“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.