C H A P T E R 7 6
I had borrowed Olivia's car for the day. Today was important. It was something I had promised myself to check after I left the mansion.
It had taken nearly three hours to arrive. It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon with birds chirping in the afternoon sun and a pleasant atmosphere. The breeze and the faint smell of the salty sea in the air brought back fun childhood memories spent with my parents and my uncle and aunt.
Today was Sunday which reminded me that Ethan was supposed to move out on this day.
He hadn't tracked me down and came to talk like he said he was going to on the phone and I wondered if he was just giving me time and space or that he genuinely didn't want anything to do with me anymore.
I tried remaining optimistic. There was no way he wouldn't come.
On top of that he knew about me from the very beginning and still fell for me so I found no reason as to why he wouldn't find me.
We called Heather the next day after returning because we were curious as to what was happening there.
She told us that she got Juliet to keep quiet about it but she still feels awkward to fill in after me.
She said that Juliet was finding it difficult to act like me and I was surprised and confused because I was pretending to be Juliet all that time.
Then again I didn't exactly do a good job at it and was mostly just myself.
The bad news was that her parents were starting to become suspicious and had even asked if she was on drugs and to be honest about it if she was taking them.
She told me that Ethan wanted to move out of the mansion at the earliest because he was already fed up of Juliet.
I rolled to a stop in front of the old house. It looked just the same except that my aunt had grown a few plants in her little garden which reminded me of my own garden with Ethan.
My aunt was Summer Greene and my uncle was Jeffrey Greene. I had lived with them in the city after my parents died and once I moved out of the house, they moved back to their house in the countryside.
I got out and took out the chocolates which my aunt loved so much and my uncle's favorite wine.
I called out once I entered but no one answered so they were probably at the back where our farm was. As expected my aunt had just finished picking the eggs the hens laid and my uncle was just sort of sitting in front of the crops, eating peanuts.
When my aunt spotted me her face lit up brightly and she rushed towards me. "Julie!" She squeezed me into a hug and that caught my uncle's attention. He smiled widely and got up to walk towards me.
"It's been months since we last saw or heard from you!" My aunt was still enthusiastic from my visit. She playfully hit my arm. "Why didn't you even call?"
I smiled and handed her the chocolates and the wine.
"There was no need for this! Why'd you buy it?"
"Oh come on, I know you love these chocolates."
"That's true but you still don't have to buy anything for us. You need the money so don't waste it on us." There was an uncharacteristic seriousness to her words but I ignored it.
She led us inside and I took a seat in the living room where she offered me freshly baked cookies which she had made to sell it in the market but had put aside some for themselves.
"These are really good!" I said, reveling the taste of her heavenly cookies. She was a really good baker.
My eyes skimmed over the small living room, lingering over the photo frames on the table of me with my parents along with them. We didn't really have a lot of pictures so the few that we had were treasured.
"So what is the real purpose of this visit?" My uncle asked without wasting any time, straight to the point. He was really good at catching on things and my restlessness must've hinted that I had an ulterior motive behind coming here.
I too saw no point in dilly dally around as I just wanted to get this over with. "I have some questions about my parents."
There was no visible reaction to that so either it wasn't what I suspected or that they were very good at masking their emotions.
"What about them?" My aunt asked absentmindedly as she tended to me by getting me snacks and drinks.
"This might sound silly but I was wondering if they were my-" I stopped abruptly, analyzing internally if this was appropriate to ask. "-my real parents." I finished anyways, knowing if there was anyone who could clear my doubts it would be them.
I watched them closely to catch a slip up but there was none if I ignored my aunt's hand freezing in the air for barely a millisecond before she continued to pour the tea into cups.
She let out a loud nervous laugh. "What rubbish."
I was lucky to catch their brief exchange where my aunt looked at my uncle for help and he gave her a sharp look.
She sighed. "Why are you asking this?"
"I guess I always had my doubts from the time I learned about DNA and inheritance.
I knew they put it down to their mother's or father's traits but I was never fully satisfied with their explanation.
You know something, don't you?" I didn't want to tell them about all that had happened to me over the months.
"You're right. They aren't your real parents." My uncle said blankly.
"Jeff! Don't just drop a bomb like that! We should first explain what had happened." My aunt didn't look impressed at my uncle's bluntness.
I wasn't shocked. I kind of expected it. I had never felt the deep parent-child connection with my parents, well ex-parents.
My aunt who wasn't even my aunt at this point now looked at me with wide eyes.
"I'm fine." I assured them. "Just tell me what happened."
"Your real parents...they are-"
My heart was beating fast. I could hear it in my ears and it actually sounded louder than Summer's voice.
"They are the Jenson's. I'm not sure if you know them-"
"I do." I interrupted as I gripped the armrest of the couch. "I very well do know them. How did this happen? How did I end up here?"
If they were at all surprised with my lack of a dramatic reaction they didn't show it.
Summer started, looking away as she recalled a time I wasn't aware of.
"You were born in a hospital where my sister's first husband used to work as a nurse.
He was one filthy money hungry bastard. The woman, Charlotte Jenson gave birth to triplets in the hospital where he worked and he was planning on kidnapping the three girls and holding them for ransom.
He couldn't manage to kidnap all three but made away with two. One of it was you." She met my eyes.
There was another one apart from Juliet and I.
Julia.
"He had already called and demanded the ransom money from your parents when his criminal friend told him about a child trafficking group who was willing to give him twice the amount he had asked for.
He didn't want to risk getting traced if he asked again for a raise in the money from your parents so he managed to get two dead girl bodies who had recently died in a house fire and were burnt to the point where they couldn't be recognized and just exchanged your baby clothes with them.
He staged a fake accident and the couple was informed.
They thought that both of you had died and didn't want a DNA test to verify it.
They couldn't bear it." I could see her hands shaking as she spoke but she clasped them tightly together.
"Was there no mention of all this anywhere in the news?" I was exasperated.
"He had kidnapped you two before others could be informed that your mother had given birth to triplets.
After the couple found the two babies dead, they didn't want anybody to know so they just said that only one girl was born.
Soon after, he was caught and charged for kidnapping and murdering before he could sell you two, leaving you in my sister's care.
She took no part in his criminal activities and for the most part she was unaware of what he used to do.
The child trafficking group was also arrested but they didn't know he was involved in it.
After he was jailed for life my sister took it upon herself to care for you girls.
She didn't want to return you to your parents for fear of being wrongly charged for kidnapping and she had formed an attachment to you girls. "
"If she started caring for us, why isn't my other sister here with me? What happened to her?" There were so many questions swarming in my mind but the most important of them all was about what happened to the third one.
"After both of you turned two, my sister was flooded in debt and she couldn't afford to care for the both of you so she left the other girl in front of a park.
She eventually got adopted into a family and they seemed nice enough so my sister let her go.
She married a nice man after that because she wanted to give you a life close to what you deserve and you deserved a father at the very least. He was able to get fake birth certificates for you and all and they raised you together. That's pretty much all."
I was speechless after the story. I didn't know how to react.
I had three sisters and a brother. Plus my parents weren't dead.
They were around me the whole time there past few months.
They were so close to me. My life would've been completely different if we weren't kidnapped.
And what about my other sister who I assumed was Julia?
Was she okay this whole time? And all this time I had been pretending to be my sister, not knowing we were related by blood and us looking like each other wasn't just a freaky coincidence.
"Why didn't you ever voluntarily tell me before? If I hadn't asked about it...would you have never told me?"
Summer looked at me guiltily. "We didn't want you to get hurt. We thought you were better off not knowing."
"I was better off not knowing," I scoffed. "My whole life would've been different if this hadn't happened! I just spent twenty years of my life living among strangers, calling someone else my mom and dad. Did you ever think how unfair this was to me? My whole life had being a lie!"
"We're sorry, Julie-"
"Julie?" I shook my head, testing the name. "Julie. Is that even my real name?"
"Yes honey, it is your real name. We knew your names.
The woman named you on the day you were born.
The one who's with them right now is Juliet Katie Jenson.
Your real name is Julie Kate Jenson and the other poor girl's name is Julia Katrina Jenson.
We couldn't forget. We wanted to let you have something that was your own.
We made sure your first and middle name was really yours.
We couldn't forget what we had done. We ripped your family apart.
I hope you can forgive us someday. We're truly sorry.
" Summer was in tears. "We meant you no harm. We didn't want this for you."
By then I was in tears. I had gotten to know the full story yet it didn't feel real. I felt like I was in a dream, a nightmare to be precise. I felt so detached about everything like I wasn't related to affected by whatever happened. It was weird and I couldn't describe it exactly.
"I'm leaving." I declared and gathered up my stuff.
Throughout it all my uncle who wasn't my uncle anymore was sat there with a poker face and hadn't said a single word during the whole thing. He was a man of few words and he especially didn't know what to say in a dramatic situation where he was needed to console and calm someone down.
Not bothering to regard them any more I started towards the door.
"Julie! Julie!" Summer ran after me and eventually caught up.
"Please, forgive us. We know we committed an unforgivable crime but we really all loved you.
We might've lied to you about our relations but our bonds were real.
My sister truly loved you and never considered you to be less than a child to her.
She worked hard to give you a life close to what you deserve. "
"Um...aunty," I said, unsure of how to address her now. "I can't deal with anything more right now. I need to leave to think clearly. I'll call you later...maybe."
I didn't wait for anything else. I got into the car and drove off without a glance back.
About half an hour into my journey back home I had to pull up at the side of the road to let the tears flow freely and to let out my anger and cries and to come to terms with the truth and accept it.
It was five in the evening when I finally reached the café.
I had taken a day off but after what I was told I knew the best thing was to keep my mind busy.
When I pushed open the glass door, I was surprised to find Olivia and Tristan at a corner table having coffee.
By the looks of it, the conversation wasn't pleasant but it wasn't intense either.
It was uncomfortable. I wanted to know what was going on but knew that they'd appreciate privacy at this time so I simply took a place behind the counter.
Mrs. Odin hadn't expected me but didn't say anything as I replaced her position and started taking the remaining orders. Tristan noticed me working and it was awkward but he waved at me in greeting which I returned.
A few minutes later they finished their talk and Tristan stood up to leave and I took it as my cue to approach. Olivia cleared their plates and cups and cleaned the table while we stood outside to talk.
"Hey, how have you been?" I said, smiling at him when I saw he looked better than the last time I saw him.
He looked amused. "You can just get straight to the point and ask about him."
"Hey!" I was slightly offended. I was genuinely asking him although I did want to ask about Ethan later.
"I'm fine. And how are you?"
I shrugged. "I'm okay. I was pretty shocked to know that he already knew."
"I knew too. He told me after he found out."
"Yeah, you two are best friends. I'd be surprised if he hadn't told you. I must admit you two are great actors. No one suspected you knew."
"I was a little mad that my own sister or even Heather didn't tell me."
"We didn't want a lot of people knowing. So...how is he? Is he mad at me?"
Tristan shook his head. "He's okay and he's not mad at you."
But I couldn't feel at ease just yet. "Does he not want to meet me again?"
"No, it's not like that. He was just busy moving out and into his own house. Heather was threatening him to not approach you until everything was settled because you know, Juliet was very hard to convince to not say anything about this to her parents."
Oh but how I wished she told them. They were my real parents and Juliet was my sister and there was still so much I didn't know about my family.
"What's wrong?" Tristan was frowning at me as he noted my change in demeanor.
I shook my head. "Nothing. What did you and Olivia talk about?"
"I'm pretty sure she'll break it down to you in detail."
"That she will. So are you leaving?"
"Yeah. I just came by to talk to her and to say hi to you."
Olivia returned after her chores and he bid goodbye to us before leaving. It felt good to see him. I had missed everyone I had met while I was there.
I turned to Olivia with hands on my hips. "Now miss, you've got a lot to explain."
She rolled her eyes. "It's not more important that what happened at your aunt's."
That instantly put a damper on my mood. I repeated everything to her over a cup of coffee. By the end she was shocked even if she somewhat had an idea about it.
"You're really their daughter! What're you still doing here? Go back and reunite with your real parents!"
I sighed as I traced patterns over my empty coffee mug. "Olivia, I just got to know about it. I can hardly believe it. It's not like I can just tell them and start living with them."
"And just why the hell not?"
"It's not that I'm not going to tell them eventually. I just need time to digest it. It's not everyday that someone gets to know something like this about themselves."
"I guess you're right. I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling."
I didn't want to talk about it anymore so I asked her about Tristan.
"He wanted to start afresh. He apologized for how he reacted that day and I told him it was okay and it was an acceptable reaction from someone who lost their child before even knowing it existed. I too apologized for being mean to him and not trusting him enough to confide in him."
"That's good. So are you going to start dating or what?"
She smiled involuntarily. "Yes but we agreed we both need some time from each other."
"I'm sorry, Olivia for what I did to the both of you. I mean I have no right to decide who deserves who. I used to think that Tristan was too good for you and as your best friend, I'm ashamed of myself that I had those malicious thoughts about you. Will we ever go back to how we were?"
She shrugged. "It's fine. And it'll take time but I think we can.
I'm sorry too for blaming my abortion on you.
I now see that you're not at fault for that.
I did this to myself and although I feel terribly guilty that my baby had to suffer for my carelessness and stupidity, I think it was the best for me.
I'll still continue to be sorry for my dead baby.
" I could see her inconspicuously clutch the fabric over her stomach.
It was like that whenever the topic was about her pregnancy or abortion.
"It's okay. It was your coping mechanism and I wanted to support you." I put an arm around her and rubbed her back for comfort as her eyes dampened. "Eventually, we'll be alright."
She gave me a small smile and put her arm around my shoulders as well. "Yup, we'll be alright." She said wistfully as we stared out the window at the ongoing world.