Chapter 15
Family Matters
The four women had finished their dinner two hours earlier and were catching up in the living room. Emily brought her laptop and placed it on the coffee table. She nodded to Ashley to do the same.
Once they powered up their devices, Emily said, “I think it’s time to check our DNA.”
Ashley giggled. “This is a first for me.”
“Me too,” Emily replied. “Let’s have at it.”
Jessica and Kathleen watched with curiosity. Jessica then asked, “You mean you never checked the second report?”
“I didn’t have to. I knew I was adopted, but you’ve been my mum.” She looked over at Kathleen. “Now I have two.”
Kathleen knew Emily had been on a mission to find her twin, but they never discussed the DNA tests. She turned to her. “You truly are a very determined woman.” Then she looked at Ashley. “As are you.”
“No surprise there.” Emily chuckled.
The twins sat alongside each other and began to read their reports. They recited the lineage out loud. “This is amazing,” Ashley said. “I’m sorry I hadn’t checked this second report, which is obviously the same as the first. Maybe I would have discovered I had a twin.”
“I only recently sent mine in and hadn’t had an opportunity to look at it. The results came almost at the same time as you did!” Emily wrapped her arm around Ashley.
Kathleen took Jessica’s hand. “I have no words to describe how grateful I am that you took such good care of my girl.” Tears were streaming down Kathleen’s face.
Jessica became blubbery as well, and said, “You’ve done a fine job yourself.” Even though twenty years separated these two women in age, they had parallel values.
Ashley and Emily sat snuggled close together and giggled at their mothers. “I guess we turned out alright,” Emily said and hugged her sister closer. Changing the subject to the days ahead, Emily suggested, “How about we go to Warwick Castle.”
Ashley’s mouth dropped. “That’s on the list. It was the backdrop of so many Shakespearean works, which is why I wanted to study here.”
“Right-o. I’ll purchase tickets right now,” Emily offered, and used one of the apps on her phone. After a few taps she exclaimed, “We’re good for one o’clock. It’s a two-hour tour. It will take about forty-five minutes to drive there.”
Kathleen was beginning to feel like herself. Finally. “That means we’ll be back in time for afternoon tea. How about The Ivy Temple Row?”
“Aren’t we fancy?” Emily teased.
“Yes, we are. Can you make a reservation on that thingamabob on your phone?”
“It’s an app, Mother.”
“Apps are something you eat before a meal,” Kathleen joked. She leaned toward Jessica. “Technology is a necessary evil, I know, but I try to limit my need.”
“I totally agree,” Jessica quipped. “I use my phone sparingly, but you’re much younger than I am. Aren’t you from a techie generation?”
“I think it skipped over me.” Kathleen snorted.
Ashley and Emily continued to compare their DNA results. “Brilliant!” Emily exclaimed. “There really is something to this exploration of one’s ancestry.”
“Truly,” Ashley agreed as she stared at identical profiles side by side.
Emily pulled her phone next to her again and tapped another app for restaurant reservations. “Done! We’re in for four thirty.”
“Perfect,” Kathleen said as she stifled a yawn. “Dear me. I’m knackered.” She blinked. “I think we should try to get some sleep.”
“The hotel is a few blocks away,” Jessica said. “We can call a cab.”
Kathleen stood. “You shall do no such thing. You will be staying here.”
“I don’t want to impose.”
“Bollocks. You’re family.” She turned to Emily. “Help them with their bags. Jessica can stay in my room. I’ll freshen the linens. You and Ashley will have to share the trundle bed in your room. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
Jessica began to protest. “Nonsense. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“You will do no such thing.” Kathleen was back to her steely self. “Besides, I’ve probably spent more nights on this sofa, praying and hoping Henry would find us and knock on the door,” she said lovingly.
Emily and Ashley powered down their devices and dragged the suitcases up the stairs. “Why so many?” Emily asked.
“Shopping,” Ashley grunted.
“Speaking of shopping, we must take you to the Christmas market.”
“Seems like every town has one.” Ashley tugged at the larger suitcase.
“It’s the law,” Emily joked.
“Apparently. And you go all out at these markets. Does every one of them have a Ferris wheel?”
“We definitely have one here!” Emily smiled and rolled the bag into her small bedroom. “It’s a little tight, but I think we can manage.”
Ashley looked around the room. Posters of famous works of art hung neatly side by side, and top to bottom, covering most of the walls. She couldn’t help but notice they were in chronological order too. “When did you start this gigantic collage?”
“When I was in high school. I think I was on my fourteenth or fifteenth when I decided I should put them in order. Then I started filling in some of the decades I missed. To be honest, I don’t love all of them, but it encouraged me to wonder how we got from point A to point B, artistically, and what the cultural ramifications were at the time each piece was created. ”
Ashley chuckled. “It’s astounding how similar we are. I don’t have prose on my walls, but I do have book covers.”
Emily placed the bags in a tight corner of the room. She remembered something and turned abruptly. “Say, did you ever have an imaginary playmate?”
“No, but I had an invisible one.” Ashley cocked her head. “Why do you ask?”
“First off, I like the way you changed the word from imaginary to invisible. I think you’re on to something.
Looking at one of the prints reminded me of mine.
She resembled that one.” Emily pointed to a Renoir, Two Sisters (On the Terrace).
“The one with the red hat.” Emily gazed at the copy of the famous painter’s art. “I called her ‘Annie.’”
Ashley sat on the bed. “Mine looked similar, and I called her Lily.” Both fell silent.
Finally Emily spoke. “Annie and Lily. Very close to Ashley and Emily, wouldn’t you say?”
Ashley gasped. “This is kind of spooky.”
“Not if you believe all the studies about twins,” Emily said. “I became obsessed when I found out.”
“When we get a free minute, which may not be for a while, I’d love for you to share that information with me.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Emily sat next to Ashley. “It’s a bit surreal, innit?”
“I think it’s called a ‘rum sort’ innit?” Ashley said, half in jest.
“You’re catching on just fine.” Emily smiled. “Oh my goodness! I almost forgot to tell you. Blair asked me to invite you to a New Year’s Eve party in London. Should be rather smashing. Very posh.”
“My mother reserved a suite so we could watch the fireworks together,” Ashley said pensively.
“We’ll sort it out,” Emily reassured her. “For now, we have a big project on our hands. Find Pops and connect him to the lawyer.”
“Yes, if the lawyer agrees to take his case.”
“Blair can be very convincing.” Emily raised her eyebrows.
“Do tell!” Ashley placed her hand on Emily’s.
“There’s nothing to tell. Yet.”
“Blimey. You’re sounding like my mom when I ask her about her ‘friend’ Noah.”
“Blimey? You are quite the quick study! But right now Blair and I are good mates. Nothing romantic so far, although we kissed. Lightly, mind you. Nothing all sloppy. But he’s been acting like a boyfriend, helping me fetch you and all.”
“Well, if you don’t snatch him up, I will!” Ashley teased.
“I think he has other plans for you. He said there would be lots of interesting men at the party, some even from Oxford!”
“Brilliant!” Ashley was feeling more at home than ever.
While the twins were getting more acquainted, Jessica was helping Kathleen change the linens. “You really don’t have to do this,” Jessica insisted.
“You don’t want my drool on the pillows,” Kathleen replied.
“We could just change the pillow cases,” Jessica suggested.
“Oh, never you mind. Fresh sheets for the weary traveler, eh?”
“I have to admit, I am a bit, how do you say it, knackered?”
Kathleen chuckled. “Right-o.” She nodded in the direction of Emily’s room. They could hear the girls giggling. Kathleen sighed. “I feel guilty for keeping them apart. No offense to you and Todd. I simply mean they lost so many years together.” Tears welled up again.
Jessica put her arms around Kathleen and softly rubbed her back.
That’s when the waterworks began again. Kathleen went from misty-eyed to full-blown sobs.
Jessica held her tighter. “It’s okay. Go ahead.
Let it all out.” Kathleen tried valiantly to curb her emotional outburst, but to no avail.
After several very long minutes her shudders abated.
“Oh dear, look at me. I’m in shambles.”
Jessica pulled a tissue from the box next to the bed. “You are not. You are a strong woman who has been bottling up her emotions for a decade. Everything that happened today was like pulling out the cork.”
Kathleen wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Jessica shuttled her to the bed, where the two sat next to each other. Jessica decided to take the reins of the conversation, giving Kathleen an opportunity to pull herself together.
“I never knew if or when it was the right time to tell Ashley she was adopted. Whenever I had the courage, I purposely distracted myself. It wasn’t until several months ago when she told us she got a grant to do research at Oxford.
We had no idea she was even considering Oxford, but as fate would have it, she was offered the position as a result of a recommendation from one of her professors at Dartmouth. ”
Kathleen gave Jessica a quizzical look. “You mean this was some kind of serendipitous occurrence?”
“It certainly appears that way. And then the encounter with Blair? It was as if the heavens were keen on making this happen.”
Kathleen sniffled. “They say God works in mysterious ways.”
“I think this is one for the books. Most definitely,” Jessica replied.