Chapter 42 – Kendall #3
Anticipation filled his voice, too much anticipation if Kendall were honest. Yet, for a brief moment, she thought about Johnnie dead, and her life—her body—free.
She wouldn’t have to worry about losing her children.
Her grief would be finite—he would be gone.
Dead. She could never get him back. Eventually, the sorrow would end.
Unlike now when she was stuck in an endless loop of pain, mourning what once was, however briefly, and would never be again.
“You don’t like that idea, do you?” Regret laced Diesel’s words. He sighed and held out his hand. “Give me the results. Are there any legalities I need to go over?”
“No. Everyone willingly submitted samples.”
“How did you find out that Cee Cee and Wallace are half-brothers?” Diesel asked, looking at the two pages Kendall handed to him.
“Outlaw ordered both paternity tests and kinship tests.”
Abel, who’d been standing silently by as all the drama unfolded, said, “He told me to run whatever tests were needed to untangle the web. I ran the kinship tests based on that order.”
“Good work,” Kendall complimented. She turned to Diesel and reclaimed Rack and Cee Cee’s tests. “I’m fine. I can handle it. I promise.”
“As long as you’re sure.”
“I am.”
“Take a deep breath like Bunny advised and start from the top.”
“Thank you, nephew,” she told him quietly.
He smiled at her. “Anytime, Auntie,” he responded, borrowing CJ’s terminology.
“Does anyone have any questions so far?” she asked, trying to reset her equilibrium.
“What the fuck have you said for us to question, Aunt Kendall?” Tabitha cooed.
Aunt Kendall indeed.
The moment Diesel returned to Axel’s side, Jana gave him a tremulous smile. Tabitha scowled, sidled next to Diesel, and laid her head on his shoulder, smirking at Jana.
Diesel stiffened but one look at Outlaw halted whatever he might’ve done.
“I got a fuckin’ question, Kendall,” Outlaw said, skyrocketing Kendall’s unease again.
She couldn’t handle questions about her behavior or her husband. She was so close to cracking, it felt as if one small push and she’d crumble into a pile of nothingness.
“Yes?” she asked in as strong a voice as possible.
“Rack.” Outlaw pursed his lips. “That big-balled fuckhead was really my fuckin’ uncle?”
Kendall smiled at the outrage in his voice, and Bash and Celia’s chuckles. She nodded. “Yes. Half. Cee Cee and Rack were Related. Half-brothers. You know? Blood relatives.”
“What?” Mattie cried, too emotional to censor herself, the connection seeming to just dawn on her. “I’m going to be sick.”
“Matilda,” Johnnie started, then gritted his teeth. “You did nothing wrong. Wally, Jr. is dead and can’t ever hurt you again—”
That might’ve been part of Mattie’s problem, but Kendall knew she was thinking about Wally, Wally, Jr’s son. She looked at Abel. “Please explain DNA statistics.” He was better equipped.
“Of course, Mrs. Donovan.” Abel cleared his throat and smiled at everyone. He didn’t understand there was nothing amusing in this situation. Even if he was just being friendly, the gesture was out of place in this room of misery.
“The first cousins of half siblings share only about 6.25% DNA,” he explained. “You’ll share the same risks for recessive genetic disorders as the general population.”
“What does that mean in legal terms?” Johnnie asked, sounding like the intelligent man she’d once loved.
“Genetically speaking, shared DNA of 12.5% and under puts you in the safe zone in terms of inbreeding risks. The risks are still there and should be discussed.”
“And legally?” Johnnie pressed.
Diesel jerked away from Tabitha, ignoring her stumbling and raising his cell phone. “I will do more research, of course, but a quick search shows that most jurisdictions in the US don’t consider sexual relationships illegal. They even allow these people to marry.”
“With 12.5% shared DNA?” Outlaw asked. “If 6.25% mean half first-cousin, do 12.5% mean full first cousins?”
Abel nodded. “Or ‘greats’. Great-grandparents, great-grandchildren, great aunts and uncles or great nieces and nephews.”
“And they can marry?” Rebel asked, sidling a glance at Diesel.
“Fuck,” Outlaw grunted.
“What does that mean for the children of half first-cousins?” Mattie asked woefully.
“You aren’t close blood relatives,” Abel responded. “Roughly 3.125% shared DNA. Very little to worry about legally or genetically.”
“Okay,” Mattie whispered.
Rebel and Harley, on each side of Mattie, each placed an arm around Mattie’s shoulders and hugged her.
“Any other questions regarding this test result?” Kendall asked, grateful to the girls for banding together and looking after Mattie.
“I think you can move on, gorgeous,” Bash called.
Johnnie stiffened and Bash smirked.
Kendall accepted a small stack of results from Abel and fluttered them. “Based on samples obtained from Bash, Outlaw, Cleaner, Mortician, and Digger, Cee Cee Caldwell and Sharper Banks were first cousins.”
“What?” Harley cried, having much the same reaction as Mattie.
CJ lost his color. “I’m related to Harley?”
“You her third cousin, boy,” Outlaw told her. He counted off on his fingers, silently calculating. “In that 6.25% range?” He lifted a brow at Abel. “Yeah?”
“Yes, Mr. Caldwell. Assuming we’re discussing full-blooded first cousins. They’d share 25% DNA, their offspring would be at 12.5% and the next generation would be at 6.25%.”
“If the cutoff is 12.5%, you and Harley are safe, brother,” Rebel told him.
“You’re a true Caldwell man, kid.” Bash smiled at CJ. “Protecting his little sister and sharing a very special bond.”
“My son shares the same type of relationship with his sister,” Johnnie said smugly.
Rory flushed, but it was Mattie’s expression that captured Kendall until Bash snorted.
“Forever a fucking brainless blond. Your cumsquirt haven’t said one fucking thing to Matilda the entire fucking evening, Johnnie.”
Rebel dropped her arm from around Mattie and placed herself slightly in front of both Mattie and Harley.
“Rory has been catching up with his cousins, Bash,” Johnnie said. “He doesn’t have to talk to his sister here. They see each other every day at home.”
CJ glared at Rory again and shame poured into Kendall. If she dwelled on all the shortcomings in her that brought her son to this point, she wouldn’t finish.
“Next…uh, any more questions?”
“What about Meggie and Bailey, sugar?” Roxy called.
Although Bailey submitted a sample, she’d declined attending tonight’s dinner.
Kendall hadn’t looked at those results. She’d been so shocked by Jana and Tabitha’s outcomes she’d ordered Abel to assemble everyone to start the readings.
She rummaged through the papers in her hand but didn’t find what she needed. “Hand me Megan Caldwell and Bailey Banks’s findings, please, Abel.” Once the lab tech complied, she glanced over the tests and started. What the fuck? “Are you sure these are the right ones?”
Abel leaned over, read the names, then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Well, fuck.
She cleared her throat. “Meggie and Bailey are not related,” she said faintly. “That means Big Joe and K-P were not brothers. H-half-brothers.”
Fuck, what did that mean? After reading the letters, Kendall had been convinced of their fraternal relationship.
“Those motherfuckers always said they were,” Bash objected. “Daddy said they were.”
“Maybe, they were told that,” Kendall said, her mind spinning. “Based on the letters I’ve read, it seems as if they believed it themselves.” There were also birth certificates, but DNA didn’t lie. Bitches and motherfuckers, though? Most definitely.
Kendall couldn’t understand why such a lie was propagated. What was the fucking end game? Fuck, it would’ve been easier if Meggie and Bailey were cousins. Now, she’d have to do more digging. Meaning, she’d have to subject herself to the minds of those psychopaths again.
“I’ll do more research,” Kendall said, sighing. “Perhaps, I’ll find out the answer.”
Bash sniffed and rubbed his nose. “Maybe, if you can find the actual will, you can uncover more truths.”
Folding her arms, Roxy crossed her legs. “I wonder how big-mouthed motherfuckers feel, knowing they opened their fucking traps and caused trouble for no fucking reason.”
Roxy wasn’t addressing anyone in particular and Kendall didn’t know exactly what Roxy meant, but Johnnie’s guilty expression concerned Kendall.
“We all have a lot of questions about this result,” Kendall said. “Until I can do more digging, I will move on.” She picked up the stack of Caldwell results. “Bash and Celia, you aren’t—”
“No!” Bash lost his color and shot to his feet. “Don’t tell me my little sister isn’t related to me.”
“Calm down. She isn’t your half-sister.” Kendall gave him a sympathetic smile, knowing how much he loved Celia. “You two share the same parents.”
Bash squinted, allowed the words to sink in, before he gulped and widened his eyes. “You’re serious, gorgeous?” he whispered.
“Quite,” Kendall said, happy at his news.
“Daddy never kept a bitch around. He killed most cunts.”
“How fucking romantic,” Kendall told him.
“He didn’t trust cunts. He always said the cunt who pushed me out died not long after I was born.”
“That wasn’t true,” Kendall said, holding up the DNA test results. “See for yourself.”
Bash stared at the sheets of paper in Kendall’s hand, almost as if he were afraid to believe her.
“He did fuck up Celia’s momma. Right in front of me.”
Kendall wouldn’t respond on that. “I wouldn’t build your hope only to tear it down. Celia is too important to you, Bash. I can only read the results on the page.”
Celia stood and embraced Bash. “Oh, Sebastian. My hero.”
Swallowing, Bash hugged her back. “If you say that in front of your motherfucker, I’m going to have to fuck him up.”
Celia laughed. “Jared will understand.”
Brother and sister embraced again, then returned to their seats.
“Next,” Johnnie said.
He obviously wanted Jana’s paternity settled once and for all.
Let him sweat.
Kendall smiled. “Fee?”