"What in the world? Can any of this get any weirder?" I ask.
"Well, he's at Louisiana state prison serving out his sentence." Lucy explains clicking her mouse around searching for any more information.
"How does someone do that? Why is his name in a lock box in my mother's house?"
Lucy shrugs her shoulders at me with a confused look on her face, "Got me, but this does just keep getting more interesting."
I call Emma and tell her what Lucy has just found. Not surprising she has the same reaction as me. She is busy helping her mother finish up with her packing so she tells me she will call me later. I wander outside to see how the progress in the backyard is going. With all the rain yesterday, they decided they couldn't mow. Luke wanted to walk the perimeter though to get a layout of the land. It is so massive that none of us really know how far back it goes. We know the stone wall goes for a ways, but not if it goes for the entire property.
Jeffrey was able to get a geographical map, but it is hard to tell what is all out there. On the map it looked as if there was possibly an old dirt road with what looked like a structure, making us all very curious as to what was behind all the overgrowth at the very back of the land.
When I step out onto the patio, I feel like my hair does an instant frizz. It is so humid and hot that when I don't see anyone in the first few minutes I go right back inside. Not wanting to be out in heat, I call Luke instead.
"You'll never believe what is back here." Luke reveals what he and Jacob had found, "There is a building back here. It almost looks like a small stone church."
"What's inside?"
"We can't get in. There's a tree that has grown close to the door and we need to cut it down. There are no windows. It's small though, about twice the size as one of the crypts."
"What about the wall? Is there a road?" I throw questions at him.
"The wall stops about a hundred yards before the stone building. If there was a road it is over grown now. It will be easier to tell when we can get the tractor back here to clear this stuff out. We're heading back now, the heat is getting to both of us. I think we are dehydrated and still a bit hung - over," Luke says.
When they get back to the house they are both drenched with sweat. Jacob still has a greenish hue to him and looks as though he is going to vomit at any second. He takes his ice tea and sits down almost downing the whole glass in one gulp.
"You know, Emma drank just as much as you guys and she's fine." I tease the two pathetic looking men sitting in front of me. I take their glasses and refill them.
"I'm not all that certain that Emma is human." Luke chuckles giving me a wink when I hand them back their glasses.
"She also didn't just walk eight miles in weeds taller than her in one hundred degree heat." Jacob grunts, definitely not in the teasing mood right now. "I'm going to go take a very cold shower then take a nap." He states walking out of the kitchen grumpily.
"Have you talked to your dad?"
"No, but Mom said he hasn't left the bed for more than five minutes."
"What about Sarah?"
"She texted me earlier, said she was sorry. I told her that she needed to be telling you that," Luke says getting up and coming around the counter to me. He has bits of grass and weeds stuck to him.
"Yeah, well I think we need to have a talk. I really don't like that she thought all of that about me so easily. She's going to be my sister-in-law and I want us to have a good relationship."
"You will, give it time. She is under a lot of stress with her internship. Give her some time," Luke says, putting his hand on my hip and giving it a squeeze. He furrows his brows and gives me one of his wicked grins. "Do you want to help me clean up?"
"If I help you I won't be able to keep my hands off you. Are you up for it?" I turn to walk out of the kitchen.
"Always, baby," Luke groans following me. I take off not wanting to get all dirty from him, but he catches me from behind. He lifts me carrying me up the stairs draped over his arm like a towel. I'm laughing hard while he man handles me into our bedroom.
"Now you've got me dirty." I slap his chest when he sets me down.
"I guess you'll just have to take a shower with me then." It takes him two seconds to lift my shirt over my head. Lifting me again so my feet are dangling and we are eye level, he carries me into the bathroom kissing me as if there is no tomorrow.
Chapter 29
That night I am curled up next to Luke on the couch watching a movie with Jacob and Lucy who are just as cozy in the overstuffed chair.
"I think I should go visit Dr. Piper." I blurt out in the middle of the movie. My mind is everywhere but on the movie we are watching.
"Why in the hell would you do that?" Luke says, pausing the movie.
"What he said," Jacob interjects.
"To find out what he knows. It can't hurt, can it?"
"I'm not too keen on the idea of you going to visit a man who got several women pregnant, only to sell his children," Luke grates.
"He's in prison, it's not like he can hurt me. Aren't you even just a little bit curious as to what he knows?" I sit up enough to glance at Luke, who doesn't look happy.
"You've already made up your mind, haven't you?"
I nod slowly.
"Fine, but only if you take Jacob or me," Luke orders.
"Well you can go with me, but I want to talk to him on my own."
"What? Why?" Jacob is brooding now. Lucy puts her hand on his chest to calm him down. He kisses the top of her head, relaxing into her.
"Because, I think that he is probably the type of guy that is not going to open up in front of an overprotective He-man. I think I will get more information on my own," I tell them. Luke sighs so heavily I can feel his chest rise under me, which means he knows I'm probably right, because there is no more arguing.
Lucy calls the prison the next day and finds out visiting days are on Mondays and Thursdays. She arranges for me to have a visit with Dr. Piper on Thursday. The couple of days leading up to it I'm a nervous wreck. I hide it though because if Luke or Jacob knew they would start to protest the idea again.
Luke drives me the two hours to the penitentiary. He wanted a break from all of the outside work. I don't know why he didn't hire more guys, but he said something about wanting to make sure that nothing that could be important would be destroyed. I think it's the provider in him. It's his way of taking care of me, at least that is what I guess it is.
He holds my hand as we walk up the sidewalk to the prison. It's huge, with guards in turrets with guns and tall fences with barbed wire at the top just like you see on TV.
Luke waits in a small room with vending machines and avocado green vinyl chairs. He hugs me tight telling me he will be right here when I am done. The officer takes me into a room with round plastic picnic - like tables. At each one sits a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit. Some are already sitting with their visitors while others are waiting patiently for theirs to come. The guard points to the man in the far corner telling me that he is Sheldon Piper.
As I walk toward him, I am taken aback. I don't know what I expected, but I don't expect what I see. He's a very distinguished looking, almost handsome man, in his early sixties maybe, and clean shaven with thin gold rimmed glasses making him look, well, like a doctor.
"Somehow I always knew I would get a visit from you some day," Dr. Piper says softly as I sit across from him.
"You know who I am?" I ask shocked at his recognition of me.
"Of course I do, I delivered you. You are the spitting image of your mother." He lowers his head placing his hands in front of him crossing his fingers like he is praying.
"You remember her?"
"I know a lot of people think I'm a monster, but your mother is the only woman that ever died in my care. One doesn't forget something like that." He looks solemnly at me. "I replay that night in my head over and over wondering how I could have done things differently," he says not looking at me now.
"My m
other died five days after I was born." I'm surprised I'm able to speak right now with questions swimming through my head.
"That might be what it says on her death certificate, but your mother died about two minutes after I took you from her." He turns to me slowly, blinking. I truly feel as though he has remorse.
"How did she die, I mean, what was the cause of death?"
"I'm afraid I wasn't fully informed of her condition. She had preeclampsia, it's a condition pregnant women have sometimes. Their blood pressure is high and they have greater risks of blood clots. I didn't know, and when they brought her to me she had been drugged. They told me it was to calm her down. I didn't know she was there against her will." His words stir a pot of questions. Every sentence is confusing, leading me to ten questions I need to know answers to.
"Who brought her to you?" Who were they?"
"Her sister and her friends," he says, looking at me like it is something I should have already known. "They were doing some sort of ritual and told me it was a blessing. It was clear to me that what they were doing was no blessing, it was dark, dangerous stuff. But it was too late, I had to stay. Your mother was dying and if I didn't get you out of her you would have died also." He's wringing his hands together now as he talks, reliving that night like it was some horrible nightmare.
"I. . .what were they doing?"
"I had to take you by C-section, you were breech. Your mother was unconscious by this point from the loss of blood, and with the lack of equipment there was just nothing I could do." I can tell he is getting frantic, as if he is reliving that night. He has a blank stare on his face. "If I had known I wouldn't have agreed to it. They paid me to be there. An easy home delivery is what it was supposed to be. The room was dark, it had no running water." He's defending himself to me. "They had those black hooded cloaks on and those masks." He shivers remembering the details.
"Do you know their names?" I see out of the corner of my eye that the guards are taking the prisoners one by one. I don't have much more time.
"I don't know?" He shakes his head frantically like he is trying to get an image out of his mind.
"Any name, you have to remember one name." I plead with him as the guard comes up to us telling us time is up, grabbing Dr. Piper by the upper arm to walk him out. "Please." I beg.
"McKayla," he says, looking back at me before the guard takes him through the door. I'm frozen not able to move for a few moments as I try to take in all that was just revealed to me.
I stand slowly, walking back down the hall to Luke's waiting arms. I cry when he embraces me, tears streaming down my face like a fountain. All of it settles in, the horrible things I just heard breaking my heart. Luke doesn't ask, but holds me close to him as we walk to the car. We drive for an hour before I am able to form sentences. The whole time he holds tight to my hand telling me over and over that everything is going to be all right.
It's like he knew that I needed to sort out the information in my head that I just learned. He didn't push, just comforted. I always knew we were soul mates, but even more so now. This man knows me to my core. What I just learned didn't change the fact that I was going to spend the rest of my life with him, which was all I needed to comfort myself. The last hour of the drive I blurted out every single detail Dr. Piper revealed. Even though I'm sure he had about as many questions as I did, he didn't ask, he just listened.
When we get back to the house I go straight to our room. Luke stays down stairs telling me he'll be up in a few minutes. I leave it to him to tell Jacob and Lucy who were anxiously waiting to hear what I had learned from the doctor.
I lie on the bed on top of the comforter with all my clothes on, even my Nike's. I fall asleep instantly only to be awakened a of couple hours later to Luke taking off my shoes. It's evening and the room is dark, except for the bedside lamp Luke has turned on.
With the way the shadow ' s are cast I don't think he sees me wake up. I watch him as he gently slips off my other shoe. Pulling my socks off one by one, he lays each foot down carefully not to wake me. When he reaches for the button on my jeans he glances up at me.
"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you," he whispers. I lift my hips to aid him in pulling off my jeans. I just smile at him and let him work on his task. He wraps his warm hand around the nape of my neck lifting me up to pull my shirt over my head. He unclasps my bra, kissing my forehead as he pulls it free from my arms. Then he reaches down to the end of the bed grabbing one of his t-shirts and pulls it over my head.
"There, that has to be more comfortable." He pulls the covers down moving me as he goes to get me under them. He undresses and lies beside me holding my back to his chest. I fall asleep in no time again wrapped tightly in his arms.
Chapter 30
"Shit, Lil, that's crazy," Emma says on the other end of the phone the next day when I return one of many missed calls. I had silenced my phone not wanting to talk to anyone. "So he couldn't tell you what they were doing with you in this ritual?"
"No, I'm telling you I hardly got any of my questions answered. He was tormented, like he was in a trance when he started talking about that night. I felt sorry for him, actually."
"What? The guy sold his own children!" She yells at me on the other end.
"To wealthy baron couples that wanted children, it's not like he sold them into slavery."
"Don't tell me you're defending this guy."
"No, I'm just saying I really think he is. . . ." I stop talking for a second, not even sure what I'm trying to say. "Hell, I don't know. You didn't see his face, Em!"
"Yeah, I didn't, but still. You said he said McKayla was the only name he remembered."
"The only McKayla I've ever known is McKayla Calvin, the one that used to work for Jane," I tell her, but I know it wouldn't be her.
"So Aunt January drugged her sister, tried to do a spell on you, and didn't care about Samantha dying. Then you end up with your biological father in the end and Aunt January is nowhere to be found." She stops talking and I can tell her mind is working overtime. "Well shit, I'm stumped. Why don't you come over tomorrow and we'll work on Maria." I agree before we hang up.
Turns out Emma was right. Maria was no more interested in talking to me than she was Emma. She shut down telling us to forget about it.
"Maria, the woman at Bon Dieu's told me the Mantha girl was practice," I insist, grabbing her arm as she is turning away from us to walk out of the room. This must have been the push she needed because Maria went from pissed and stand offish to a blubbering mess.
Sitting her down on the couch, Emma and I flank her on both sides and comfort her until she is calm enough to talk.
"She was into drugs, running around with the wrong crowd." Maria sobs.
"Who?"
"Marta, my baby sister. She was pregnant and didn't even know who the father was." She covers her face with her hands. "I don't know if she is the woman in the article, I really don't. She disappeared about that same time though. I haven't seen or heard from her since. They stopped investigating it, saying there were no leads."
"Do you think it was her?" Emma asks softly, rubbing her back.
"I really don't know, I've always wondered. But who. . . ." She starts sobbing again wiping her cheeks. "Where's the baby?" She glances to me then to Emma.
"What was the time frame, I mean, when did she disappear?" I whisper.
"About a year before you came to live with Ted and Jane." She answers blowing her nose on the tissue Emma just handed to her.
We don't ask her any more questions, but stay with her until she excuses herself to her room.
"Now what?" I turn to Emma for answers that I know she doesn't have.
"You could go see Dr. Piper again. Maybe he remembered some more details."
"No, I can't do that to him again."
"You have got to be kidding me right now." Emma tilts her head giving me a ' you can't be serious ' look.
"You didn't see him, Em. I swear I thought he was going to have
a heart attack."
"Well then I don't know," she says with a huff, as if that is absolutely our only option.
"Luke and Jacob went to go buy four wheelers today so we can get back to the structure easier. You and Jimmy want to come along?" I raise my eyebrows at her knowing that there is no way she can turn it down.
"Hell yes!"
Sure enough when I pull into the garage a couple of hours later, there are four shiny, new top of the line four wheelers taking up two stalls in the five stall garage.
"Did you boy ' s have fun today?" I walk out on the patio after dropping my purse off inside.
"Yeah, who wouldn't in a bike shop with a platinum credit card with no limit?" Jacob has a stupid giddy smile on his face. "Why the hell we didn't buy them a long time ago is beyond me." He takes a swig of his beer as Luke pulls me down onto his lap.
"Hey, flower," Luke whispers, moving my hair to the side so he can kiss my neck. "Did you learn anything today?" He says nuzzling into me. I explain to them all what Maria had said.
"How you feeling about everything?" Luke asks as he massages the nape of my neck with one hand.
"Tired, even though we have found so much it just seems that more answers lead to more questions." I tell him leaning back into his hand enjoying what his strong fingers are doing.
"Why don't you take a break? I know. You could start planning our wedding. That would be a good distraction." He smiles up at me with his half grin. I lean down kissing him on the lips. With a smile I whisper against them, "There's no ring on this finger." I tease which causes him to squeeze my hip bone where I'm ticklish making me laugh. He keeps going using two hands now. I gasp for air from laughing so hard.
"Okay. . . I. . . give. . . stop. . . ."
Unbreakable 2, The Mystery of Lilly (Cypress Grove Series) Page 13