Chapter Three
Erika got Sage some bottled water and went to feed the baby in the nursery.
Saint told the other two that he would see if she needed anything for the baby, so he went out too.
Silence permeated the kitchen.
“You feel a little better now?” Dax asked her.
Sage slowly nodded at him. “I-I think so. I just feel odd. I never remembered anything before now. Just the cops showing up. I don’t think I can get my mother’s scream out of my head though. I relived that too.”
“It may take a while.” He nodded. “Trauma has a way of reaching the surface and it can be stressful.”
She stared at him to ask, “Are you a therapist?”
He laughed. “No, but I know trauma from...” he paused. “I did a few tours in Afghanistan.”
“Oh, wow,” she replied. “I-I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. We did what we were supposed to do.”
Saint came back in with Erika.
“The baby is down for a nap,” Erika said and set the baby monitor on the table.
“Wow, a baby,” Sage said.
“Yes wow,” Erika said and laughed. “Our first and boy, is it an experience.”
Saint let out a chuckle. “Best experience of my life.”
Erka reached over and took his hand.
Dax smiled at them. “To have such bliss. It is something rare.”
“Well, I have found that getting some sleep is rare too,” Erka joked.
Just then, Thrasher returned through the kitchen door and walked over to Saint to hand him a printed paper.
Saint read it then looked over at Sage. “Do you know a Roger Sembling?”
Sage shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so, I mean the name isn’t familiar.”
“Well, the car parked out on the highway belongs to him.” Saint growled.
“Do you have a photo of him?” Sage wanted to know.
Saint handed her the page that had the photo of his driver’s license. Sage took a moment to study his face. Then she looked at Saint and said, “I don’t know him personally but I think I have seen his face. I mean I’ve never met him but I’ve seen him around.”
Saint sighed and asked in frustration, “Honey, you’re not helping yourself here. What do you mean you’ve seen him around but you never met him?”
Sage shrugged. “It’s hard to explain. He’s been popping up wherever I am and once in a while I catch him looking at me in a weird way. Almost like he wants to speak to me but he never does. I do not know him or why he’s out there right now.”
Saint looked over at Thrasher and asked him, “See what you can find on the man. I want to know everything. He’s here for a reason. And I want to know what that reason is.”
Thrasher nodded then left the house again.
Sage looked over at Erika then at Saint. With a sigh, she laid her head on Dax’s chest again.
Dax looked down at the top of her head. He shook his head slightly and tightened his arms around her a bit.
Sage froze but then relaxed as she settled into his embrace.
Saint sat back in his chair and watched the other couple very carefully.
This situation had come completely out of left field and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
He had to wonder about the timing. Could Tommy have fathered another child?
Sage was only two years younger than Erika.
But they had been told by his grandmother that Erika was born before he lost his ability to have children due to his drug habit.
But when had he been tested? He suddenly blurted out, “Would you be willing to get a DNA test? Just to establish a connection. Tommy is dead but if you and Erika are sisters then there should be some familiar factors in both of your DNA to establish some of the same markers.”
Sage closed her eyes and nodded. She opened her eyes again and looked directly at Saint.
“Yeah, I’ll do your test and I’ll accept the results.
But know this... I just wanted to know if I had a sister, a connection to someone else.
Someone else I could claim as family. I grew up alone, no one to tell secrets too, no one who gave a damn if I was cold, hungry, or lonely.
When I found out we might share a link because of our father, I just had to come. ”
Erika stared at her. “You will have more family if the test is positive. Saint’s brother is married to Jessie and she is my cousin. Her dad and my mom were brother and sister.”
“I’m not sure if you are cousins by blood though?” Dax stated.
“I don’t care,” Sage said. “I have been alone in the world since I was four. I will take any family I can get.”
Saint nodded. “I understand that I do. But we have to do this right. Have it all checked. To be sure for everyone’s sake.”
Erika nodded her head as she stared at Sage.
“It could prove that we had the same father, but I’m not so sure either one of us wants to be connected to him.
Yes, his family is well to do... but all they did was cover up his addiction.
They could never get him clean. He ended up stealing the family money pretty much, then he wanted to take my son to placate his dad? My God, who the hell does that?”
Sage listened to what Eika said and she sadly shook her head.
“I never knew any of that. I can imagine people being cruel though. My mother’s family was like that.
” After remembering that eagle tatt and knowing he had murdered her mom, the picture of her father inside her head was fading fast. To be replaced by a monster and she didn’t know if she could accept it or not.
Erika nodded. “My mother thought she loved him, but my mother had a habit of collecting worthless men too. She also had a drug habit she never really got over. She just couldn’t stay off the drugs, not even when she carried me.
I was born addicted to coke. I had to kick mom’s habit at first breath.
And that’s not something I would wish on anyone. ”
Sage just shook her head. “I think I’m glad I never had the misfortune to know him. My mother knew him and that was what killed her.”
“Still, your mother had courage to end it with him as soon as she found out about the drugs,” Erika pointed out.
“She did get rid of him early on. But the connection ended up killing her anyway.”
Erika sighed in disgust. “It seems like he killed everything he touched. He may have been our father but he was not a decent human being. His M.O. was only too old. He gets a woman pregnant then runs away. Plus, he also came from old money and I don’t think he wanted to share it with his own children.
Instead, he put it into his own body. His drugs meant more to him than his children ever did. ”
Saint opened his mouth to add his thoughts but was interrupted when Thrasher came back with a look of pure thunder on his face. “You ain’t gonna believe this boss, Roger Sembling is Mack Mackeson’s cousin and he’s also his partner in dealing dope.”
“What the fuck?” Dax swore before Saint could.
Sage visibly trembled.
Dax tightened his hold on her and looked at Saint. “I wonder just what the hell he’s doing here?”
Saint nodded. “Me too. Tommy died months ago. I mean Erika has been in touch with her great grandparents but Tommy’s parents haven’t been in touch.”
Erika snorted. “Grandpa’s still doing time behind bars for his part of the embezzlement and grandma hasn’t left their mansion since the day he went to prison. Now we find out that even though he is dead, Tommy is dragging the family back into the public eye? That’s just insane.”