by Faith Gibson
“Hold up,” Tessa said. “Wasn’t your father King of Italy?”
“Yes. That was one reason he held such a tight rein over me. Being from the Original bloodline, we had a duty to uphold all Gargoyle law.”
“So what happened to him? He’s no longer King; Xavier is,” Tessa stated.
“I thought Grandpa X lived in New York with Ezze.” Tabitha couldn’t say Elizabeth when she began talking, so her grandmother’s name came out as Ezze.
“He does, but he travels to Italy several times a year,” Tessa told her daughter. “What happened to your father?” Tessa asked Jonas again.
“When I took Caroline as my mate, the Council decided he wasn’t fit to be King since he couldn’t control his own son. Not only was I to be ostracized from the Clan, but the Council encouraged my father to step down. He feared for his life, so he did as they suggested, and my older brother, William, took over.”
Tessa worried her bottom lip between her thumb and index finger. “And William is my grandfather who was killed in a Clan war, leaving the throne to X.”
“Exactly. By taking a human as my mate, I cost my father the throne. I didn’t fear him retaliating as much as I did Alistair coming after us.”
“Dad’s crazy uncle who caused so much trouble?” Anthony asked.
“The very one. Alistair about lost his mind when his own sister mated with an Italian instead of a Greek. Not that she had any choice in the matter, other than refusing the bond. Alistair, demanding to keep the species pure, expected Athena to do exactly that, but she betrayed her brother and mated with Dante and Gregor’s father. If he was that set on not crossing lines even within the species, I couldn’t imagine what he would actually do with regards to human mates and offspring.” Jonas closed the journal.
Chapter Three
Jonas
The next part of their story wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t necessarily happy, either. Jonas had removed his mate from her home. From her family. They set off across Europe, making their way through some war-torn cities as well as some beautiful small towns.
“You can’t stop there, Grandpa. What happened next? How did you end up here? Did you ever get married? Why is Grandma’s last name Wexler instead of Montague?” Tabitha asked.
Jonas looked at his family to see if they were bored yet. He could put the children off until another time, but the adults were rooted to where they sat or stood, waiting for him to answer Tabitha’s questions. He took a deep breath and continued. “For several long months, we traveled across Europe. Once we reached the southern part of Turkey, we boarded a ship and set sail across the sea into Africa. I had overheard that Muhammad Ali was looking to build Egypt up into a modern state.”
“Muhammad Ali, the boxer?” Deklan asked. Eighty years later, and the man was still considered one of the greatest athletes of all time.
“No, the ruler of Egypt in the early eighteen hundreds. He was looking for input from French and Italian advisers. Who better to assist than an Italian physician looking for a new home?”
“You got in with the Egyptian ruler?” Isabelle asked incredulously.
“Of course not, but your mother did. Caroline had an artistic ability, and Ali was interested in exposing the children of Egypt to new cultures. She got a part-time job in a technical school while I was able to work as a physician at a local hospital. It was easier than I thought it would be, but we landed in Cairo in February of 1823, and within two weeks, both of us were working alongside the people there.
“As for the name Wexler, I had been kicked out of my Clan, and I refused for Caroline to bear the name of a species who turned their back on her. On us. During our travels, we met many people, but none as nice as a couple from Austria whose last name was Wexler. When we boarded the ship headed to Africa, we asked the captain of the vessel to perform a small wedding ceremony. When he asked for our names, your grandmother gave him the name Wexler, and that’s who we became. Jonas and Caroline Wexler. Over the years, I’ve gone by many names, as you all know, but Caroline married me that day as a Wexler, and to me, that’s who she is.”
Caroline reached over the top of the chair and placed her hand on Jonas’s shoulder. He set Tabitha on the hearth next to her brother and stood, pulling his mate to him. Rarely did they show their emotions in front of their family, but all that talk of their past had Jonas feeling a little nostalgic. He wrapped Caroline in his arms and placed a soft kiss on her lips. There was a collective sigh from the females, and the kids giggled.
“Stop with the kissing stuff already,” Anthony groaned.
Tabitha
I laughed at my brother when Grandpa kissed Grandma. It didn’t bother me to see my grandparents kissing. It was the same way our parents acted around each other. All the freakin’ time. They kept saying one day Anthony would understand, but I already did. I felt that way about Anthony. No, I didn’t want to kiss him and make googly eyes at him, but I loved him. He was my protector, but more than that, he was the other part of me. When we were separated for whatever reason, I felt off. One day we would grow up and find mates. I knew that even though I was only seven. I’m pretty sure I got the smart gene from our momma. Not only did I look like she spit me out, but both Anthony and I understood a lot more than the adults realized.
In school, I had trouble concentrating. I was always getting in trouble for not paying attention, and the teacher liked to throw around the term ADD, but I knew the truth. I was freakin’ bored. Heck, both Anthony and I were. We had both been reading for a few years, and the stuff the teacher went on and on about was boring baby stuff. Having Gargoyles for parents, we were used to being talked to like adults, not kids. It’s one reason I was happy we found Grandpa’s journal in Izzy’s closet. None of us wanted to hear baby stories like Santa Claus. Well, maybe Amber Marie, but she was two, so that was understandable.
Our parents and the other adults had lived a lot of years and seen a lot of crazy stuff. They’d fought evil Gargoyles. Had been kidnapped. Buried alive. Poisoned. They’d even gone through wars. So the real-life stories we already heard was stuff most kids wouldn’t hear until they were in high school. Listening to Grandpa talk about how he met Grandma, now that was interesting. I knew he skipped over the mushy stuff, but that was okay. Anthony hated mushy stuff. I kinda liked it, but I was supposed to since I was a girl.
Nio, that’s what I called Anthony when we were alone, was getting antsy, which meant he was hungry. My twin was always hungry. Every time I interrupted Grandpa, Anthony would huff, but I wanted to understand what things meant. You couldn’t find out what something meant if you didn’t ask. Nio was just as curious, but he was hungry more. Instead of getting back on Grandpa’s lap, I stayed where I was on the hearth next to my brother. Nobody in our family got onto us for holding hands, and that made me happy. It kept me connected to him, and the closer we were, the easier it was to mind speak. I really liked being able to communicate silently. We did it all the time in school when we were bored, which was all the time.
Connor could also mind speak, but he was super good at it and could do it with just about anyone.
When Grandpa turned loose of Grandma, he didn’t sit back down. Instead, he looked at Anthony and grinned. “Are you ready to eat?” Nio jumped up, and just like that, the connection was gone.
Jonas
After all these years, his mate still did it for him. Reading about being intimate with Caroline sparked the need to be with her, so he skipped over the parts that told how his mate had been as desperate as he to consummate their relationship. When Jonas first met Caroline and he had no idea he could have a human for a mate, the pull between them had been too strong to ignore. She had done her level best to stay pure, but even she had slipped a time or two when it came to how far they went touching each other.
Since Tessa and Isabelle had possession of the journals, they had probably read them already, but he doubted either one of them would have focused in on those portions of his diaries that spoke of
his and Caroline’s sex life. The journals had been his way of expressing his emotions since he had no one to confide his feelings to. Never did he think they would end up in the hands of his daughter or niece but more especially Nikolas Stone ten years ago.
When Sophia admitted she was the one to stash the tell-tale journal in the New Atlanta public library, Jonas should have been mad. But like Tessa, Sophia had his heart, and he couldn’t be mad at her either. She had known Nikolas was her mate, and she wanted him to figure it out as well. Jonas had tried to keep his half-blood offspring from finding out the truth of their heritage, much to Caroline’s dismay. He did it to protect them, but no matter the reason, the outcome was heart-breaking.
The way Jonas and Caroline met as well as the year that followed wasn’t hard to talk about. It was those years soon after they left Italy where things got tough. Jonas still thanked the gods every day that Caroline forgave him for what he asked of her.
Needing a respite from the story as well as his reaction to his mate, Jonas postponed the next part of their story under the guise of being hungry. Dane grumbled about wanting to hear the rest of the story, but the knowing look Tessa gave Jonas let him know she understood.
The food was ready to go on the table. For Thanksgiving, Maria cooked a large meal, and everyone stuffed themselves. For the winter holiday, they all brought hors d’ouevres and finger foods. It gave Jonas the opportunity to read the kids a story and not have to worry about the food staying warm. He rather liked this tradition they’d started a few years back, especially this year when he needed the distraction of food before he went any further with sharing his and Caroline’s next few years.
Unlike the table at Rafael’s manor, Dante and Isabelle’s table wouldn’t hold a small Clan, so everyone grabbed a plate and sat or stood wherever they wanted. The kids all ended up in the floor where they’d been listening to the story. Even little Amber Marie sat with the older kids who took turns feeding small bites of whatever she asked for. If Tabitha looked like a miniature version of Tessa, Amber Marie was the spitting image of her father, thus she looked like Jonas since he and his youngest son could pass for twins. With her blonde hair and bright blue eyes, the baby was already beyond beautiful. It was all Jonas could do not to clone her.
That was another story Jonas had yet to tell his family – why he cloned Tessa. Sure, they had all asked, but he’d never been able to give them the reason. As long as he was baring his soul to his family, Jonas might as well tell them all of it. Pretty soon, everyone was moaning about being full, even Anthony. Once they had resumed their places from before, Jonas sat down in the chair and held the journal in his lap. He didn’t need to read about the events that took place after he and Caroline found their home in Egypt. The memories were as bright as well as painful as if they’d happened that day and not two hundred years before.
“Caroline and I were welcomed into the Egyptian culture. Nobody asked too many questions when we said we’d left home to ‘find ourselves’ away from our families. She and I had been married for almost three months when she became ill. Suffice it to say, I panicked. Female Gargoyles were susceptible to some human diseases, therefore it only made sense Caroline could get sick as well, even if she was my mate. When her sickness continued with bouts of nausea every morning, it didn’t take a genius to figure out she was pregnant. We were just settling in to our new lives in a new country, and I hadn’t planned on starting a family so soon. I thought I would have more time to ensure our safety. I hadn’t stopped looking over my shoulder every five minutes for a Clan member to come after me. I knew deep down that was ridiculous considering the Elder Council had voted to have me removed from my Clan. Still, paranoia ran amok within me for the longest time.”
Jonas paused, gathering his words. Caroline came to stand beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. It had the calming effect he needed to continue. “For nine months, I agonized over bringing an offspring into the world. Would he be human? Gargoyle? Half of each? I didn’t hide my despair from my mate; I couldn’t. She felt my unease within herself. After talking it over, we decided letting someone else raise our child would be best, until we were more settled and sure of our safety. We would make certain the adoptive parents remained close by so we could keep an eye on our child, until we knew we were safe as well as whether or not the child would become a shifter at some point in time.
“Lucian, that is his name, was raised by a family who became dear friends of ours. Tarek Mansour, whom I worked with, and his wife, Sarah, were an honorable couple. While we did not confide in them as to the whole truth of why we wanted someone else to raise our firstborn, they believed us when we told them we feared for our safety. We saw Lucian often, and he came to know us as his parents’ good friends. We kept close watch on his development, and by the time Caroline was pregnant with our next child six years later, Lucian had not shown any sign of becoming a shifter, but he wouldn’t have at such a young age. When our daughter was born, we were already being looked at strangely since neither one of us was aging. We convinced the same couple who had Lucian to take in Marcella.
“This time, though, we confided in our friends. I explained being a Gargoyle, and they understood why we were offering our children up for adoption. In exchange for their loyalty, I gave them a large sum of money, and Caroline and I left Cairo and moved farther south into Egypt. We refused to be too far away in case our children did shift. This pattern continued for the next fifty years. There was medicine Caroline could take to prevent her pregnancies, but I was too selfish to offer it to her. I know it sounds ludicrous now, having children only to give them to someone else to raise, but I selfishly wanted to continue the Montagnon line of Gargoyles.”
Jonas rose from his chair and made his way to the wet bar. After pouring a tumbler full of whiskey, he returned to his seat. Caroline sat on the arm of the chair next to him. She smiled at him and took over the story. “I can’t imagine what you all think of us, but I can promise you there was nothing harder than allowing someone else to raise our children. We moved around every five or six years to keep those around us from questioning our appearance. It took several years, but we noticed I had stopped aging as well. As we traveled back through Cairo to check on Lucian and Marcella, we were surprised to find Lucian had transitioned. Tarek had done his best to coach Lucian through the change, but it was harder than anyone anticipated.
“No matter what we said, Lucian wouldn’t forgive us for abandoning him. Marcella was there when Lucian transitioned, so she was aware of what she might someday become. Lucian was twenty-four when he phased for the first time, but we had no idea what caused the change. After many arguments, fights between Lucian and Jonas, and tears on my part, we convinced our son to come with us and become the first watcher. Marcella stayed with the only parents she’d known.”
“How come I’ve never heard of Lucian?” Tessa asked. “If he is a Watcher, I should have met him.”
“He’s still around, but he continues to live abroad. Lucian never forgave us for our betrayal,” Jonas explained. “Once Marcella transitioned, she joined her brother as he traveled around Europe and Africa. By that time, we were sure the threat of Alistair coming after our family had passed, but we were wrong. When news reached us that Edmondo Di Pietro had moved his Clan to the United States to start a new life, I decided we should go with him. We were both Italians who had been targeted by the same Gargoyle. Soon after we arrived, Alistair attacked Edmondo. We thought for certain he would have come after us first, but instead, he sent a small army across the ocean to take on the newly formed Clan in the United States. Either he wasn’t aware we intended to join the new Clan, or he had different plans for us later. I didn’t want to bring attention to us, so instead of joining Rafael and his brothers as they recovered from their father’s death, I thought it best to hide my identity.”
“According to the archives, my father was the first offspring you didn’t put up for adoption. Why was that?” Sophia asked.
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br /> “When we decided to move to a new land, Lucian agreed to watch over his siblings who lived abroad until each one had transitioned, but only if I agreed to cut ties with him after.” Jonas’s heart hurt every time he thought of his older children. Leaving their well-being in the hands of their older brother had been a mistake. Jonas was certain Lucian had turned them all against Jonas and Caroline. The only proof he had of that was none of them would agree to see their biological parents when they’d reached out to them. After Caroline and Isabelle finally reconciled, Caroline insisted on finding all her children. It hadn’t turned out to be the happy reunions she’d hoped for. At least not with those who had been entrusted to Lucian.
“It was many years after we arrived in the States that I agreed to try for another child. The dust seemed to have settled for the moment, and Caroline convinced me to give her a child. One she could keep.”
“But JoJo, if my math is correct, it was almost fifty years between the time you and Gran moved and the time my dad was born.”
“I did say it was many years.”
“That’s more than many, Grandpa. That’s like a gazillion in human years,” Tabitha told him.
Jonas laughed and spread his hands. “Truth, Tabitha. That is the truth. It hurt Caroline to give her children up, but it hurt her more not raising one, so I agreed we would keep Samuel. By this time, Lucian was ready to be out of the family business. Marcella had only gone along to help her big brother, so when he decided it was time to quit, she also cut all ties with us. We needed someone in the States to keep an eye on the offspring we had before Samuel.