The Heir (10 page)

She was afraid that her plea would be ignored
and Laurens suddenly shuttered look did nothing to raise her
hopes.

"The truth?"

Jessica pulled her hand away. Agitated, she
stood up and took a turn around the living room, taking deep
breaths to calm down. When she felt in better control of herself,
she faced her mother and spoke as calmly as she could.

"Yes the truth. All of it, I don't care if I
don't like it or if it hurts. I want to know. I have to know. I
want to know why you gave me up. Not how you did it, I don't care
about the other girl. I want to know why. Why the serum? Why cover
my scent? Why all of the secrecy?"

Lauren shook her head but Jessica refused to
give up.

"Do you know what it feels like? Growing up
feeling like a freak. Not knowing why you can do these things.
Things that are straight out of a comic book."

All of Jessica’s focus had been on her mother
as she spoke and she didn’t miss the confusion that flitted across
her mothers’ expressive face before it became shuttered again. One
thing suddenly became clear to Jessica.

"You don't know!?"

Lauren shook her head but it had been a
rhetorical question. Jessica took another turn around the living
room, adding in her mind, a new piece to the puzzle that was her
life. One piece at a time and the picture was becoming clearer.

"You don't know," she murmured.

Her fingers gently pinching her bottom lip,
trying to figure out where to go from there. Instead of answers she
seemed to only get more questions. How much should she tell her?
Would she think she was a freak? If her mother didn't know what was
wrong with her, then why did she give her up?

"What did you mean?" Lauren asked, pulling
her back to the present. Jessica looked at her, expectantly,
waiting for her to clarify the question. "What things can you
do?"

"I'll trade you, you tell me everything and I
will too."

Wringing her hands, Lauren shook her head and
it had Jessica close to snapping.

Time to go, she told herself, before she
exploded.

"Then I guess we have nothing left to talk
about" She shook her head and turned to go.

"Talk about what?" James asked from the
entrance.

"The truth" She told him. "Your wife doesn't
want to talk about the truth. She wants a working relationship
between us, but she only wants to tell me what she thinks I want to
hear." Jessica looked over her shoulder "That's a deal breaker for
me."

“Jessica, please I can’t-“ Lauren took a step
towards her and suddenly James' words stopped her dead in her
tracks.

"We'll tell you everything.”

Jessica crossed her arms over her chest and
eyed him dubiously.

"We'll tell you everything" He repeated.

Jessica heard the sincerity in his voice and
without a second thought she nodded.

"No!" Lauren cried out.

She rushed to stand in front of James,
halting his progress into the room, trying to stop him from
speaking to Jessica.

"On one condition" He continued, ignoring the
interruption and stepping around his wife to face her. "We will
tell you everything on one condition."

Jessica thought about it for less than a
second before she gave a slight nod of her head in agreement. No
point in dragging on like a suspense movie. They all knew she was
going to accept it. She would agree to just about anything to hear
the truth.

"James, please don't." Lauren pleaded

She grabbed a handful of his shirt, trying to
stop him and Jessica was thankful that he was able to harden his
heart towards his wife's pleas. He unclenched Laurens hand from his
shirt and brought them down to his side, pulling her closer to him.
He was showing Jessica that they were united even if it was clear
that they weren’t very united at the moment.

"Give us your word that you will stay with us
at least until a month after your birthday."

"Done," it wasn’t hard to agree since she had
nowhere else to go, “you have my word.”

"During that time you're going to give us a
chance. No more running away. Spend time with us, get to know us.
Stay with us. No running away,” he repeated, “not even if you hear
something you don't like or don't believe. No matter what, you
stay." He pointed at the floor then he pointed at her "I need your
word on that."

"You have it. But how do you know you can
trust me?"

She wasn’t trying to argue or give him
doubts, she was just curious.

"Whether you like it or not, we're family,
and who can you trust if not family?"

Considering that it was only a week ago that
she first met her "family", Jessica chose to stay quiet because she
in reality didn't trust them. Not yet anyways, so instead she
turned around and went to take a seat on the couch. Outwardly she
strived to look calm when deep down she was everything but.

Her insides were churning with
anticipation.

They didn't know everything. That was clear
from her mother’s earlier confusion but maybe if she added what
they told her with everything else she knew she might be able to
piece together the puzzle that was her.

Laurens reluctance informed her that she
wouldn't be getting much but that was okay with Jessica. Some was
better than none and besides, she'd made a deal to stick around
until after her birthday, if she was patient she was sure she'd be
able to uncover more truths by then.

"I really don't know where to start" Lauren
whispered.

Her mother and James were seated on the sofa
in front of her. The picture was reminiscent of her first meeting
with them. Lauren shifted her glance between her and James a couple
of times before looking down at her wringing hands.

”I suggest that you start by telling me about
my real father." Jessica told them, cutting to the chase.

Her suggestion was met with shocked
silence.

"How-?"

"What-?" They both spoke up at the same time.
They glanced at each other and paused to give the other a chance to
speak.

"How did you know?" Lauren finally asked.

"No one is supposed to know." James
added.

Jessica shrugged and confided, "It was just a
hunch," she waited a second to let that sink in, "but you guys just
confirmed it."

Their shocked expressions almost made her
smirk. Instead she took a deep breath and pounced before they had a
chance to regroup.

"That's why it was so easy for you to give me
up, wasn't it? You didn't want your happy new marriage to be marred
by a love child."

"No!" They both exclaimed.

Jessica ignored them and looked her mother
straight in the eyes. "It was easier to trade me in for a little
girl that wouldn't be a daily reminder of your past, right?"

Lauren shook her head, tears started to form
in her eyes but Jessica hardened her heart against them. The
bitterness that she'd thought she'd manage to bury deep down came
rushing back up like boiling water shooting out of a geyser. The
earlier apology helped to salve the hurt but it didn't take it away
completely and she'd been kidding herself to think otherwise.

Too little too late, Jessica thought and
turned her sharp gaze towards James. "It was easier to let your
wife trade her baby for a little girl that wouldn't remind you of a
past lover, right?"

James shook his head and spoke through
gritted teeth. "It wasn't like that."

"Then tell me how it was!" Jessica demanded
then lowered her voice, "This is your chance. And if you're
thinking of giving me the vanilla version, don't."

They stared at each other until he broke eye
contact and nodded grudgingly "No sugar coating it but I think I'm
going to let your mom tell you the beginning without me. I'll be
back in a couple of minutes."

"Don't go, stay" Lauren protested. He shook
his head and patted her hand reassuringly before getting up.

"If I stay, you'll feel like you have to
watch what you say and that's not fair to anyone. Just give me a
shout when you're done"

He walked out and Jessica waited patiently as
Lauren gathered the courage to speak. She sat up straight and took
a fortifying deep breath. The only sign of her nervousness was in
her hands. She couldn't seem to keep them still.

Jessica had an idea of how her mother might
be feeling because she was just as nervous. Her stomach was
churning and her palms were damp, it took everything in her not to
wipe them dry on her jeans. Even though she wanted the truth she
feared that it might be more than she could handle.

"your-" Lauren was about to say 'father' but
she hastily corrected herself "James and I, come from prominent
families back east. I grew up knowing what was expected of me, my
parents-your grandparents wanted me to marry a man of their
choosing-James. As soon as I turned eighteen I ran away, James and
I were friends and I just couldn't see me married to him."

"I sold all of the jewels I took with me and
headed out west. I ended up in Montana" The memory of those first
days had Lauren smiling wistfully "It was all such a culture shock,
but I loved it. I got a job at a diner and I had this small house I
was renting."

Lauren clasped her hands together and took a
deep breath. "I met your father at the diner. He came in with a
couple of friends and when I saw him, I swear it was like tunnel
vision." Lauren smiled at her

"Later on he told me that it was the same for
him. Nothing else mattered but being together. Honestly, when I
think back on those days I realize that everything happened so
fast. One day I'm living on my own, waitressing at a diner and the
next month I'm engaged to a man I just met." Lauren shrugged
sheepishly when she noticed the incredulous look Jessica was giving
her. "We knew we loved each other, why waste time?"

"So what happened?" Jessica asked
impatiently.

“Soon after he moved in I suspected I was
pregnant. I made an appointment at the local clinic and they
confirmed that I was indeed pregnant. That night I went home.”
Lauren took a shuddering breath and gathered some much needed
courage before continuing.

Lauren told her what happened on the night
that she found out she was pregnant. She told her about all of the
blood, the dead bodies and Cade’s last words to her. Lauren left no
detail untold.

By the time she finished recounting the
events of that faithful night Lauren was sniffling and Jessica sat
motionless as she watched her mother trying to regain her
composure. She wished she could offer some sort comfort but she
felt awkward just thinking about it.

Instead she sat there and mentally sorted
through all the new information she'd just received. She knew she
was supposed to be shocked but she wasn't. She’d grown up being
able to do so many weird things that she doubted anything else
could faze her.

"I loved your father and I will until the day
I die." Laurens eyes begged her to believe and Jessica did. "I went
back home and I agreed to marry James. I told him everything and he
agreed to claim you as his. He agreed to help me keep you safe and
we thought that that would be enough but it wasn't"

The memories made Lauren feel restless, she
got up and began to pace while rubbing her hands up and down her
arms. When she felt that her emotions were back under enough
control to speak, she turned and faced her daughter once again.

"The night after I gave birth to you, there
was an attempt against your life. We don't know how he got in, all
we know is that if Layla hadn't been staying with me while James
went home to have some real rest," Lauren took a deep breath "you
would be dead."

Jessica sat up straight and her eyes flew
wide open.

"You’re right you know. About me," she
clarified. "It was easy for me to give you up."

Even though Jessica had imagined and even
claimed as much, it still hurt. It hurt a lot more then she'd
thought possible. In her chest she felt her heart shatter in to a
thousand little pieces.

Lauren saw the pain in her eyes and rushed to
explain. "It was easy for me to give you up because I knew that to
keep you would mean to kill you. Layla saved you that night, not
me!" Lauren pressed a hand against her chest, the admission left a
bitter taste in her mouth and she added in a whisper. "I stood
there like a statue."

"So you asked her to take me because you
didn't want me to die?" Lauren nodded. "Not because I'm some kind
of freak?"

Lauren debated for a second whether to answer
her truthfully or not and in the end the truth won out. "Maybe it
was my main fear during pregnancy but not as much when you were
born. I'm not going to lie, I'm terrified of the creatures those
people can become and maybe a bit to know that you might be like
them." Jessica started to shake her head and Lauren she rushed to
finish explaining. "But it doesn't matter."

Jessica raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Really, it doesn't matter because you are my
daughter"

Jessica shook her head again, not in
disbelief of her mother’s words but because even though she could
do some weird things, shifting wasn't one of them and she told her
so.

Lauren walked to the bookshelf, pulled a book
out; she opened it to the first page and retrieved the note that
she’d kept for almost eighteen years.

“This note was inside the small box your
father told me to take.”

Jessica took the old piece of paper from her
mom and read it.

“Lauren, if you are reading this it means
that I am no longer with you and that I haven’t told you everything
about me. I hope you forgive my lack of courage but I was scared to
tell to you. I am a shape shifter Lauren, and our child will be
too. You don’t know you are pregnant yet but I noticed it the
moment it happened.

My cowardice kept me from telling you. Now it
is too late. If I am no longer by your side it could only mean one
thing. Only death could keep me away from you. Away from you and
our unborn child. Along with this note you will find a small vial,
the liquid inside is for our child. It will hide her from those who
wish her harm.