Chapter 36 - Happy Family Reunion (Kalenah POV) pt. 1

The fall and winter holidays were always a busy time for our family, all the Conrads and my family since I had met Ansel, his family larger than mine, we always spent the holidays together.

My parents had three daughters Marisela, Crista and myself, no sons. So once I met Ansel and created a life with him, they had a son-in-law. Not everything was always so pieced together and perfect, especially as we were werejaguars. With my own wealth, when Ansel and I settled in Oregon, the rest of our family seemed to have gravitated towards us.

It didn't matter that we lived in Bend, and our siblings lived a few hours away or minutes, everyone came to our house as the focal point.

I didn't mind having everyone in our home; I enjoyed being part of Ansel's large family, creating a large family of our own. While we were creating our family starting with our eldest triplets, Talia, Brennan and Thaddeus, Ansel's brother Danny and his late wife Tina were working on their family - Leslie, Lydia and Lia before she passed away.

It was devastating when Danny and Tina were attacked on an anniversary outing, and their attackers were able to subdue Danny and murder Tina, and while he was eventually able to garner attention to call off his attackers, Tina wasn't able to survive her injuries. For a long while, Danny moved into our home - his girls, Leslie, 3, Lydia, 2 and Lia 1 years old needed stability and he just wasn't in the right state of mind.

After two years of living with us, getting the girls and Danny past their indescribable grief, Danny and the girls moved to Portland.

When Danny finally crossed paths with Cynthia, a few months later, she seemed to bring back the joy and light in not just his eyes, but his girls as well and the same with her little boy - Andy. Grieving her own loss, of a child no less, unbearable Danny was able to understand her grief, and offer her the support needed. The two of them helping one another, in a way that Ansel and I, our family couldn't help Danny. They didn't rush to fill the void that had been created by those they lost, but it was natural, it seemed effortless the way Cynthia cared for Leslie, Lydia and Lia.

The girls understood that Cynthia wasn't their biological mom, they spoke of Tina so the girls would know where they came from, but by Leslie's eighth birthday, Cynthia was the only mother she could remember on her own. And it was the same for all the girls.

Andy had been speaking long before Cynthia met Danny and I could remember it like yesterday when the little boy came into our home and asked for "Fay." Looking around our home disappointed that he hadn't found the girl - the woman that Cynthia said perished. I could remember all of us, swallowing that awkward moment where Cynthia couldn't look into any of our eyes, and Danny was the one to tell her it was okay, to wipe the shed tears. But not only was she mourning this woman - Fay - she was mourning her child.

As a mother myself, knowing that loss for real with my own Silas gone, I can't imagine ever pretending my child had died as I now knew Cynthia had fabricated. Now with all our siblings at our house the older boys going out on a fishing trip with Ansel for his birthday, I packed some provisions with my mother, Bess.

"Your Faith doesn't seem - is she doing alright?" my mother questioned concerned and knowing that she knew Faith's history I could tell she actually cared. "Something is bothering her I can say that much, but she seems to be lost in her head more than normal," I whispered hoping I wasn't giving too much away right now. I always tried to give my children enough space to work through their inner turmoil while remaining just close enough in case they needed me in any way but Faith seemed to be floundering. Something had changed within a week, I could tell.

Factor in Samson alone, her interaction with him I knew there was a significant change.

But I could also see that she hadn't turned to him, not with the amount of concern and uncertainty Samson was walking around with.

"It's almost like she's hiding," my mother said packing sandwiches, and my own hands stilled as I thought over her words, "Yes, but I thought maybe she had stopped," which was half true. Faith sought out Samson, and I assumed it would only be a matter of time when she was comfortable of course that she would pursue connections with the other children, however now I don't believe she was seeking even Samson out.

"Do the others know?" my mother whispered under her breath, asking about Ansel's siblings. "No, just Trevor," she shook her head, and her lips turned downward. "Such a sweet child, quiet, what was that woman thinking?" knowing that I had no right answer, I remained silent as all the men and boys going on the fishing trip came in from the basement with all their camping gear, just as the doorbell rang.

In truth, we hadn't expected to hide Faith away forever, we couldn't keep Danny away from Bend, it's not like we owned it. However, we thought for sure that we had two weeks before they would come down for the holidays. Especially since Leslie had graduated from high school with her friend Naomi and both would be attending the Bend Oregon campus university - knowing she would be staying here, it was only a matter of time. But as the doorbell rang, and I wiped my hands on the nearby dishtowel, I entered the living room, where all my children, nieces, and nephews, as well as Ansel's siblings all, were with the children. My heart dropped, and my stomach went in a sort of tumble, uncomfortable painless motion.

At my door - right in the foyer of my home - were Danny and all his children, but my eyes couldn't leave Faith's when she stood deathly pale staring at Cynthia. The truth of the matter that Ansel and both of our parents had come too was that Cynthia had lied endlessly about who she was and why she was even in this realm. As a full-blooded Fae, she had told our family she was sent here because she had more than one child, which we had heard and knew was the reason many Fae's were sent here from Zedwood.

With proof - Andy and now Faith - we knew that part of her story was not fabricated. However after that, it all went downhill because Faith didn't smell like a full Fae whereas Andy did. She said that her lost daughter - not even one she called Fatima but Sophie - had been murdered. We never once doubted Cynthia about her daughter, taking her words at face value, her honesty made it so she didn't raise any red flags with us. Then we met her son, Andy. He was the spitting image of her, light brown hair with bits of blonde which our Faith looked nothing like.

Thirteen years ago

With our parents back home in Bend we sat in Danny's home, our children and his playing in the backyard, his leg shaking and finger tapping against the table nervously, I gave Ansel a side glance wondering if he noticed Danny's strange behavior. He did and taking the lead, he leaned forward, "You okay? Something the matter?" most likely assuming like I had that it was money troubles since he only had one income now to raise three young girls.

Clearing his throat and looking out at the kids once more, "I met someone," his smile so small, unsure. "We - we aren't serious, but she's - she has the potential to be something to me, to the girls," the nervousness in his voice keeping my emotions in check. We were all very fond of Tina, but after three years and much more to come no one expected him to remain single. The hurt of losing Tina would always be there, he was raising their three girls on his own - each of them physically holding bits of Tina.

"She's - her names Cynthia," Danny gushed, happily so before he went a bit somber. "She has a little boy about two years old, a few days shy of three actually," he rubbed his face roughly. "She's lost a daughter - a little girl named Sophie - she was - she is-" he stammered like we were his parents and he was bringing home his first girlfriend.

"Does she know about you - that you're a shifter?" Ansel asked, and I waited tensely hoping for I don't know what. With all he had lost, I wanted easy for Danny, for the girls, a human, a shifter, or another supernatural being - whatever she was, I wanted smooth sailing for him.

"She's a Fae, her son is too. She was sent here because she had two children, the father of them killed the minute they arrived here... she was held in a commune in Colorado," I gasped knowing that the only people that kept Fae's or shifters were Alpha Monet's pack in the outskirts of Denver. "Her daughter?" I said with a shaky voice, knowing - having heard rumors - about that pack, how they treated their women.

"Slaughtered right before her," Danny said. His eyes glazed over with a far away look on his face. Swallowing I reached forward to take his hands. "Have you introduced her to the girls?" my words bringing him back from that everlasting grief we knew he still harbored and would for a while.

He nodded all blurry-eyed. "Yeah just meetings at the park, letting the girls play with her boy, his name is Andy-" and so the conversation went on. Danny telling us all about this woman and her child. Everything he had learned until I stood to make dinner with a small smile knowing that Danny had met someone that put a smile on his face. He could downplay it for us, but I knew that he had found someone special.

Present

Rushing towards Faith, her arms open and ready for an embrace, I blinked unsure what Cynthia was doing? In all the years that we had known her, she never once mentioned Fatima's name - only calling her Sophie when she said the lost child's name at all.

Now, though, with fake tears she whimpered.

"Fatima?" With all the family now in the living room, we watched. Me, on the other hand, I stood tensely as Faith lifted her hand, a clenched fist, quickly making contact with Cynthia's face, specifically her nose. The blood gushing out instantly, but I only saw – and cared for – Faith's hand and the loud crunch that followed as she made contact.

"What the hell?" Danny shouted. The sleeping child in the carrier rattled and cried loudly. Rushing forward while I was unmoved, Leslie – Danny's daughter – came forward to help Cynthia. "Mom? Are you okay?"

Glancing between Faith and Cynthia, Danny moved robotically to soothe Genesis.

Throwing his bag off from his back, Samson rushed forward to Faith, "Uncle Trevor!" he shouts out, not touching Faith's hand but noting the way she cradles is against her chest, her eyes watery and void. "I think she broke her wrist or something," and those words are what pulls me from my shocked, dazed condition. Moving forward, stepping over Cynthia, I pull Faith's face to mine, "sweetheart?" her eyes wide, filled to the brim, she doesn't speak, but her entire frame seems to be shaking, wavering in its place.

"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Danny says his voice strained, and Leslie has helped Cynthia up to the sofa. The older kids have taken, the younger ones out of the room leaving only the adults, Ansel, and my siblings. Her lips nearly blue Faith blinks and with dead eyes she starts to fall but moving swiftly, Samson has her in his arms, and Trevor is sighing as he takes in her wrist that has already begun swelling twice it's normal size.

"We need to take her to the hospital," he says sadly, knowing that this was the last thing Faith needed, "Can you check Cynthia's nose-"

"Let's go," Samson says between his teeth, cutting his uncle off, and Trevor follows him, while I debate where to go, with Faith or stay here and give Cynthia a piece of my mind. "I'll go with Faith," my mom comes to my side, and shuffles along, throwing a jacket from the closet on and closing the door behind her.

"What are you doing here?" I ask Danny rudely, but it's because of Cynthia, all I can see now, is her throwing herself at a girl she claimed was dead when the truth was, she left Faith for dead.

Taken aback, Danny blinks confused, "It's Ansel's birthday - its tradition - who - who was that girl? Cynthia?"

"Yes, Cynthia? Who was that girl?" I snort out wondering what lie she's going to tell now, looking at Andy, who's gazing at his mother, but still, his eyes seem so far away as well. And Naomi, Leslie's friend comes forward, her jet-black hair, framing her face, while her eyes focus on Cynthia. Unsure, I pull my eyes from the girl as she cocks her head to the side before Cynthia can even speak. Now with the pain from her bloody nose, I can believe her tears, but I know they aren't for Faith, "That - that was my Fatima - my Sophie," she wept.

"My baby girl," she moaned pitifully. "I thought - they made me believe that-" she bit her lip shaking her head from side to side while I stood there with a raised brow entirely unconvinced.

"Wait! Faith is - your Sophie?" Angela, Ansel's sister, blurts out the family outside of grandparents remain in a state of pure disbelief. "I thought - I thought Danny said that - you told me she had been..." Angela seemed to talk around the words, 'killed.' Before Cynthia could come to an answer, she held onto her chest, breathing rapidly, that turned into actual gasps. "I'd fake a panic attack too if I left my daughter for dead," I muttered under my breath as she seemed to pass out.

"Wait so Faith is really the child she said she lost? Who is Fay then?" Scotty Ansel's other brother questioned, his spouse near him. Fixing Cynthia on my sofa, Danny stood quickly, turning angry gray eyes at us, "How could you not tell her that her daughter had been found? How - how long-" he seemed to be vibrating with anger.

My father started laughing at Danny's expression, but I couldn't believe that he was speaking the words he was, as though we had been in the wrong.

"Look at her reaction, if she knew her daughter was alive why would she act like that?"

"Dad's right, mom wouldn't lie about her daughter being dead," Lydia chirped defending the woman that raised her for thirteen years. "You don't need to protect your mom Lydia," Danny snapped, but his ire wasn't directed at his daughter, no.

It was towards Ansel, my father and I.

However, all I could concentrate on were the lies that were now coming to light, the actual reason Cynthia panicked. Some of the stories she told were true, but others were just for sympathy. No woman held Andy for her; there was Faith - her daughter. There was no slaughtering of her daughter before her eyes because Faith was alive - here with us.

There was no Fay, and there was no Sophie.

I had always found it strange. Her story of what happened but because of where she said she escaped from, I never wanted to question when I didn't know exactly what she endured.

Cynthia stated that it must have been two or three months in a hole in Denver, but when we met Andy, he never asked for a Sophie, it was always "Fay." All these years I had written it down too, he was much too young to remember his sister, but could remember the grown woman until eventually, Andy stopped asking for Fay. We never questioned her lost child wanting to spare her the grief she drowned under when the girl - Sophie - was mentioned. We stopped saying Fay, when Andy had but here... now... even with all Cynthia's lies, she ran to Faith speaking her name, as though she hadn't lied to Danny, to us all.

.

.

.

___________

© 2016 roxann_season All Rights Reserved

For those that are confused, Cynthia lied. A lot.

.

.

.

.

her lies?

1. Her daughters name is Sophie.

2. Her daughter was slaughtered by a werewolf Alpha.

3. Fay is a woman that held her child for her every once in a while.

3b. "Fay" was an ADULT WOMAN.

4. In case you missed #2, that her daughter was killed.

If you're still confused read: Chapter 18 - The Truth Has More Sides (Kalenah POV)

.

.

.

So here is a setup of the two families. I do not expect anyone to remember all these names but it's purely for that moment if I mention someone and you're wondering 'who is this new person?'