being raped. His thoughts turned darker by the second, making it hard for him to even see the trail ahead of him and causing him to stop walking.
Hearing him referring to his mother as Vinia made her decide to confess, “I heard what Vinia told you. I promise you I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, I just happened to be walking by. Behn,” she touched his arm to get him to look at her, “it doesn’t matter to me. I still think of you as the same person.”
“I’m glad one of us can,” he said rudely, pulling his arm out of her grasp, and stalking his way down the trail. Great, now the whole town will know, he thought bitterly. It’s not bad enough that Vinia had to tell me, but now our shame will be public knowledge. Could this day get any worse?
Fraya ran after him, grabbing his arm to get him to slow down. “I won’t tell anyone, Behn. I promise.”
His anger came to a full head as he rounded on her, “Why? Why wouldn’t you share it with everyone? You didn’t have any problem taunting me, Valentina, and Jon when we were little. You called us all kinds of names…as well as our mom. Now you can humiliate all of us, maybe even take away my mom’s new authority here. You could have it all, Fraya, the ultimate revenge against the strange ‘outsider’ family!”
“I’m really sorry about what we did so long ago. I know you probably won’t believe me, but it was Grobin’s idea to call you names. He rewarded us kids for taunting you…well for taunting you and Jon actually. Grobin was really mad when he found out Valentina had left as well. I always kind of liked you, Behn.”
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