Kenny chuckled at his sincerity.
“Hush, cariño. Unless you want to go in the bathroom and watch her pipí.” Tobias smiled, actually considering the option. “Or do número dos.”
His smile quickly morphed into a frown, and he leaned back in his chair, giving up.
“Tobias, make sure you keep the game room door locked,” Kenny instructed. “I don’t want her snooping around down there.”
“Copy that.”
“Tomorrow, would you mind taking the samples Chelsey collected downtown to the lab that’s agreed to run them for me?”
“Sure. And Carla comes with me, right?”
“Of course,” Kenny replied, chuckling. “And turn the cameras back on but don’t reroute them, okay? We can use them to keep an eye on Jaylen.”
“Smart. Too bad there’s not one in the bathroom.”
“Okay, now you’re just being a perverted Peeping Tom,” Kenny joked.
“And if he keeps it up, I’ll wash his nasty mouth out with soap, understand?” Sophie asked sternly.
“Yes, Mamá.”
“Good, now help me with the dishes.” Sophie stood up and walked around the table, holding her hand out to Miguel.
“Gracias, Sofía. It was delicioso,” Miguel said, handing his dish to her.
“De nada,” she replied with a sweet smile, and then moved on to Kenny’s plate.
Kenny stood up, intending to take her own plate into the kitchen when Sophie held out her hand. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help?”
“That’s what Tobias is for,” Sophie answered.
Tobias looked at his mom and rolled his eyes.
“Gracias, Soph,” Kenny said.
Jaylen walked back in, followed by Carla, who took up a position just inside the dining room door.
“Kenny, can we talk?” Jaylen asked. “Without all these people around.”
Kenny had a sharp retort, but Sophie cut her a look that said be civil. “Fine. Let’s go into Grandma’s favorite room.”
“Oh, you have a library here?” Jaylen asked curiously.
It was very disconcerting that the woman Kenny refused to accept as her mother knew so much about her grandmother. It was also confusing in that Deidre had legally adopted Kenny, which would mean that her mother was also her sister. It didn’t seem fair that they both had the same mother and yet Jaylen took credit for giving birth to her, as if that made up for all the years she had forgotten about her. Get over it? She would never get over it.
“Yeah, follow me.” Kenny waved at Carla, who nodded and went to look for Tobias. She opened the double doors to the library and stepped to the side, allowing Jaylen to enter. Then she shut the doors behind them.
“My, God, Makenna. This library is huge. Mom always wanted a library like this. I’m so proud that you made it happen for her.”
Kenny let the compliment roll off her back. She wasn’t about to be suckered in. She walked over to the closest window and looked out, not that there was much of a view with the bushes in front of it. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”
Jaylen sat in a chair, gazing at Kenny. She quietly cleared her throat and rubbed her hands across her legs. “I didn’t mean to become a drug addict, you know. I guess no one really does. I was in love with a boy who was in love with his drugs.” Jaylen studied her for a moment. “Have you ever been in love, Makenna?”
Kenny crossed her arms, remembering the feel of Chelsey in them. Her eyes glistened at the pain in her heart from not being with her. It surprised her, in fact, how much she missed Chelsey.
“Oh, I can see that you have been,” Jaylen said softly.
Kenny glared at her, but Jaylen was calm, with a tranquil smile on her lips. Kenny sat down, crossed her legs and interlocked her fingers around her knees. She looked at her mother and waited.
“Okay. None of my business,” Jaylen admitted. “Anyway, this boy was the most popular senior in high school and I was a lowly ninth-grader, but I had the worst crush on him. I was only fifteen, and I would have done anything to get his attention.”
“So, you did drugs?” It wasn’t a question, it was an accusation.
“Yes, actually, I did. I was only fifteen, Makenna. I didn’t know when I took that first hit that it would turn into a lifetime of hits. Plus, I was in love with him. When he offered to take me higher than I had ever been before, of course, I said yes.”
“So, you got high and what… gave him your virginity, too?”
“Oh, hell no. He wasn’t my first. Wait, were you… how old were you the first time?”
Kenny shook her head. They were not going to bond over coming-of-age stories. “Do you have a point with your little story?”
“I would have thought it was obvious,” Jaylen replied gruffly. “Look. I tried to dry out. I tried to get clean so many times so that I could see you, but something always pulled me back in.”
“When you’re done with the excuses,” Kenny grumbled.
“When you’re done being a bitch.”
Kenny exhaled and stood up.
“All right. Damn, you’re impossible.”
“Like mother, like daughter,” Kenny retaliated as she sat down again.
“My point is that after over twenty years on drugs, I am finally clean and sober and ready to be a part of your life.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not ready for you to be in my life, so why don’t you just tell me where Grandma is and put an end to this fucking sham?”
“I keep telling you, I don’t know where she is and the more you keep asking me that, the more worried I get. And being anxious and worried is not good for a recovering addict.”
“I don’t give a shit about your problems, lady. You said you wanted to help, so help already, or I’m leaving.”
“Of course, I want to help find my mother. You tell me how I can help.”
Kenny stood up again and glared down at her, barely able to control her anger. “Just stay out of my way,” she fumed and walked out of the room.
12:01 a.m. Saturday, Day Six after the Kidnapping
It was just after midnight and Kenny was in her grandmother’s room. Jaylen had been locked in her room, one that had no windows and Kenny had the only key to. Sophie and Tobias had gone to bed and the bodyguards, who took the remaining bedrooms, had tossed a coin to see who took first shift. Miguel lost the toss.
Switching the turntable on and placing the needle on the album, Kenny was immediately enveloped in an Irish aria that her grandmother’s mother sang on the Boston Opera House stage. Her great-grandparents were both artistic and creative. Her great-grandfather was a craftsman who designed violins. Kenny always imagined them together, singing sean-nós at family gatherings. Unfortunately, her great-grandparents died in a car crash the year she was born, and she never got to meet them.
Picking up a pillow, Kenny sat down on the bed. Deidre hadn’t slept in her luxurious room very many nights before she was kidnapped, but her pillow smelled of Chanel Number 5, her favorite perfume. Kenny hugged the pillow to her as she thought of her grandmother, wondering what she would think about Jaylen being in the house. Would she embrace her daughter or reject her? If she welcomed her, would Kenny concede and accept her, too? Kenny scoffed at the thought. It would take a hell of a lot more than her grandmother’s acceptance to let Jaylen into her heart. From what she’d experienced of her mother so far, it might never happen.
To distract herself from crying, Kenny got up and walked into the closet, retrieving the fireproof security box. She placed it on the nightstand and pulled out the letters. Subconsciously, she wanted to get to know her mother, but she also wanted to validate her feelings toward the woman. The oldest letter in the stack was from 1995, a year after Kenny was born.
Dear Mom and Dad. How are you? How’s my baby? I’m sorry I haven’t been in contact in so long, but I’ve been moving around a lot. I’m settled now, and you can write me back if you want. In fact, if you could see your way clear to send me a couple hundre
d dollars for groceries, I would really appreciate it. I’ll pay you back, I promise. Love you both. Jaylen.
“So she dumps me, doesn’t contact Grandma for a year and when she does, she asks for money,” Kenny summarized detestably, stuffing the letter back in the envelope. She pulled out the next envelope dated six months after the first one.
Mom. Thank you for the money. I was hoping it’d be more but I’m grateful for the fifty dollars. You said in your letter that you would send more if I would come home, so I figured you were trying to make a statement. I can’t come home, Mom. We both know that. Take care of Makenna and Dad. Love you, Jaylen.
Kenny tossed the letter on the bed and grabbed the next one. That one was a return-to-sender letter, one Deidre had sent Jaylen a few days after receiving the last one. “Why would Grandma keep a letter she wrote?” Kenny opened the unopened envelope and began reading.
Jaylen. I’m begging you. Your father is begging you. Please come home. Whatever you need to get clean and back on your feet, we’ll help you. Please, come home. Your daughter is already eighteen months old and beginning to form whole sentences. She is so adorable, Jaylen. And so smart. You’re missing out on so much, báire. Please come home. We love you. No matter what.
Tears streamed down Kenny’s face. She could feel the desperation in Deidre’s words and it made her heart ache. Her grandmother had never shown raw emotion except when her grandfather was brought home in a closed casket. A military funeral, with all its pomp and circumstance, was hard enough, but to not be given the chance to look at him and say goodbye was the breaking point. Deidre, in her grief and disbelief that he was dead, tried to open the lid. His mother and aunt pulled her away as Kenny, only ten-years-old at the time, watched in horror.
How could Jaylen be so cruel?
There were two more returned letters, but Kenny couldn’t bring herself to read them. Instead she picked out the next one from Jaylen and pulled it out.
Dear Mom and Dad. Congratulate yourselves. You’re going to be grandparents again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kenny tore out of her grandmother’s room and ran up the stairs two at a time, only stopping at Jaylen’s door long enough to unlock it, before she threw the open and flipped on the light. It was after midnight, and she had received the ransom text, but she didn’t take time to look at it.
“What the fuck is this?” Kenny yelled. “You had another child?”
Jaylen looked up from her pillow, shielding her eyes from the light. “What the hell? What are you talking about?”
Kenny walked up to the bed and stood over her, shaking the letter in her face. “How many unwanted children have you had, Jaylen?”
Jaylen sat up, cushioning her back against a pillow. She crossed her arms, prepared for the onslaught.
“How many kids have you popped out?” Kenny repeated.
“Counting you, two others. A girl and a boy.”
“What the fuck? Did you trade them for drugs, too?”
“I tried to explain to you what drugs can do to a person,” Jaylen stated, looking down at the blanket.
“Bullshit. Mother-fucking bullshit!” Kenny yelled and stormed down to the end of the bed.
“I didn’t say I was proud of it, Makenna. And lower your voice before you wake up the others. Unless you want to invite them to our family chat?”
“I can’t believe you,” Kenny growled, pacing in the small area. She was beginning to regret giving Jaylen the smallest bedroom, because there was not enough space to walk around. “What kind of person are you?”
“It was a different time of my life. I can’t go back and change it, but I can try to be a better person now because of what I’ve done.”
“Something you learned in prison?”
“Yes, actually, it was. If I allow myself to think too much about the past, I am doomed to repeat it.”
Kenny stopped pacing and looked at her. “So, where are my half-siblings now?”
“Actually,” Jaylen began with a placid face, “they’re not your half-siblings. You all shared the same man’s DNA.”
“How is that even possible when you just admitted you only had us for the drugs?”
“Not true. I said I was out of control and got pregnant because of the drugs.”
“And that’s not exactly true either,” Kenny shot back. “So, you were sober enough to have three children by the same man but weren’t sober enough to stick around, or even remember his name for God’s sake?”
“No, I was smart enough to know not to stick around for you. Can you imagine how screwed up you’d be today if I had been with you?”
“As opposed to how fucking screwed up I am right now?”
“My son died,” Jaylen said quietly.
Kenny froze, not sure how to respond to that. She felt sorrow for the brother she’d never meet, but she was too wary of the lies to believe her fully.
“My son and daughter were twins, you see, and the boy died shortly after I gave birth to him. I didn’t even get to name him.”
Choosing to fight the pity she felt, Kenny asked, “And your daughter?”
“You mean your sister? She was born handicapped, and I had to give her up for adoption. It was the best thing for her, really.”
A horrible thought suddenly churned in the pit of Kenny’s stomach, sending chills down her spine. “It was because of the drugs, wasn’t it? The boy died and the girl is handicapped because you took drugs during your pregnancy.”
Jaylen’s eyes twitched, and she looked away, pulling the blanket up around her. “I’m very tired. Please leave.”
“My, God. You killed him!” Kenny screamed, losing control. “You fucking killed him as if you’d taken a knife and stabbed that baby in the heart. You bitch!”
Just as Kenny was about to wring the truth out of her mother, Sophie, Tobias, and Miguel came running in. Tobias and Miguel grabbed her and pulled her back, her arms swinging wildly.
“No, let me go,” Kenny screamed, fighting them to get loose. “She’s a disgusting whore! She doesn’t deserve to live.”
Sophie, anxious and shocked and completely confused, walked over and stood in front of Kenny. “Kenny, what are you so molesta por?” Kenny looked right through her, her face a brutish red. Sophie had to do something. She had never seen Kenny so upset, but she had seen that type of blind rage before when they came to arrest her husband. She took a quick breath to calm her own anxiety. She needed to get Kenny’s attention and speaking Spanish wasn’t going to do that. Suddenly, she clapped her hands together hard, producing a sharp crack and shouted, “Makenna Denise Whitt, you settle down this instant.”
Kenny was named for both her grandparents, Deirdre Makenna and Dennis, and she was very proud of that fact. Only her grandmother used her full name to reprimand her and it always worked. Even this time, in a heavy Spanish accent, it brought her out of her rage. Kenny looked at Sophie’s soft, concerned face and cleared her head.
“I’m fine, Sophie,” she said, looking at Miguel, who released her instantly. “You all can go back to bed now.”
“How about I wait for you downstairs?” Sophie suggested, pulling the belt on her robe tighter.
“All right,” Kenny relented.
Sophie pulled Tobias out of the door, ordering him back to bed while Miguel lingered, waiting for Kenny’s direction. Kenny nodded and he left the room.
Alone with her mother again, she could only glare at her. She had no words left to say. Jaylen had turned away from her and rolled up in the fetal position. Kenny walked out of the room and locked the door behind her. She heard crying coming from Jaylen’s room. It meant nothing to her.
Sophie was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. “Do you want something to eat?” she asked.
“No, thank you.”
“Okay, do you want to go into the kitchen and talk anyway?”
Kenny gave her a light smile and nodded. They walked into the kitchen, and Sophie went straight to the refrigera
tor. She pulled out a plate of cookies she had baked earlier that day and removed the cellophane. She poured two glasses of milk and brought everything to the table. It was her go-to food when one of her children was upset. She didn’t think of Kenny as a child, but it was all she could think of to help. Then she sat down and waited for Kenny to decide if she was going to sit down or not.
“Grandma told me years ago that she was so thankful I turned out healthy and whole. I never knew how significant that statement was until just now.”
“Why? What did Jaylen say to upset you so badly?”
“I hate her! I hate her with every fiber of my being, Sophie,” Kenny shouted.
“I’m not liking her very much myself, right now,” Sophie said lightheartedly, trying to defuse the tension. “What happened?”
Kenny sat down and laid her trembling hands on the table. “A year after she had me, Jaylen had twins, a boy and a girl. The boy died at birth, and she gave the girl up for adoption because she was handicap.” Kenny picked at an invisible spot on the table. “He died because Jaylen was on drugs. She’s handicapped because her fucking mother was on drugs.” Her voice escalated, and she could feel her temper rising again.
Sophie placed her small hand on Kenny’s and held it. Her eyes glistened as she said, “I’m so sorry, Kenny.”
Kenny cleared her throat to speak, but she could only murmur through her tears.
Sophie waited patiently. All she could offer was patience.
Finally, wiping her tears away with the palms of her hands, she said, “I’m… I’m sorry I brought you into this, Sophie.”
“You didn’t know, Kenny. How could you?”
“I shouldn’t have acted a fool when I won the lottery. I should have known that the crazy people would come out of the woodwork.”
“And who knew they’d all be from your own family?” Sophie said with a smile in her voice.
Kenny looked at her for a moment, and then started laughing. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“It’s tragic, what your mother did, but I don’t think she did it intentionally. Not like the mother I read about in the news. She let men have sex with her one-year-old for money, so she could buy drugs.”
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