The Complete Legacy Series: Books 1 - 6

by Paula Kay

  The party at Dex’s was in full swing by the time Jemma got there. She’d picked Andrea out of the crowd instantly, and for half an hour the girl hadn’t left her side, deciding that they’d be instant best friends—and once Jemma had gotten a few drinks in her, she was happy to oblige. She hadn’t been hanging out with many of her girlfriends for a long time, so the female company was something she welcomed even though she hadn’t even really been thinking about it.

  She didn’t mean to, but she made an instant assessment of Andrea. She could tell she was on something—heavier than pot for sure, and Jemma was pretty certain that she caught a glimpse of some marks on Andrea’s arms underneath her sleeves. She told Jemma that she was twenty-two, the same age as Slade—that they’d met the week before at a raging party in LA. Then she disappeared into one of the back bedrooms and Jemma didn’t see her again for most of the night.

  Jemma sat back against the worn sofa, drinking her vodka and smoking a cigarette. She was pretty sure that this was exactly the type of scenario that had been playing in Gigi’s mind when they’d spoken earlier. Jemma kept telling herself that the lifestyle she’d been falling into with Dex was normal for kids her age—that it was fun to have a few drinks and forget about the worries and concerns that everyone tried to heap on you.

  But sometimes she had an unsettling feeling that she didn’t quite fit in here, even though she tried, even though she might want to fit in around Dex and his friends. She was surprised that she was even having these thoughts tonight, of all nights, after the crazy day that she’d had. She definitely wanted to drink enough so that she could put that all aside until tomorrow. She got up to get herself another drink and go find Dex, who seemed to have disappeared on her for about the tenth time that evening.

  She followed the hallway to the back room where people somehow seemed to congregate at the end of the night. She knocked lightly on the door and when no one answered she quietly pulled it open. Inside she could see Andrea, Dex, and Slade huddled up in the corner of the room around a low table. Dex looked up as she approached and reached for her hand, which she gave him as he pulled her over to sit on his lap. Andrea was just taking a needle out of her arm and Slade looked like he’d already had his fill of whatever the three of them had just done.

  Jemma was drunk enough not to care but it was making her uneasy just the same. Dex leaned over to whisper in her ear.

  “Do you wanna try it, babe? It will make you feel so much better.”

  He was rubbing her hand and trying to kiss her.

  Jemma wasn’t even sure why she was so confident in her response. If there was ever a night that she was tempted, it seemed like that moment would be now, but she wasn’t. Not at all. Drunk, out of it, and slightly high on the joint she’d smoked with Dex earlier, yes, but suddenly she just knew that she wanted to be home in her bed.

  She pulled Dex in for a hug before she stood up.

  “I’m gonna go, babe. I’ll call a cab.”

  “Stay the night,” Dex asked, but he kind of looked like he didn’t care much one way or the other.

  Jemma was sure that he was so out of it, he wouldn’t even remember her leaving.

  “No. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” She leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Be good.”

  “You know it, babe.” Dex laughed and Jemma went outside to get some fresh air and call the cab.

  All of a sudden, she felt that she couldn’t get out of the small apartment fast enough. It had all been too much—her whole day. She just needed a good night’s sleep. And maybe something to eat, she thought as her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she’d forgotten to grab something to eat before she’d come to the party.

  Chapter 6

  Jemma had been up in her room avoiding Chase all morning. She didn’t want to risk talking to him before she’d seen her mother and grandmother, who were finally due home any minute. She felt so many different emotions still, but mostly she felt sick to her stomach, which probably wasn’t helped by all of the vodka she’d had to drink the night before. The anger and shock of what she’d learned still hadn’t quite sunk in, and she knew deep down that the full scope of the truth yet to come wouldn’t be felt until she could hear what her mother had to say to her.

  She nearly jumped off the bed when she heard the garage door opening, announcing that the airport limo was probably up the driveway by now. Next she could hear the chatter of Kylie getting out of the car, which made her smile. Two minutes later she heard the young girl’s footsteps bounding up the stairs to Jemma’s room.

  “Jemma, Jemma. Jemma, where are you?”

  Jemma laughed, despite how nervous she felt.

  “Where do you think I am, silly girl?”

  One second later her bedroom door flung open and Kylie came running over to where Jemma was sitting on the bed, nearly knocking her over with a big hug.

  “Good grief, Ky. You’re like a giant puppy with no manners. The next thing I know, you’re going to be licking my face.”

  Kylie stuck out her tongue and made a move towards Jemma’s cheek to indicate that she was going to do just that.

  Jemma laughed and grabbed her in a hug. “Very funny, twerp.”

  “You’re a twerp.” Kylie teased her back, laughing and giving her a big hug. “Jemma, I missed you so much.”

  “You did? What did you miss about me?”

  Jemma was teasing her now—a game they often played.

  Kylie was ready for it as she sat up on the bed to tick off on her fingers.

  “Well, first I missed having coffee with you in the morning.”

  Jemma was nodding her head. “Okay, so of course you mean me having coffee and you having hot cocoa.”

  Kylie nodded. “Yes, of course, but shh. It’s my turn still.”

  God, this child was funny. Jemma often wondered when they would hit the point where the little girl drove her crazy—like what had happened to so many of her friends with little sisters and brothers—but it just never had. She genuinely enjoyed Kylie’s company and never seemed to tire of her. She was smiling at her now.

  “Go on, then. Continue. Number two?”

  “Number two is that I spent one afternoon doing an art project—oh, that’s your surprise that I have to get from Grandma—oh, but that I missed you doing the art with me because you’re so much better at it than Grandma.” She whispered the last part, which made Jemma laugh even harder.

  “Okay, and your third and final thing that you missed about me while you were gone?”

  Kylie pretended she had to think about it, which Jemma knew was a joke, because she picked the same thing every time for the third thing. Jemma reached over to tickle her.

  “The third thing, Ky. Out with it.”

  Kylie giggled. “The third thing I missed is you singing the song with me about the world being so small.”

  “It is, after all.” Jemma winked.

  “Grandma tried to sing it with me, but she doesn’t know all the words.”

  “Who’s talking about me in here?”

  Jemma and Kylie both looked up to see their grandmother’s head popping in the door and Jemma felt sick all over again.

  “Never mind, Grandma,” Kylie said, laughing. “Hey, can I get that thing please?”

  “Hay is for horses, my dear. What thing are you referring to?”

  “You know. What I made for me and Jemma. Grandma, it’s in your purse, remember?” Kylie seemed slightly exasperated as she waited for Linda to rummage around in her bag.

  “Ky, be polite.” Jemma couldn’t help herself.

  “Please, Grandma,” Kylie added, smiling at Jemma.

  Linda took a little plastic bag out of her purse and handed it to the little girl.

  “Okay, you two. I’m going to go get myself organized.”

  Jemma cleared her throat, her heart beating faster. “Grandma.”

  Linda looked at her.

  “I’d like to talk to you and Mom in a little whil
e—if you could let her know, please.”

  Linda looked a little strange to Jemma, but she couldn’t know, could she? Then again, maybe if one were hiding a secret this big for so many years, there had been numerous times when she thought the truth was coming—always waiting, wondering if something would be revealed.

  “Okay, dear. You just let us know, then.”

  Linda leaned over to kiss both Kylie and Jemma on their foreheads before leaving them alone in Jemma’s bedroom.

  “Okay, so what is this surprise that you have for me, my dear sister?”

  And like a punch to the gut, the words hit her. She hadn’t thought of it before. How could she not have? She felt the tears come to her eyes and she tried to keep it together—but God. Kylie was not even the sister that she’d adored all these years. It was like the pieces of her family—the world that she’d known her whole life—were crashing down one by one, some fast, some slow—but soon she felt she’d be left with nothing. No truth or all of the truth about who she really was.

  “Earth to Jemma.”

  Jemma looked at Kylie’s little fingers snapping in front of her face. “Sorry, Ky. What were you saying?”

  “Well, I was saying that it’s funny that you should mention that I am your dear sister…” Kylie’s hand disappeared into the plastic bag as Jemma sat there thinking about the complete irony of the conversation that they were having.

  Kylie pulled out a beaded necklace with a flourish. “Hold out your hand.”

  Jemma obeyed, holding her hand out palm up.

  Kylie placed the dainty beaded necklace in Jemma’s hand and then pulled out an identical one to hold up and show her sister. “See, Jemma. It says ‘my sister, my best friend.’ And I have one too.” Kylie was grinning from ear to ear, and Jemma was wiping her eyes quickly so that the little girl wouldn’t see the tears that had appeared. “Jemma, I painted them. Grandma helped me. Do you like it?”

  Jemma pulled her in for a big hug. “Ky, I love it. It’s so beautiful. Thank you.”

  Kylie grinned and hugged her back.

  “Now I think you better go say hello to your dad. I’m sure he’s been missing you at least as much as I have.”

  Kylie got up off the bed. “Probably more,” she said with a serious look on her face.

  “Nah.” Jemma tickled her one last time before giving her a little shove on her bottom toward the door. “Now scoot. We’ll play later, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Jemma closed the door after Kylie left the room, immediately bursting into tears. She sat on her bed for a good ten minutes just holding the beaded necklace and thinking about her sister. So many emotions were coming up for her, but she was feeling more and more angry—like everything she’d ever known was just being pulled out from under her. And for the first time, she realized that it wasn’t going to affect just her, but also Kylie. And what did her sister do to deserve anything but the truth in her life?

  Jemma shook her head as if it could help shake some of these feelings from her before she walked into her bathroom to splash cold water on her face. She needed to get it together. From her bedroom window she could see that Kylie and Chase were outside playing catch. She took a deep breath, knowing that now was as good a time as any to confront her mother.

  She reached into her nightstand drawer to take out the birth certificate from where she’d put it the day before. From the upstairs landing, she could hear both her mom and grandmother in the office downstairs. How fitting. Her mom was going to wish that she’d never asked her to go into her office for those stupid figures the other day.

  Jemma descended the stairs, walked down the hallway toward the office, and took a deep breath before she stood in the doorway, holding the piece of paper up in front of her where her mother was sure to see it.

  Blu looked up from where she was sitting behind her desk, her smile wide until she saw Jemma. And then Jemma had never seen her mom look so pale.

  Chapter 7

  At the same time as Blu stood up from her chair, Jemma burst into tears. She really meant to hold it together. She’d told herself over and over not to cry—at least until she’d said what she’d needed to say, yet here she was sobbing. And there was nothing she could do now but fall into her mother’s arms as she hurried across the room to Jemma. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her grandmother, waiting in the corner chair—waiting for what, she wasn’t sure, but time would tell.

  Jemma disengaged herself from her mother’s arms in a panic as if she’d not allow one more second of closeness between them. She pulled away and stared at her. Finally she cleared her throat.

  “How could you? Both of you?”

  Her mother looked like she was in complete shock, and her grandmother was a deer caught in headlights, reminding Jemma of another time long ago when she’d first laid eyes on her. It was a flash of memory that surprised her, but of course now everything made sense. She was young then, so she couldn’t really piece it all together; but knowing what she knew now, she understand her mother’s urgency in keeping the two of them apart back then. And she’d almost succeeded.

  “Jemma.”

  Her mom was sobbing now too, looking toward her grandmother—for what, Jemma wasn’t sure. She already understood why it had all happened the way it had. Her grandmother had shared parts of her past with Jemma—told her that she’d not been fit to raise Jemma’s mother, so it made perfect sense that she wouldn’t have been able to raise another baby. Jemma understood all of that—intellectually. She only didn’t understand why they had kept if from her for so long.

  She glared at her mother. “Do you have any idea how betrayed I feel? The fact that you’ve both been lying to me all this time—all my life.”

  “Jemma, I didn’t—” Blu looked over at her mother—at their mother, who looked just as shocked—“we didn’t know how or when—or we didn’t know what would be best for you.” Her mother looked stunned. “That’s not exactly true. I decided and Grandma only agreed to what I’d asked of her.”

  Jemma couldn’t believe that she could possibly feel any more shocked than she’d already felt, but standing here hearing her mother say the words—it only made things worse, not better. She didn’t feel better at all. She walked over to sit on the sofa, sighing deeply as she put her face in her hands.

  Finally she looked up at both of them as they stood watching her, not speaking—probably just as much at a loss for words as Jemma was. What was there to say? What could they possibly say?

  “What am I supposed to do now?”

  She felt the tears still coming and she didn’t care as she waited for her mother to speak.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Jemma. Does anything have to change? I mean, I know it’s shocking and it will take some getting used to, but it doesn’t change anything.” She looked down and then over to Jemma with a look that spoke of all the pleading that Jemma guessed must be in her heart at that moment. “Jemma, I’ve always loved you like a daughter. That’s all you’ve ever been to me. You do understand that, don’t you?”

  Jemma nodded her head slowly, but looked toward her grandmother. “What about how you feel? How you’ve felt all these years? I can’t believe—I just can’t believe that you’re my mother.” And then she turned toward her mother. “And my sister. It’s crazy, you know?”

  They were both nodding their heads. Yes, they did know. It was all coming out, just as Jemma was sure that her mom suspected it might during all these years. It was a small miracle that she hadn’t found out before now, and somewhat fitting that it was just before her eighteenth birthday.

  Her grandmother cleared her throat.

  “Jemma, I agreed to keep your mom’s secret because I understood. It was a consequence of a past that I needed to move on from—not that I wanted to move on from the two of you, but we—your mother and I—needed a way to move forward together, for all of us. It doesn’t change anything. You were born my daughter, yes, but Blu hasn’t loved you any less
than I have. Certainly she’s given you a better life than I ever could have—back then, anyway. When it really counted. I’m grateful to her for that and no matter what happens—no matter how you feel towards us—I’ll always know that she made the right decision in taking you from me all those years ago.”

  Jemma was nodding her head. She understood. She wanted to scream at them. She wasn’t stupid. She did understand everything, but still, she had been lied to for so incredibly long. Way too long. That was the part that she was having a hard time dealing with. That was the part that she was so angry about.

  Just then, Kylie came running into the room squealing, with Chase not far behind.

  “Finally. I can’t believe I’ve not seen you all weekend, young lady.” Chase winked at Jemma, but just as quickly looked toward Blu once he saw Jemma’s face.

  The room was shockingly quiet, all except for the singing of Kylie off in the corner.

  “Kylie, will you please go take your backpack up to your room,” said Blu.

  Kylie looked up as if to argue, but then seemed to think better of it as she bounded out of the room, stopping to give her dad a quick kiss on the cheek on the way out.

  Chase looked from one to the other of them before his eyes settled on Blu, who nodded at him.

  “Jemma knows. She found her birth certificate.”

  Jemma didn’t know why but she didn’t want Chase to talk to her. She didn’t want to know his thoughts about it. He was another one who had kept the secret from her. But Chase didn’t read her body language correctly; he got up to cross the room, putting his arm around her shoulders as he sat next to her on the couch. She shrugged it off.

  “Don’t. Please.” Jemma wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked around the room at each of them, these people that she had trusted for most of her life. Her mother whom she’d never had a reason not to trust—to believe in. They’d been through so much together. She looked around the room and she didn’t know any of them. There was a wall between them now. It surrounded them and left her on the outs and in that moment, it was just the way she wanted it. She didn’t want anything to do with this family of hers.