“Who are you?”
Ellie jumped, dropping the egg she was about to break on the floor, her hands springing to her chest to keep her heart from escaping. She’d been on edge since she’d woken up, and her busy mind hadn’t let her sleep much. Dale had convinced her to go to sleep while he kept watch and then early in the morning when she woke, he’d gone to bed. He’d gotten Richard and Doran to watch the house for the day, one less thing to worry about while they sit on their thumbs as the wait for the news that Vladimir was dead. She wasn’t the bloodthirsty sort but that man had turned her twin sister’s life upside down, turned her into an assassin then worse played with her mind until she cracked and became their worst nightmare so yeah, she wanted blood.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Ah, thanks for the clothes.”
Ellie looked at her sister, the shy smile on her face and how she stood halfway inside the room, leaning on the entryway wall like she wasn’t sure she was welcomed into the kitchen. She looked… sane. The last time they were face to face, she’d turned into the Terminator and tried to kill her. Done a number on Mike and Elaine.
The time before that, her eyes danced around and her lips moved in whispers as she muttered to herself. It was the day they’d sent her away and Ellie had refused to let her sister walk into that asylum alone. They’d been surrounded by police and staff that were dressed in white. One threatening with cuffs and the other with a straight jacket if Ellsa so much as made a wrong move. But she didn’t. She’d let Ellie walk her into her padded room and hugged her goodbye. Ellsa asked her to tell their parents to come see her soon and she’d nodded, afraid she’d cry if she spoke. But once the door had been closed and locked, she’d let all her pent up emotions go and Dale had to support her out of there as she cried hysterically. Seeing Ellsa completely insane had worsened Ellie’s depression.
“Are you okay?” Ellsa took a hesitant step into the room, “You look like you are about to cry.”
Her blurred vision backed that statement up. Ellie took a deep breath and then let it loose with a chuckle, “Sorry. It’s just seeing you after such a long time, healthy and okay, it’s making me emotional.”
Ellsa nodded and then shook her head with a chuckle, “Sorry, I was going to pretend that I understood what you meant but ah, yeah, that would only confuse me more.”
Ellie wanted to go to her and hug her, but she was afraid she would cause another episode so she grabbed a rag, crouched down and cleaned up the egg mess.
“Want some help making breakfast?”
Ellie stood tossing the towel in the sink. Ellsa was standing by the kitchen island, her lips rolled into her mouth. Something she did when she was nervous, thinking or unsure of herself. The unsure part was something she never saw much of after their parents died. Her confidence had grown and so had her overprotective nature. Apparently, that had all been a front. How could she not have seen how weak her sister was? Ellie had failed her, let her be prey to a group of psychos.
“Ah, yeah sure. I was just cracking some eggs for omelets. You could make pancakes? Everything is already laid out.”
Ellsa smiled brightly, rounding the island to come stand next to Ellie. “Sure thing. For how many?”
“Ahm, five,” Ellie wasn’t sure exactly how much she should reveal. Ellsa didn’t look lost or scared like she had when she woke up from that episode. This time she’d been asleep for over twelve hours and Elaine did say something like the longer she was out, the longer the memories took to come back.
Ellsa nodded, arranging the pancakes stuff on her side, “So my family, you and Robocop.”
Ellie chuckled, “He’s not all that bad, I swear.”
Ellsa held up the arm with a black brace around the wrist, “Really?”
They’d passed by the hospital to see if it was fractured. She hadn’t woken the entire time it had taken to x-ray, re-bandage and brace her wrist with a hairline fracture and re-bandage her other wrist. Just some ointment and antibiotics for that one. Ellie hadn’t spoken to Dale, let alone permit him to touch her the entire time. She’d been fuming! She just stood aside while Elaine took care of it.
“He’s an ass,” she said and they both laughed.
Ellsa sighed deeply, “Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on what exactly I did to him.” She touched her busted lip, then her bandaged temple, “He didn’t give me these too, did he?”
“No, dear god no! You fell,” she said quickly. A lie Elaine had told her to offer as an explanation if the topic ever arose. Unless…
Ellie watched the freshly broken egg slide out of its shell to join several more in the bowl, and blurted out, “You remember?”
Ellsa paused whisking, her entire body going still for a moment, “I take it this isn’t the first time I woke up?”
Elaine was going to murder her if she said more than she should. She shook her head. Technically she hadn’t said a word.
Ellsa sighed deeply again, “When I woke up this morning, I found myself in bed sleeping between a little boy—who was half splayed over my body his head on my chest—and a man, his leg thrown over mine, his arm under my head as a pillow and his other arm over the boy as if he was holding him secure on top of me. The first thing that came to my head was why I didn’t find this boy heavy and actually enjoyed his weight, the second thing was the man next to me was hot.” They giggled like school girls over that one then Ellsa became somber, “And the final was who were they?”
Oh hell, Ellie thought.
“Everything inside me screamed for me to get up and run, ask questions after I was out of the bed. I was so scared and so confused. Nothing around me looked familiar. Then the boy whined, turned his head side to side with a big frown on his face as if he felt my distress. I laid very still, convinced myself there was a reason I was sharing a bed with a little boy and a grown man. That if I gave it time, my memories would come back. I struggled to remember until my head started to pound and a buzzing filled my ears. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want to wake them. So I held the boy tight to my chest and pressed closer to the man. In his sleep he drew us to him and clutched us tight to him, then he pressed his lips to my forehead and murmured ‘VS’.”
“Victoria Secret,” Ellie supplied, “He likes to call you Victoria Secret—”
“Because I looked like I walked out of the lingerie catalog the first time we met,” she smiled shyly, “I remember. The erection pressed to my hip shifted my mind into gear.”
Ellie laughed almost dropping the bowl of eggs she was beating.
“It all came flooding back and then it stopped with you standing at the door, holding the strap of your handbag with both hands as if you were afraid you would be mugged at any second, with tears in your eyes. Before the darkness descended on me a single thought that came to my mind was I know that woman and I know why she has my face on hers,” She turned to Ellie fully, “We’re twins aren’t we?”
Ellie nodded.
“Why haven’t you been in my life this past year? Elaine, our big sister has but you are my twin. Aren’t twins supposed to be attached at the hip or something?”
Ellie felt irritated when Ellsa mentioned Elaine. She didn’t like being replaced but after the big reveal last night, she needed to be patient, and grateful to the woman.
“It wasn’t possible for me to be with you, just like it wasn’t possible for Damien to be with you,” she added for good measure. God she hoped Damien had spun a story as to why they were separated.
Ellsa shook her head, “No, I don’t think the reasons are the same.”
Ellie rolled her lower lip over her teeth, “Look, I don’t want to say anything that might send you into another mini coma. So how about we wait for Elaine?”
Ellsa groaned, “Fair enough… but sometimes it feels like she lies more than she tells the truth.”
“Definitely something to ask.” Rushing to change the subject Ellie said, “Meanwhile, I’ll catch you up on my life.”
A perfectly shaped brow went up, “Okay, I get it. I saw your family photo in the hallway. Robocop makes cute babies.”
Ellie chuckled, placing two pans side by side on the burner. She used one to make the eggs and Ellsa used the other to make the pancakes. “Yes, he did his share pretty well and he’s perfect in the making process.” She added with a blush.
“Oh, then they are definitely related because Damien is quite skilled in that field. So what are the kids’ names—God I feel weird asking that,” she slid the ready pancake off onto a plate and filled the empty pan with batter.
“Hey, don’t sweat it. Our daughter is Stacey-Ann after Dale and our mom and our son the baby is Dale James the third.”
Ellsa got a confused look on her face and Ellie wondered if she remembered something. “The third? Dale’s name is James too?”
“No. James is our dad’s name. Dale just decided since he’s named after his father and grandfather he should be the third.”
Her brows bunched together, “Okay. Plan on having more soon?”
Ellie’s heart felt heavy. That was a raw subject in the house. On her last check up after the incident as she referred to it, the doctor had told her she might not be able to conceive—too much scar tissue. The trauma sustained was substantial and she was lucky she didn’t have to have a hysterectomy. And just as she’d wondered and asked then, what was the use of having a womb if it didn’t work? It was like having a flat spare tire in the car.
“Should I not have asked that?”
Ellie shook her head and tried to laugh off her concern. Her laugh sounded like she was choking. “Third wasn’t an easy birth so there’s a possibility I may not be able to carry another baby.”
Ellsa put her arm around her shoulders, “Living a life worrying when your mind is going to betray you has taught me one thing. Enjoy the here and now. Better two then nothing, and if you really want to have another, I’ll carry it for you. That’s what sisters are for right?”
This time when she chuckled it was out of genuine shock, “You would be a gestational carrier for me? Are you sure?”
Ellsa shrugged pulling her arm away and flipping the pan, “Yeah why not? It didn’t look all that complicated in the movie.”
“In the movie?”
Ellsa rolled her lips into her mouth and she shifted from one foot to the other, “I don’t know if Robocop told you this but when I woke from that coma my mind was a blank page. The only thing that I could remember to do was talk and not eloquently. I had to learn everything from scratch. I’m just lucky I’m a fast learner. So yeah, most of my knowledge comes from endless hours of watching movies, nothing but movies.”
Ellie couldn’t imagine what kind of frustration she went through. She’d been in a coma for a month and when she woke up, she remembered everything to the point when she closed her eyes thinking she was dying, Third the last thing she saw. Okay, not something to think about at the moment.
“Going to the park and the zoo must have been a childlike experience.”
She snorted, “Never been. I was never allowed to go out. I had to fight to take DJ to and from school, without an escort for that fact. Until I met or re-met Damien, I didn’t understand how much of a prisoner I was in my own home. And the worst part was, no one would tell me why.”
Ellie hoped to God no one ever would. Ellsa wouldn’t be able to live with the fact she’d been under the control of an obsessed psycho and had killed several people because of it. “Well, you are here now and we can do those things together.”
“Momma!”
Ellie jumped, but Ellsa didn’t. She’d almost knocked the pan off the burner.
Ellsa laughed almost doubling over, “You okay?”
“I will be when my heart drops from my throat,” she jumped again but not as bad as the first time, when DJ screamed again, louder, “So you guys play marco polo in the mornings till he finds you?”
Ellsa rolled her lips to smother the laugh and shook her head, “No, it’s just that we are in a strange house. Usually, he gets up and gets his cereal, watch morning cartoons until I drag myself out of bed to get coffee. We talk a while before he goes to get ready for school. It’s both annoying and admirable how self reliant he is.”
“Momma!”
“DJ, cut that out!” Damien’s loud bellow quickly followed.
“Time to get coffee ready,” Ellsa spoke walking across the room to the coffee maker. She looked so… normal.
“Is his shouting part of his morning routine too?” Ellie teased.
“Nope. He probably didn’t have much sleep. Hey Ellie,” Ellsa began, turning around to face her, “When I… was DJ…”
She quickly shook her head when she spotted Ellsa’s trembling lips, “No. He doesn’t even know. Damien made sure he wasn’t there when it happened.” When any of it happened, she added silently.
“How did he explain momma being passed out?”
“The doctor gave you a sedative to help with the pain in your wrist.” A brow went up and Ellie smiled, “Yeah he didn’t believe that easily, but Damien said a few other things I didn’t understand but he did so that fixed it. You must be proud of your gifted son.”
She nodded, a bright smile commanding her face, “The word proud isn’t enough to explain just how much. I’m just glad he finally has a like mind in his father. Did he like spending time with Agent Kevin? I was sure DJ was going to ask to live with the smartest man he’s ever met and only tolerate his substandard parents over the weekends.”
Ellie shook her head, “No way. That boy adores you. And if you want a babysitter, Kevin would be happy to have him over. He’s Third’s godfather.” She rolled her eyes, “He gave him a brain exercise video for his first birthday.”
“No way!” she exclaimed laughingly.
“I wish I was joking.”
“Momma, there you are!” Ellie turned to face the little boy with his hands on his waist and an accusing glare on his face. “Didn’t you hear me call you?”
Damien walked in—more like dragged himself in—behind him, smacking the back of his son’s head, “She’s your mother, not your pet.”
DJ rubbed the back of his head with a harsher glare for his father.
“Middle D, this how you wake up in your home? Kid’s got some bloody lungs on him.” Dale grumbled as he dragged himself into the kitchen and dropping on a stool at the island one away from Damien.
“Language please,” Ellsa chastised sweetly placing two mugs of coffee before them. “Little man, on the stool between these two bears. Was there a reason for your bellowing?”
“Just wanted to know where you were.” He grumbled. DJ stomped to Damien and tugged on his shirt. Without turning around, Damien reached down, grabbed the back of his onesie Spiderman pajamas and lifted him on the stool between him and Dale. When he wobbled, Dale grabbed his little shoulder to hold him steady.
They were such a miserable trio, it was too amusing.
Still glaring up at Damien he asked, “How else was I supposed to find her?”
Damien turned to him, “Did you try searching the house first?”
“But you said I should yell just in case you and momma were busy having sex,” Dale spat out his coffee in a spray at that. DJ just gave him a disgusted look before he turned back to his father who was now wide awake and went on, “and not knock because the chance of you hearing me is slim to none. And not to open the door and just come in because momma would kill us both—me for seeing what I shouldn’t and you for not being able to stop.”
Ellie pressed her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. But Ellsa’s bulging eyes and reddening cheeks were making it near impossible to hold it in. Dale however was doubled over laughing hard.
“DJ, you left me in bed,” Damien answered patiently.
“That doesn’t mean Uncle Dale and Aunt Ellie weren’t having sex.”
“Oh dear Lord!” Ellsa groaned. Ellie covered her mouth with both her hands but she could do nothing to stop the laughing tears.
“You know, your kids are going to be five one day,” Damien responded to Dale’s loud out of control laughs.
Ellsa sighed and began serving up breakfast, “How about some breakfast? And maybe after daddy’s suggestions are done biting him in the butt we can try to convince him and Uncle Dale to take us to the museum?”
DJ threw both his arms up, fists high, “Yeah! Finally, I get to go!”
Ellsa placed a plate of eggs, pancakes and bacon and a glass of milk in front of him, “Did I miss the part you asked daddy?”
DJ turned to Damien, hands pressed in prayer position, “Please daddy! Can we go, I promise I’ll behave.”
Damien exchanged a look with Dale over his mug. Ellie knew what they were silently conversing over. Vladimir. His men hadn’t come last night and they may still make an appearance and they wanted to be ready for them. So why stay in the house? Wouldn’t going to a public place be safer, especially since there was a child who might be caught in the middle? He’d already been used against Ellsa once before and people died because of it.
“Yeah, let’s go to the museum. It might be fun. No reason to sit around the house waiting for the day to end.”
Dale stared at her long and hard before he nodded. “It could be fun and safer.”
“Safer than what?” DJ piped up.
“Rock climbing. You’re not tall enough for that,” Damien answered rubbing his head. DJ seemed to think it over a little before he gave a solid nod and attacked his pancakes.
Ellie admired his quick thinking. It must be hard work to keep up with DJ.
“Uncle Dale… if you get Kevin to come I’ll forgive you for being mean to my momma,” DJ answered conversationally but it drew all their attention.
“I’ll call him right now,” Dale responded.
“Of course just saying sorry would have sufficed.” This time it was Damien who spat out his coffee.
“Damien James Chan!” Ellsa sounded out the warning in all his three names and it hit home.
His head lowered and when Ellie thought he was about to apologize he said instead, “I won’t apologize for being right. Even if it means I won’t go to the museum.”
Ellsa groaned, pressing her fingers over her eyes, “Damien.”
Taking his cue, Damien lifted DJ onto his lap, “Okay little man let’s talk. We understand where you’re coming from but standing up for what you believe in doesn’t give you the right to be rude. There is a better way to put your point across. And you should have started by asking Uncle Dale if he did apologize to your momma first.”
“I know he didn’t. He’s too macho, like uncle Mike.”
Ellsa groaned again then turned to Ellie and muttered, “Please tell me he doesn’t get his sass from me?”
Fighting a smile, she responded, “Okay, I won’t tell you.”
****