Chapter Ten
The next morning Sage sat with Erika, Saint and Dax.
They were waiting for Erik and Marva to arrive.
Dax stared at her the whole time and Sage could feel his eyes on her.
Sage had argued with Saint the night before about him calling the family in the first place. She told him he had no right to call them in. She never wanted anything from Tommy, but as soon as she knew about Erika, she had traveled all the way here.
But Saint had argued back that if she was really Tommy’s child, her great grandparents deserved to know about her.
So now they waited.
About ten o’clock they heard a car coming up the driveway.
Saint got up to look. He turned his head and told his wife, “They’re here.”
Erika got up and so did Sage.
Sage’s hands were clamped together.
Erika stared at her then she reached over to unlock her nervous grip. “They aren’t going to bite you. Relax, Erik and Marva aren’t going to be mean. You will see.”
Obviously nervous, Sage turned and looked at her. “You don’t understand, my own grandparents didn’t want me, why would they?”
Erika reached up and cupped her cheek. “Because they are good, decent people. I met them a few times and saw this for myself. They will listen to your story and believe me when I say they already know it. All you have to do is be honest with them.”
Sage had tears in her eyes as she told Erika, “I didn’t come here for acceptance. But when I found out about you, I had to come. I had to know the truth.”
“And you found it, I believe,” a voice called out from the living room.
Sage slowly turned her head and stared at the older man sitting in a wheelchair. Then she looked into his eyes. She knew those eyes because every time she looked in a mirror she saw them on her own face.
Then someone gasped.
The older woman standing next to him leaning heavily on cane had been the one who gasped. “Oh my gosh, she has your eyes honey,” Marva spoke in an awed whisper. “She has your eyes.”
Erik rolled forward and studied her carefully. “Yes, she does, but so did Tommy. That was a trait he clearly passed down.”
“We are sorry, we never knew about you all these years, we would have loved seeing you.” Marva nodded at her.
Sage shook her head. “I want you to know that my mother didn’t like the drugs and she made him leave. He never came back until I was four years old. I would see him around me at times when I was growing up but I never met him or talked to him and he never spoke to me either.”
Marva had tears running down her face. “But that was Tommy, wasn’t it? He never acknowledged Erika either. But he always knew who she was. He was a scoundrel, we are sorry to say. He lacked compassion or maybe the drugs made him like that?”
Erik slammed his hand down on his chair arm and snarled. “His parents never taught him a damn thing, I’m afraid. He just took and took and never grew up.”
Sage stared at him then she shook her head. “I didn’t come here to take anything. I just wanted to know if Erika was my sister or not.”
Erik smiled. “Yes, she said the same thing when we first met her too. You both share that trait. I’m very glad to call you both my great granddaughters. We welcome you as family, my dear.”
Sage shook her head. “You can’t make that claim, not without a DNA test. But both my mother and my father are dead so I’m not sure how that works.”
“My dear there are other ways to compare a family line,” Erik told her.
Marva nodded and came over to hug her. “We just want to get to know you.”
“Let’s all sit and have some tea,” Erika said and turned to head into the kitchen.
Marva pushed Erik’s wheelchair to the kitchen area.
Dax came over and took Sage’s hand. “It will be okay. You will see.”
Pausing, Sage looked up at him. She heard the gentle tone in his voice and saw the sincere look in his eyes. “No one has ever said that to me before. It will be okay.”
Dax raised her hand and kissed her knuckles “That's because you have never found your home until now. Welcome Home, Sage Marlow.”
Tears filled her eyes as she gave him a warm smile.
Then the both followed the older couple into the kitchen.