Chapter 15
Simon
I sat at the table and ran my hands over my face.
“I can’t believe this.” I stared at Shaun.
“Really, bro? You really can’t believe this?”
“It’s okay, Simon.” Ella walked over and placed her small hand on my back. “Sometimes the surprises in life you think are the worst turn out to be the best. You can’t be mad at Claire. It’s not her fault. She didn’t ask for Grandpa Henry to be her father. She just wants to know us, and we have so much love to give, right?”
“Yeah, Ella. You’re right.” I hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m going home. Thanks for letting me play with the twins, Shaun.” She smiled.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Remember, don’t say anything about Claire to your parents.”
“I won’t.”
“My guy said he’d be at the lab within an hour.” Shaun glanced at his watch. “I can’t believe Jenni isn’t back yet.”
I chuckled. “You know how the girls are when they’re together. I’ll send her home.”
“Thanks, bro.” Shaun patted my shoulder.
I walked over to my house and stepped through the sliding door.
“Well?” Grace looked at me. “Is it true?”
“I’m ninety-nine percent sure it is. Jenni, Shaun needs you. He has to run the 23 and Me test over to the hospital lab,” I said.
“Okay. I’ll see you two tonight.” She grinned, walking out the sliding door.
“I can’t believe Henry.” Grace shook her head.
“I can. Listen, babe. I have to run an errand.” I kissed her lips. “I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To pay a visit to my mother.”
I climbed on my motorcycle and rode around the block to my mother’s house. The garage was open, so I walked through and into the house.
“Simon, darling. What are you doing here?” She smiled.
“We need to talk,” I spoke in an abrupt tone.
“Do not take that tone with me.” She turned to the refrigerator. “She told you, didn’t she?”
“If you’re referring to Claire, yes. But only because I went over to Shaun’s, and she was there talking to him. She has a birth certificate with Dad’s name on it. You knew. You knew all these years that we had another sibling out there, and you didn’t say a fucking word. We specifically asked you after we found out about Ian if there was anything else you were hiding, and you said no,” I shouted. “You never told Dad that Claire’s mother came to see you?”
“No. But that was the final straw. The day after that woman visited our home, I called my attorney and started divorce proceedings. Like I told Claire, I wasn’t sitting around anymore waiting for the next woman to knock on my door and tell me that she was pregnant with my husband’s child. Can you even grasp how humiliating that is?”
I gripped the edge of the island and lowered my head.
“You boys were five years old. I was protecting you. You were my sons. When I found out about Shaun, I was protecting myself. But when Genevieve came to the house, all I could think about was you boys. It wasn’t about me then. It was all about you and your brothers.”
“You paid her off, Mom,” I said.
“Your father brainwashed that woman. It wasn’t her fault.” She looked down. “She believed all his lies like I once did. She deserved to be compensated for what he’d done to her.”
“You did it to keep her secret!” I pointed at her.
“I told her the truth about Henry. I gave her that money after she told me he could never find out about the baby because she didn’t want her child to know what scum of the earth her father was. She cried and said she didn’t know what she would do. The woman was a secretary at a law firm in Paris. She had no family and barely made enough to support herself. I offered her the money to return to Paris and forget about Henry. It’s not like she fought me, Simon. She was more than happy to take what I gave her and promised she’d never tell the child who her real father was.”
“You, of all people, know that the past always comes back to haunt you, Mom.” I pointed at her. “Shaun had her take the 23 and Me test. He’s running it over to the lab at Cedars now.”
“She looks a lot like Nora,” my mother said.
“I know.” I sighed. “And by the way, did you threaten to ruin her if she didn’t leave town? You better tell me the damn truth.”
“I won’t lie. I did tell her that. I don’t need some stranger coming into this family and disrupting everyone’s lives.”
“If she is our sister, we have a right to know her!” I shouted. “Damn it, Mom. What the hell is wrong with you? We don’t turn our back on family.”
“Have you told your other brothers?” she asked.
“No. Shaun and I are waiting for the test results to come back first. Claire bought the Aubert’s house.”
“She what?” Her brows furrowed. “Why would she want that place?”
“I asked her the same thing.”
“I thought Shaun convinced everyone in the neighborhood to sell their houses to him when they were ready.”
“That’s the thing. The Aubert’s weren’t ready. She convinced them to sell the house to her,” I said.
“She definitely has the Kind blood running through her.” A smirk crossed her lips.
“Where’s Curtis?”
“He’s at brunch with a couple of his golf buddies.” She picked up her phone and looked at it. “He’s still at the country club.”
“You track him?” My brows furrowed.
“Wouldn’t you if you were married to Henry Kind?” Her brow arched.
“Mom, come on.”
“He willingly shared his location with me, and I shared mine with him. It’s not that we don’t trust each other. It’s for safety reasons. I happen to know for a fact that Grayson does the same with Ava.”
“He has no choice. You never know when one of the alters will come out and take off.” I laughed.
“True. Very true, son.” She smiled.
“I love you, Mom. But more times than not, you really get under my skin.”
“I wouldn’t be your mother if I didn’t.” She placed her hand on my cheek. “I love you too, my son.”
“I know Stefan is your favorite,” I said.
“Will you knock it off with that?” She slapped my arm.
“Just admit it, Mom.”
“I will admit to no such thing. I love you all equally.” She walked away.
“Mom, come on. Just say it.”
“Simon, go home.” She walked up the stairs.