The car pulled up close to Morgan and Cane, the blacked out windows limiting her view. Ben came to talk to whoever was in the car, Nicky was able to listen although he couldn't see close enough.
"Don't worry its Denissa." As the car doors opened and the visitors exited, Morgan watched as her father's face fell when a woman exited the car.
"You fucking bitch, you whore I will kill you." Her father flipped and surged forward, fortunately he was grabbed and pushed to the ground by Ben and Mitch; they weren't particularly gentle about it either.
As the female turned to face her and Cane, Morgan's gaze was focused on a short petite woman with small features, blonde hair, and green eyes that matched her summer dress. Actually she looked a lot like them; she glanced at Cane and saw tears in his eyes.
"Cane?" Her tone was questioning at the implication of the woman's identity.
Morgan looked at Andrew who was furious, her father had stopped struggling but his face remained one of thunder. The woman came closer to Morgan and Cane; she was staring at them with an intensity that caused a shiver to slide up her spine, the woman was crying hard.
"My sweet babies I am so sorry." Her voice was soft and gentle yet also nervous, the woman tentatively waited for their response before she gingerly opened her arms and Cane fell into the woman's embrace. As she turned to hug Morgan, Morgan stepped back she didn't know who she was, instead of pushing it the woman touched her cheek.
"My baby, you have grown into a beautiful young woman, I am so sorry I missed it all."
Morgan looked at this woman; she looked at Cane, then her father, Andrew and then Nicky, before turning back to her. Could it be, surely not?
"Mother, are you my mother?"
She smiled at Morgan, who in turn stood dumbstruck, this was too much, and there was too much happening. "I don't understand, how…. why you are here?"
As Morgan watched the woman wipe her tears away, she turned to Andrew before returning to her.
"I have been looking for you and your brothers for a long time, now I have found you, all of you." This woman who still had tears in her eyes took a deep breath and went to where Morgan's father was still pinned to the floor, there were now several wolves outside of the pack boundary watching and protecting.
"I came back for them and you had moved." The anger in the woman's voice was demonstrated by her look of disgust. "Don't look at me with that face, I am not scared of you anymore, and you can't intimidate me. But I will tell you one thing, I will not let you hurt my children again."
As Morgan looked at Andrew, she saw the hatred he had for this woman, his mother; she knew that her words would make no difference to her eldest brother. The woman, her mother walked towards him but Andrew stepped back at the last minute and he lifted his hand to strike her.
"Andrew please don't stay with the Order, this is your chance to make a stand. Take a step away and let me help you. You have a home and a family that will protect you."
"Fuck you, you are a whore and worshipper of God, when chaos reigns I hope you are happy." He was literally spitting the words at her as his face twisted into a sneer.
Bastian cleared his throat and faced the police officer. "I think you have seen enough to be confident that they are being looked after and can leave at any time. Now as I am sure you have noticed, we have a family reunion that needs to be prioritized."
Nicky could see and feel Morgan's shock, this woman had left her to be physically and emotionally abused, Morgan had not seen her mother since the day after she was born, and she had every right to be angry and hurt.
As Morgan, Cane and Nicky got into the car, the other's waited at the gates until her father and the Order had left. The Order wouldn't let it go now, there would be hell to pay for today.
They agreed to meet at Nicky's, and as the other car followed he looked at Morgan who had gone very quiet.
"Talk to me little Pixie."
"I have a mother." Her voice was full of wonder and shock, Nicky watched her stare aimlessly as the land sped past them.
"You do."
"I don't really know what to think, what do I say?"
"I don't think this comes with a script Pixie."
Cane interrupted them. "She looks so well and so pretty, not like the last time I saw her." Cane's words penetrated her brain as if she were listening from a distance. It was only as Cane spoke that Morgan remembered he was in the car with them.
Chapter 21
As they pulled up in front of the house, Morgan sat on the bottom step of the porch as the other car pulled up. She watched her mother get out of the car with the other woman that Ben called Denissa. Morgan could feel her breathing accelerate, she couldn't slow it down, and damn she didn't want to go into full panic mode.
"Hush little Pixie I am here, let me help you."
Thank God, feeling Nicky beside her, she felt herself calm. Cane had come to stand next to her, Nicky moved a chair down to him, he was still injured and movement was still painful but he was starting to heal. Morgan could see her mom coming towards them.
"Where are you Nicky?" She couldn’t look away from the woman yet she had felt Nicky's presence move.
"Don't worry Pixie I am stood behind you but I am a little out the way, you need your privacy. I am close by if you need me."
"If I need you? Get your butt over here now, I do need you and even if I didn't let me make this clear, you're mine and I am yours. If this woman wants to be part of my family, then she needs to be part of OUR family, got it?"
He was laughing at her stern tone, this from the woman who used to be scared of her own shadow. "Consider me told."
And just like that he was there beside her and yet again he settled her anxious mind. Waiting she watched as the woman sat on the ground in front of them. Morgan looked at this woman with her long flowing blonde hair, her green eyes, and the long green dress that sat against her ankles, as she smiled she reminded her of Cane. Morgan watched her look at them both with tears in her eyes. Then the woman called Denissa came over as Nicky put out two more chairs for them. Denissa sat however she could not contain the tears streaming down her face.
Her mother sat staring at them; Morgan noticed the tremor in her hands. "I'm sorry I don't mean to stare but I have spent so long trying to imagine what you both looked like, I have missed you both so much. You must hate me for leaving you; I know that I hate me."
Cane saved Morgan from answering which was good as her throat had gone dry; the all familiar butterflies had hit her stomach. "Why mom, why did you leave us?"
Morgan turned to the other woman. "Who are you?"
She wiped her eyes. "I am Denissa and I represent the witches of New York. I am also your grandmother and I too have looked for you, in fact many people have been looking for you, each of you."
The head of the witches is her grandmother, there must be a mistake she wasn't a witch, and she didn't know any magic. "I don't understand." Morgan was confused, her head and emotions fighting for center stage in her body.
"Would it be okay for me to tell you both about where I come from, and how I ended up with your father?" As they both nodded, Nicky suggested they went inside he even helped Cane in. While he made everyone some iced tea, her mother started.
"I grew up around witches, but this was before we were out in the open and part of society. It was as though I had two lives; at school and around friends I was this little girl who had a somewhat weird and eccentric family, I never felt as though I fitted in, I am afraid I was a little spoilt and ungrateful. At home I was being prepared to be a witch, it was really important to learn magic, spells, and prepare for the power. Already your Gran was a phenomenal witch, she was the most powerful witch in New York and I was expected to follow in her footsteps."
The woman took a breath, Morgans gran touched her shoulder gently prompting her to carry on. "A witch doesn't automatically have powers; they develop at different times for each witch. It is only the really rare witches that are born with
powers, the rest of the witch population has to wait, mostly nothing happens until they reach adulthood. As children we are taught how to create and mix spells, good magic, bad magic etc, the learning starts young, but I was childish and immature. I didn't want any part of this amazing legacy I was born into, I just wanted to be normal."
Cane was watching mesmerized, clearly he had no knowledge of this witch business either. "When I was sixteen I ran away. I travelled all over until at eighteen I met your father in a road side diner when he was returning from a convention. He was very charming and he made me laugh, he told me about this Order that he was part of, he taught me about their beliefs and how they denounced God and worshipped Lucifer. I was so naïve, I thought that if I joined them and gave up the notion of God I would be saved and my magic wouldn't develop and grow. For a few years it worked, and initially the Order seemed like this normal community and it was."
As Nicky poured everyone a drink, Morgan took the opportunity to soothe her still dry throat while constantly staring at this woman that she had imagined forever.
"Everyone lived together, shared everything until Jacob started prophesizing that he had been visited by Lucifer and thing's changed. By this time your father and I were married and I was pregnant with Andrew. Things changed, in the space of six months women were relegated to looking after the men, we were no longer allowed to talk to each other and we were isolated while the men would go off for hours alone. Anyway things between me and your father got worse, I tried to run away before I had Andrew but let's just say I learnt the error of that."
Nicky could see how painful it was for her to tell her story, yet so far he had seen no justification for leaving her children to a fate that she had run from. He could see Denissa listening and watching, she was a woman he knew but not overly well, he knew that she had a daughter and that she was something of a recluse but that was all.
"Any way, Jacob became more frantic in his preaching's which worsened when his first wife ran off. Things in the homes were harder, women were seen as being a direct link to God and therefore the creators of all of the world's illnesses, the female children were directly impacted. Then when I was pregnant with Cane, your father took away all of my contact with Andrew. Even though I was permitted to cook and clean for Andrew, I was no longer able to talk to him, eat with him, or put him to bed." Her mother's voice cracked as she recalled what must have been a terrible time for her.
"I was so scared for you Cane, I was terrified of how your life would be if you were a girl, yet scared of having you removed from me if you were a boy. I thought I would be able to ask for help when I went to the hospital to give birth, but Jacob made a new ruling that all children were to be born at home, except in emergencies."
Cane interrupted. "That is still the case, except if there is an emergency now the male also goes to the hospital and he does not leave."
Morgan listened in rapture, she needed to hear this, she needed to understand. "My fault I imagine. When you were three weeks old, I took you and Andrew and tried to run again, this time Jacob caught me. He decided that I needed to be punished and believe me, I was. Your father was furious, I'm sorry it must be hard to learn this about your father. Anyway, I still wanted to leave but couldn't find a way to escape. This time though they left you with me Cane, I don't think your father could manage to teach two young boys. When I became pregnant for a third time, I was terrified I knew straight away you were a girl. I also knew you were strong, I could feel it."
Morgan couldn't turn away, she was angry at the assumption of her strength. "Well you were wrong, I have been plagued by anxiety since I can remember, every time they came near me my body froze and started hyperventilating but it didn't save me from the physical abuse."
This time it was Denissa who responded. "Did they hurt you sexually?"
Though it was a strange question, it was one that hadn’t occurred to Nicky or his wolf who was now howling inside of him. Nicky waited, for he too needed to hear the answer, if they had touched her that way he would obliterate them all. He watched as Morgan shook her head, she turned to him and he could see the truth in her gesture. It was only when he looked in her eyes that he realized that he had stopped breathing.
Denissa too seemed relieved. "You might think that your illness was a weakness, but it was a coping mechanism that saved you. During our travels to find you and your brothers we met three survivors of Jacob's Order, all were abused sexually from being a young age yet you were not. The panic attacks you suffered prevented them from being able to harm you sexually, and therefore a strength that protected you from further abuse."
She just shrugged at information that had been unknown to her, it wasn’t that she had no feelings for the children that had suffered, she did but right now she had to focus on herself, the time would come to deal with the Order. That didn't make what she had suffered lessen, she waited for her mom to continue telling her story.
"Towards the end of my pregnancy, the second of Jacob's wives ran away. I tried so hard to find out how she had managed it but I never did. When I went into labor with you, it was obvious early on that there were complications; I had to go to the hospital. I had a plan, I knew I would have to leave you behind initially Cane, but if I could get to a phone and call home I knew that I would be able to get help."
Nicky was dubious, that clearly hadn’t worked though now was not the time to say that he continued listening.
"But you were born early Morgan; you had to go to a special unit without me. When I was allowed to see you, you were never alone, someone in the Order was always with you and your father was always with me. One afternoon, your father had to go and speak to the doctor about you Morgan; they were planning on discharging us both. I took the chance and ran, leaving you there at the hospital and you at home Cane, broke my heart. I hitchhiked to a nearby shopping precinct and called home, there was no answer. I knew the Order would be searching for me so I kept moving, heading closer to here every day. It took me ten days to arrive in New York only to find out my parents were out looking for me as they had been for several years."
Morgan stood to go to the toilet, needing a moment to compose herself as she suddenly felt nauseous, her mother waited for her to return before continuing. "They flew back to meet me, the first thing we did was return for my three children and this time I was not alone. When we arrived I knew there was no-one there, the guards were gone and so were the cars. When I got to our house, I found a note scrawled from your father, it was so simple 'TOO LATE,' he was right you were all gone."
Cane nodded, he remembered the running away.
"Do you want to know something really funny? It was then that my powers sparked, stood in that kitchen I was so devastated and lost and then I was angry, really angry and bang I blew all of the windows out."
As her mother cried, Denissa sat forward taking the story from there. "We were so relieved that your mother was back, even on the journey home to her, I knew she would be different. I have the gift of second sight although it doesn't always tell me what I need to know. During those years when she was missing, we did everything we could to locate her, I cursed the Gods many a time for not helping us find her. The minute I put my arms around her, I felt her pain, but even more than her pain I knew you were gone although I didn't know how to tell her."
Dabbing her eyes with a tissue she frowned. "I hoped that I would get a vision when we were at the house, I did only although it wasn't helpful only bizarre. As a touched your crib Morgan, I saw a wolf, a large wolf. At first I thought it had attacked you but I didn't get a horrible feeling, more of a protective feeling. I still don't know what that vision meant but eventually I just thought it was to do with something else."
Her mother glanced through the window with a wistful expression adorning her face. "It doesn't matter how hard I searched for you, I failed you all and am so sorry."
Morgan watched this woman; she had given birth to her and left her to be beaten every day of her life. She
wanted to hate her, she wanted to be angry she honestly did, but inside she just felt sad. They had all suffered and blaming this woman wouldn’t change that nor would it take away their pain and fears.
"Since you left us, what have you been doing?" Cane was angry; Morgan could hear it in his voice.
"It took me a long time to feel strong; I was depressed for many years. I do have to say though that my family supported me and followed every lead we could find. About six years after I left the Order, my parents gave me a few painful home truths and I realized that if I did ever find you again, I would need to be strong enough to fight for you. My father died about five years ago, he left to go to Massachusetts, he had met with another survivor who said the Order had headed that way, he never returned. We didn't understand it, we still don't, mom would have known if he had died but the fact that he never returned was devastating. Although in our heads we know he must have passed on to the next life, in our hearts he is still with us."
The Wolf With The Silver Smile (The Silver Series) Page 18