“Is it your Grandma that has you so upset? Please talk to me.” He grips both of my arms searching my face for some clue that would piece together a reason for my hysterics. My short breaths come in faster than they leave and I can’t stop them. Elijah holds my hand and tries to soothe me.
“She, she just told me that my dad found me on the back porch like some stray dog.” I start to sob again. Elijah brings me into his arms and holds me. He is always able to calm me like this. “I don’t even know if it’s true or if she is just having some sort of delusion.”
“Your dad never said anything to you about it?”
“No I’m sure I would have remembered that conversation. “Hey Brennen by the way you were discarded like an old newspaper left out in the weather.””
I tell Elijah word for word what my grandmother just shared with me. He strokes my back as he listens.
“First, if this story is true, I don't want you to dare think for one second that someone abandoned you like a stray dog or an old newspaper. Whatever the story is, I know that you were loved, there is no way that your mother didn't love you Brennen. Your father loved you too. Whether you were his or not I know he loved you more than life itself. Do you hear me?” Elijah's voice is concerned and serious. I nod. “And this necklace, have you ever seen it?”
“No.” I have never even entertained the idea that I was adopted. Elijah starts the car and turns towards home.
“Where are you going?” I ask through still ragged breaths.
“I am taking you home Bren, we have a mystery to solve. We are going to search the whole house for any proof that your grandmother may be telling the truth.” I guess he’s right, if I do manage to stop crying long enough to go to school my mind won’t be present. By the time we pull back into my driveway I’m all cried out. I am really tired of crying in general, it’s bad enough I wake up teary eyed every morning. Can’t I just have one good day? I can hear my dad now “You want some cheese with that whine.” Enough with the poor me’s already. I promise whatever I find I will accept it and move on. I know who I am and that’s all that matters in the end. Who my parents are will not change that.
We start in the attic, Elijah carries the boxes down to the game room and we start pouring through piles of paper work. I find a lot of things I will need when it comes time to put things in my name and I set those aside. I like how quiet Elijah is while he looks through things with me. I don’t even notice when he leaves and comes back up with a tray of sandwiches and lemonade. We sort one handed while we eat, too immersed to stop.
“I found your birth certificate,” Elijah announces. I slide next to him. We each hold a corner and study the find. Under father, my dad’s name reads William Michael Hale; under mother the field is blank.
“Does it mean he’s my real dad?”
“Well in a conventional situation it would probably be a safe bet, but with your dad’s ties with the government, he could have had it fixed. But why go through all that trouble, and not put your mother’s name on it too?”
“I don’t know, I guess I can get a DNA test with my grandmother and see if we are related.”
He agrees and says he can call in a favor at work and get the results rushed. Who knew being hunted could have such perks?
“Look, here is a box with photo albums.” I pull out the first one. I find a picture of my dad holding me when I was a baby. He is rocking me in his arms looking lovingly down at me.
“You were even a beautiful baby.” Elijah rubs my cheek and I can tell he cares for me a great deal. Just seeing old photos of my dad brings back so many good memories. Elijah and I lay on the bare carpet and pour through the photo’s laughing at all of the blackmail worthy naked baby pictures and pointing out the ones where my mom is actually in the scene. I look to be about two when she and my father got married, which I never knew and I thought we were so close. How did I never know this? They were divorced by the time I was five. I wonder if I was the reason why they didn’t make it. Maybe my mom couldn’t raise another woman’s child as her own. We were always distant with each other. I assumed it was because we only saw each other once a year for a couple of months. My dad and I never talked about my mom or the divorce that much. It was all starting to make sense now. I know she loved me and I think that is why she wanted to see me every summer. I point to a picture of her spinning me around in front of a Christmas tree.
“I remember that! I had just gotten a pink bicycle from Santa, and I was so excited.”
“Cute pigtails.” Elijah bumps my elbow with his. I push back and he rolls over laughing. He is adorable when he is being playful. I caress his chest and his breath hitches. Oh please, just one kiss from those lips could turn my whole day around. He searches my eyes, he knows what I want and he answers with a new resolve in his eye. He takes my hand and helps me up. I realize we have spent the entire day together without one flirty gesture or even one stolen kiss.
Elijah insists on putting away all of the boxes and soon after, he emerges from the attic carrying a large wicker basket. My eyes round out as I realize what it is. I meet him and examine it. Inside is a clear plastic bag that holds a pink blanket. I open it and pull out the blanket. It is made of pink silk velvet with my name sewn in silver thread on one corner.
“So it’s all true.” I rub the soft pink blanket against my cheek. “What if my mother is out there somewhere, still alive?” Elijah hugs me and I bask in his embrace. I lay my head on his chest and match his relaxed breathing.
“Then we’ll find her.”
The doorbell rings snapping me back to reality. Elijah has already dashed down the stairs like he’s on high alert. Who could that be? I trot down the stairs and Elijah waits behind the door.
“Do you ever carry a gun or anything?” Isn’t that protocol? I wonder about him. Maybe he only needs his bare hands to subdue a would-be assassin. Not that an assassin would ring the door-bell. I open the door and find Emily with Starbucks in both hands.
“Bren, you don’t show up for school, and you don’t answer your phone, I had to make sure you were still kicking!” She walks right past me before I can say a word. Elijah closes the door as I trail after her. I look back at him with raised shoulders and an open mouth. I guess I deserved to be worried about when she puts it that way.
“Nice house.” Emily sets the cups on the kitchen counter.
“Thank you Emily, for checking on me and for the coffee.”
“So you two shacked up all day in lover’s lair or what?” She looks at the both of us like we had just eloped to Vegas or something.
“No, it’s a long story,” I sigh out. Emily plops on a bar stool and takes a swig of her coffee.
“Well by all means, do tell.” A mischievous grin plays on her lips.
“I’m going to go make some calls Bren. I’ll be by later, love,” Elijah calls out and gives a wry grin before slipping out the glass door. I shake my head wishing he meant that last word. I take a seat next to Emily and sip the coffee she brought me it’s good, a caramel macchiato I think. It’s all the more worthy of some truth telling on my part.
“I went to visit Grandma this morning. She was put into a nursing home this summer because her Alzheimer’s had gotten progressively worse. We were both afraid for her safety and this house just isn’t set up for even round the clock care. The home specializes in Alzheimer and dementia care.”
“Oh Brennen, I am so sorry I didn’t know, so what time does your mom get home?” Okay I want to trust her with the truth but should I? I glance around the home as if to take account of what I may have to give up if she bleeds any of this to anyone. I take a deep breath in and out.
“Um, my mom died when I was younger,” I say after contemplating my alternatives for a while. Emily’s deep set eyes sink further into her skull as if she didn’t know one person could have such a pitiful life.
“Oh my God Brennen, I am so sorry. I had no idea, so you are living here all by yourself?”
“Yes
and Emily you can’t tell anyone or they will put me in a foster home. I don’t have time to get a job with my course load this year, which means I can’t get emancipation. I have to keep up the appearance that my grandmother is still living with me as my guardian.”
“Of course Bren, I would never tell anyone. I mean you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself here.” She glances around taking in the house.
“I am doing fine as long as no one finds out. I turn eighteen in a few months and then I can relax.”
“Ooh when? You have to let me throw you a party, this place is begging for a good party,” she says as she explores. She would have a field day if she knew my birthday was on New Year’s Eve, at least that is when I have always celebrated it.
“Here let me give you a tour.” We walk around the whole house and settle out by the pool.
“So why did you miss school today and what was up with the hot guy you so rudely let slip away before introducing me?”
“That was Elijah he goes to our school and I just found out he is my next door neighbor, he knows my grandmother and we went together to visit her this morning. Then she started having some delusion that my dad gave me a necklace for my eighteenth birthday and sort of told me all about how my dad found me on the back porch when I was a newborn. So yeah, there’s that bombshell to deal with but then she couldn’t tell me if my dad was my real dad or not. So Elijah took me home, I was a flipping mess to say the least.”
“Holy shit Brennen are you serious?”
“I know right and it’s only Tuesday.”
“So what are you going to do now? Did you find out anything?”
“I am going to test my DNA with my grandmother’s and see if we are related, it’s about all I can do, Elijah and I looked for adoption papers all morning and found diddly squat.
“I’m sorry Bren, is there anything I can do? I’d like to help.”
“Just keep my secret okay.”
“You don’t even have to ask. Hey, so is hot guy your boyfriend?”
“Elijah wants to “just be friends.” I make air quotes while rolling my eyes.
“Is he gay?” she balks.
“Probably, the way my day is going!”
“Yeah you were dealt a crappy hand, but you know what they say? When life hands you lemons, make kamikazes. Where’s the liquor cabinet?”
Chapter 4 ~ Results
Two days have passed since Grandma's big revelation. Elijah has been more distant lately. It has been just as long since he so much as grazed my hand. I miss his touch. I have thrown all of my energy into working on my speech for Government class. I am up next and I am a little nervous, I hope that I do well. Brice Sanchez is using lots of humor in his speech and the class is in roars. Great, how am I going to follow that? I turn around and whisper to Elijah.
“Tell me something, anything I am freaking out.” He looks at me dubiously.
“Brennen are you kidding me, you've got this. Don't even sweat it. It's only second period government.” Right, um right. I hear my name and take my position at the podium. I square my shoulders and take a deep breath, willing my confidence to make an appearance. Here we go. Seventeen pair of eyes blink back at me almost simultaneously, their stares needle through me, deflating any delusion of confidence I may have gathered. Nevertheless, I start my speech bolder than I ever expected to:
I am not going to stand up here and make a speech full of vague promises and idyllic half answers. I am just going to tell you my plan to save this country. You see, this country is in a vicious spin cycle. We are undulating on the very precipice of failure and if we don't change things now then our future holds a bleak outcome.
As seniors you are going to go to college next year and if you, like most of us, are using a student loan to pay for your education you will be paying thousands of dollars in interest fees. I want that to stop immediately, the US government will no longer profit off of your education. It makes no sense to do so, does it? I want you to get a higher education and get a well-paying career and then I’ll tax your high pay accordingly.
The class laughs, that's good.
Zero percent interest rate on student loans will save you thousands of dollars. If more students pursue a higher education, it will give our country a more competitive edge to stay ahead of other countries in math and science research.
Our unemployment rate is inexcusable, if our people are out of work it is because companies can't afford to hire them or they lack the skills needed to move forward. We can change that. With no interest loans, they can now afford to go back to school and end the cycle. I also want to create jobs by extending tax breaks to companies who keep jobs and revenue on American soil, but that's not enough.
I don't know if you know this or not. I hope none of you need to know the price of daycare for a baby or child, but it has risen nearly 30 percent in the last couple of years. Daycare now cost about the same as in-state tuition at a university or a mortgage on a house. I want to give tax breaks to companies that provide childcare in their office or nearby. Let's get these parents working to live, not living to work.
I go on about how I plan to simplify the tax code and the class is enthralled with the speech. It is kind of exhilarating and I feel the passion coming out in my voice when I speak. I have a passion for this, I have so many ideas that could help the country I begin to wonder if it is possible that I could become a governor or a senator. I look back at Elijah; he is smiling as if he is proud of me. He gives a wink when I catch his eye. Oh my, heat singes my chest, will this feeling he gives me ever fade?
“So if you want to save about thirty thousand dollars a year, then you need to make me your next American president.” The class applauds and I think Mr. Potter even whoop's, so I guess I did okay. I take my seat as the adrenalin surges through my veins. The rest of the speeches are well thought out and articulate, and I enjoy listening to the other ideas.
Elijah's speech holds the entire class captive. His sonorous voice is resonant with the students as well and he may very well be my top opponent. He will make a worthy vice president. I give a wry smile to him and he returns the look through a steely gaze. Yes, he knows just what I'm thinking. The class applauds his efforts. Near the end of class we are given a moment to reflect and cast our vote. Mr. Potter says we are not allowed to vote for ourselves but apparently he has arranged all of the democrats in second period and all of the republicans in first, so after each class chooses their candidate we will have a debate between parties.
“You were pretty amazing up there,” Elijah says to me and my heart is sent into flutters. Stop it, I command.
“Yeah you weren't too bad yourself.” He looks at me sideways. I whisper, “But my guess is, this isn't the first class speech you've had to give.” I wonder how old he really is. He looks like he could just pass for 21.
“Oh you'd be surprised at how many president speeches I have helped write.” What does that even mean?
“You sir beguile me.”
“Oh Brennen, you have no idea the elision I am committed to.” His voice is low and sultry. It makes me want to drag him out to the hallway and torture the truth from his lips, one slow kiss at a time.
The votes have been tallied and I hold my breath while Mr. Potter announces the winner.
“Your democratic nominee is, Brennen Hale.”
“Yes!” I can't believe I won. The class erupts in applause.
“Congratulations Brennen and you may choose your Vice president running mate.”
“I would like Elijah Morgan to be my running mate.”
“Very good choice Ms. Hale.”
The bell sounds and I head down the hall with Elijah by my side.
“After school I want to take you somewhere.”
“Where?”
“It's a surprise.”
“I am a planner we don't like surprises.” He gives a look that reads, is-that-so? “I promise you will like this.” His smile, that coy little smile, pulls me in. Oh,
he knows my resistance is futile. Could he be any more freaking sexy or off limits? It is frustrating me to my breaking point. I look up at him from my lashes. I can be coy too Elijah. I watch as he swallows hard, it is satisfying to know I wield a little power of my own.
“I'd better.”
***
Sam is sitting across from me in the grass scrutinizing his salad as if it had the potential to harbor an infestation of flesh eating spiders. I open my bag and hand him a turkey and cheddar wrap that I made for him before I left for school this morning. He smiles and takes it.
“Thanks Brennen, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Well I think you are wasting away before my very eyes and I can’t have that either.”
“Hey tomorrow we could go to that café down the street and I could buy you lunch.”
“Um, like a date?” I say with more trepidation than I meant to. He raises a brow and considers his next words carefully.
“We don’t have to call it a date. We could just call it lunch.” Before I can answer, Elijah comes up to us just as Emily sits down. Well, doesn’t he have perfect timing as usual? He doesn’t even have the same lunch as we do.
“Brennen, Emily, Sam, I am having a party this weekend up near West Neck, I hope you all can come. Here is a map.” He hands us each a small piece of paper that looks more like a treasure map than a party invitation and walks off towards the cafeteria with a stack of the invitations in hand.
My Soul to Keep (The Soul Keeper Series - Young Adult Paranormal Romance) Page 5