Chapter Thirty Four
"Brian Belden," Natala blurted out.
The family room was silent as all eyes stared at Natala. She sat up and saw the children gathered in a big group, staring in shock. The dark haired boy from the sofa earlier was standing close to the tall, pretty teenager with golden hair and blue streaks. Her hand rested on his shoulder.
She opened her third eye, to get a feel for the room and its inhabitants.
The boy’s aura wasn’t normal, she realized. It was very gray, very neutral, but it kept shifting, shrinking. She realized there was something not right with him.
Almost all of them had warm auras, unusual for a single family. These were good people, she thought. Very caring, friendly. The tall blonde girl not much younger than her had one of the most vibrant. So did the tall blond man, whom she knew to be the girl’s father, and his wife. They were three of the strongest auras in the room.
The older man with the white hair, and a bit of red left in it, had a very intense orange aura. He wasn’t someone to be trifled with. The pretty brunette woman with the big green eyes and curves had a sparkly aura.
Two of the three triplets had a intense, shifting and popping auras. They were pranksters, she realized. The third, not so much.
The tall girl with the honey colored hair had a soft, delicate aura and that seemed to blend with the blonde’s. They were super close, Natala thought.
Grandparents were here too. The older blonde woman let her gray hair show, the older honey haired woman in the very expensive sweater didn’t, she thought. Three generations of women right there, of two families. Natala surmised. Too strong of a resemblance to be otherwise.
This was her family, she thought in awe. All of them.
"Did you say Brian Belden?" Trixie was first to recover, as usual.
"Yes," Natala's scared eyes flitted from Brian to Luke to Dan, trying to determine which one he was.
“Damn, Uncle Bri, who knew you had it in you?” Logan laughed.
Aralyn promptly wrapped her arm around Logan’s neck and cupped her hand over his mouth to shut him up.
Luke exhaled in relief. One of his biggest fears had always been a child showing up claiming to be his.
"That's me," Brian said quietly.
The blue eyes snapped to the man sitting next to her.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, setting down the mug. "I didn't mean to just blurt it out—or surprise you. I just, it's, Mama died and all she said—" she burst into tears and Brian's bedside manner failed him for the first time ever. He looked to his siblings for support.
It was Dan Mangan, orphaned at age thirteen, who stepped forward, kneeling next to her and Brian.
"Hey, it's all right, kiddo," he said gently. Taking her hand he nodded at Brian to do the same. The doctor recovered from his shock enough to did so. "We're all family here. You're not alone."
Natala wept as Helen Belden finally recovered from her shock and waved to the men to move. Perching herself next to her newest grandchild, she held the thin girl as she sobbed.
***
Eventually she stopped crying, and Helen smoothed her hair and wiped her eyes, picking up the cup of the cider, still lukewarm.
“Here, child,” Helen Belden handed it to her as Peter Belden handed his son his handkerchief. The pretty older woman held the Natala’s hands steady around the cup, studying the girl’s face for resemblance.
The younger children were all shuffled out of the living room but they crowded into the stairwell and entryway to listen, eyes wide and open-mouthed. The older teens hung back, listening, and corralling the younger kids.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt—I’ve been looking for you, ever since I found out you were alive. I tried to get here sooner, not on Christmas—”
“You thought I wasn’t alive?” Brian asked, staring at her.
“How did you get here?” Trixie asked. “And from where? Where have you been, and who was your mother?”
Natala deduced quickly the pair were siblings, and the woman with an arm around her was their mother, making her Natala’s grandmother. A real grandmother. One who looked warm and caring, and probably spent hours baking cookies for her grandchildren. Natala couldn’t take her eyes off of her. Her grandmother’s aura was very worried. Would this woman really have despised Natala’s mother? She wondered.
Helen waved a hand for her children to be quiet. Natala reached into her jacket and produced a well worn, oft-folded piece of paper.
“Mama always said my daddy was a drifter, and she thought he was dead. She died last month, but she told me about you right before hand. Said she lied because she didn’t want to mess up your life, that you had real promise as a doctor and having a baby so young would have ruined that for you. And that your family would have been ashamed of us.”
Brian was speechless. His dark eyes went to Jim Frayne, his best friend, for help.
“You’re Talaitha’s girl,” Jim said calmly. “You have her eyes.”
Natala studied the red haired man. The bond between the men was strong, brotherly. This would have been the friend Mama referred to as “lost and shut off”.
“Yes. You must be Jim.” Natala held out the paper, unsure of what else to do.
Dan took it; Brian was still in a state of shock, staring at the girl. Dan unfolded it to study it. He glanced at his wife and made motions for her to get the girl some food. Daisy nodded and slipped into the kitchen.
“Who’s Talaitha?” Trixie interrupted. “When did you have a girlfriend? How old are you?”
Jim was about to answer when Brian found his voice.
Brian’s voice was soft as he answered, flung back in time twenty years to memories and heartache he had long ago locked away.
“Talaitha was the woman I was dating the year you and Bo got married. She was a Gypsy carnival fortune teller, and I fell in love with her. She was amazing. Absolutely stunning and just …so pure of heart. Everything was new to her; she had grown up in the carnival, after coming here from Canada.”
The expression on Natala’s face alerted everyone to the fact that wasn’t entirely true. Natala didn’t interrupt though.
“…Her family had a small pub, and I used to visit her there. She would sing and dance. That winter, they moved to the city because the carnival wasn’t doing a lot of business. She was flirtatious, and she snuck out to meet me a few times, and we just…her father found out. It was pretty humiliating for a Romani to be involved with a gaje – a non-Gypsy. She wouldn’t give me up so he threw her out.” Brian’s eyes were out of focus as he remembered. “One of her brothers beat her up, he was so furious about taking up with me.
“Of course I told her to move in with me. She was amazing. The apartment felt so much better with her there. She would do some house cleaning for neighbors to bring in some money and wait tables, and we fell completely in love.”
Pain took over his face. “I came home one day and she was gone. I had just bought an engagement ring. I thought it would make her happy. But that day… her clothes, every trace of her was gone, including the cash I kept in the drawer for emergencies. I had asked her to marry me a dozen times but she refused. I thought a ring would make her see I was serious. She would never come home with me to meet you all either.” Brian’s dark eyes were tormented as he looked to his parents for support. “Jim was the only one she’d meet.”
“She was very pretty,” Jim took up the story. “Very lively, feisty. She was full Romanian, and sometimes when she got mad, she’d swear in Romanian. She loved to dance.”
“She was always dancing, until she got sick this year,” Natala said, her blue eyes filling with tears. “But that’s not the whole story.”
Honey Duke, standing behind the sofa, reached out to comfort her, her hazel eyes sympathetic. The girl was sitting up on the sofa now, and had swung her legs over the side. Helen sat next to her, one arm still around her securely, as if she were afraid the girl might bolt. Brian sat on her other side. Daisy had brought her a plate loaded with food, and Natala had started eating. She had never seen such a plate. Meats, vegetables, deviled eggs. She tried not to wolf it down.
“Eat slowly,” Brian said. With a lump in his throat, he asked, “What’d she have?”
“Cancer. She could never afford the right tests, but one of the men, he finally took her to the doctor when her pain got so bad, but she was gone within days. They said they thought it was in her brain and had too spread quickly.”
“She’s dead,” Brian murmured, still shell shocked.
The girl nodded, her blue eyes welling up with tears.
“She said if it was her time to go, she’d go home to her Gods. She would tell me a little bit about you when she was conscious, but never much at once. It was only the last week, when she knew she was dying that she told me the full truth. Her last words were to tell me your name, and that you had lived in upstate New York, and where my birth certificate was. She said she was sorry for lying, and disappearing the way she did but she wanted you to truly shine as a doctor, and having a baby with her would have ruined that. She never explained why she thought that, other than that we were Gypsies, and we wouldn’t be welcome in your world.”
Brian tried to swallow past the lump in his throat.
“I had no idea she was pregnant.”
“I know,” Natala sipped her cider, resisting the urge to cram all of the food in her mouth. Warmth spread through her quickly. “She left almost immediately after she found out. But she had to.”
Brian look at her, questioningly.
“She went to her cousin, who she thought would give her herbs and concoctions to abort the baby. But instead, her cousin went to Mama’s father and betrayed her. Her father went to her cousin’s place and beat her up pretty badly. He forced her to take him to the apartment she had with you, and her brothers took everything you had bought her, and some cash they found.”
Brian nodded.
“After that, they left town. They went north to Canada.”
“Which is why I couldn’t find her,” Jim interrupted. All eyes turned to him. “I hired private detectives, after we reported her missing to the NYPD. One NYPD detective searched for months, on his own time. Hardy never could locate the troupe, or her.”
“Was Talaitha her real name?” Brian asked.
Natala nodded.
Helen Belden squeezed in a hug, trying not to cry. This skinny, starving child in front of her was a grandchild she hadn’t know about. One thing she had wished for every year was for Brian to find love, start his own family and add to her grandchildren.
“What’s your life been like?” Brian asked cautiously. She certainly didn’t look like it had been good. Her wrist was thin and delicate, and her eyes looked sunken. She was definitely malnourished, and looked like she could use a hot shower and a lot of food. She was devouring the plate brought to her. Her eyes were scared, darting around, and haunted. He had seen that look before, plenty of times, and in the eyes of a fourteen year old Dan Mangan.
“Eat slowly, so you don’t get sick,” he told her again. She nodded and tried to slow down. “There’s plenty more.”
The younger cousins had drifted back in, sitting on the floor, crowding together, to hear the story. For once, they were all quiet, studying their new cousin, and listening to the story.
“We traveled with the carnival for many years. Sometimes we’d change to another,” she said demurely. “Changed our names frequently. Mama never took the herbs her father gave her, to abort me, obviously. She claimed they didn’t work, to her father, but she told me she wanted me too much to do it. It was all she had left of you. But her father and brothers weren’t kind to her, or me.”
Hand trembling, she ate a forkful of potatoes, her eyes welling with tears. Hers weren’t the only ones. Even the U.S. Marshals in the room had watery eyes.
“I know this is a shock,” Natala said to Brian, “And if you don’t want me around I understand. I don’t want to upset your family and I really didn’t want to do this on Christmas. I can’t even really prove I am your daughter; I just have the birth certificate and Mama’s word.”
“Of course I want you around,” he murmured, brushing her hair back. Of course there would be a DNA test, but he knew in his heart this was his daughter. She had Taliatha’s full lips, bright blue eyes and jaw line, but his hair, nose and ears. Definitely Belden ears, he thought absently.
“And I understand if you want one of those pat-pat-those tests that say who the father is. I can’t honestly guarantee I am your daughter. You might not be my father.”
“This looks legit, Bri.” Dan handed it back. “But Photoshop is a great thing.”
“When is your birthday?” Jim asked.
“Tomorrow. Christmas. My name means ‘born on Christmas’.”
“Year?” Jim continued.
She told him and he and Brian exchanged a glance.
“Unless she was cheating on me,” Brian said, “you’re mine. She left in early May; she wouldn’t have been showing yet.”
“Mama wasn’t the most honest person,” Natala admitted. “This could be all wrong.”
“No little one,” Peter Belden said softly. “You have the Belden ears.”
“And nose,” Trixie added.
Natala smiled shyly.
“Excuse me for interrupting,” the tall blonde girl with blue streaks in her hair and the powerful aura stepped forward, “But we kind of skipped the intros. I’m your cousin, Aralyn. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Natala,” she answered. There was a murmured chorus of greetings. The various cousins began to pipe up with their names but Natala quickly lost track of who was who.
“We have a family tree we’ll show you. It’s pretty overwhelming to meet us all at once.” Someone said.
She nodded and looked back at Brian.
“You’re the only child I know of that I have,” he told her. “These are most of your cousins. In addition to the paternity test, I want to run a full blood panel on you, for everything. Have you seen a doctor recently?”
She shook her head. “No. We had a healer with the troupe, we never went to doctors.” Her eyes turned teary again. “Mama might have lived if we had gone to a doctor but we didn’t have the money and Romani don’t trust the Western doctors.”
Brian blanched as Helen inhaled sharply. Natala glanced around at the sudden alarm.
“I’m pretty healthy,” she said quickly. “I rarely get sick.”
“No vaccinations, immunizations, or anything?” Brian murmured.
She shook her head. “Not that I know of. I had chickenpox once when I was six.”
Brian rubbed his chin. Natala looked down, surprised to see she had eaten almost everything. Her stomach was too full as it was, but she wanted more.
“This is my brother Mart, our sister Trixie, and our parents, Peter and Helen,” Brian said gently, “I won’t overwhelm you with everyone’s names just yet, but these are most of your cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. There are more, but not here.”
Natala looked around the room at the diverse family and smiled shyly, her eyes welling up with tears again.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“You’re welcome, of course.” Brian ran a hand through his dark hair, his head spinning.
Brian had been reading to his nephew Sean only moments before. He had spent many hours working with the boy and Trixie, and while he adored all of his nieces, nephews and cousins, Sean held a special place in his heart. With his big, soft blue eyes and angelic smile, he really made Brian wish he had a family of his own. He was the only Bob White that hadn't married, had kids, settled down. He had given all that up years ago to become one of the leading pediatricians in the country. There had been a couple women he loved along the way, one was across the room right now, lovingly looking into her husband's bright blue eyes.
The other was long gone, not quite a faded memory, from many years before. Brian tried to soothe his family cravings by showering his nieces and nephews with presents and attending as many sports games, chess matches, plays and debates as he could. Now that he had a pile of money and recognition, he wanted someone to share it with, but he knew neither woman was to be his.
Plenty of nurses made their interest known but his heart just wasn’t available.
*
Natala learned she was in Trixie’s house, the pretty blonde aunt who looked like Natala’s uncle Mart, and she was married to Bo Duke, the very handsome blond man who had been a NASCAR race car driver and was now a federal agent. They had four children, including the one she had seen in Brian’s lap earlier, and the prankster twin boys-the third was a cousin, not a triplet. The tall blonde girl was definitely their oldest, and the oldest of the grandchildren, until now. Natala hoped that wasn’t going to cause problems.
Brian had no wife. Part of her was glad; he would have her father all to herself now. There was a lot of time to make up. She prayed silently to whatever God might be listening that this really was her father, and her family. If it wasn’t, and they turned her out, she had nowhere else to go.
It was impossible to remember who was who, but her grandmother Helen sat with her on the couch, making her comfortable, and keeping her cider cup full. There were several federal agents, she learned, two former feds, a fashion designer, a soccer player, hockey players, a scientist, actors, businessmen, a banker, and artists. Artists, she thought happily. Like her.
Aralyn disappeared for a while with the pretty girl whose aura blended into hers, but they came back with smiles.
“I really didn’t mean to interrupt your Christmas,” she said softly, when there was a lull in the conversation. “A stranger crashing a family party isn’t very nice.”
“Nonsense,” Peter squeezed her hand. “This family takes care of each other.”
“Our Uncle Jesse used to say that strangers were just friends we hadn’t met yet.” It was the pretty brunette who had brought her food, with a southern accent. Rose? Lily? Some sort of flower name. She was married to the gorgeous dark haired man that Natala had given her birth certificate to.
Natala felt the hot tears poking at her. The cousin she thought to be Tiffany spoke up.
“Nat, why don’t you come upstairs with me and Aralyn and Lyris? You still look cold, and a hot shower will do you good. We’ll loan you clothes, they might be a bit big though. I think you’re closer to my size than theirs.”
“I would like that,” she said shyly. “If you’re sure?”
She was helped up from the sofa by Brian, and her cousins led her upstairs. Lyris, she discovered, was the girlfriend of another cousin Tim, who was stuck in Maryland in a snowstorm.
Lyris was evidently the fashion designer’s protégé, and had the piercings in her nose, eyebrow and lip. Her aura wasn’t the same as the others. It was heavily covered in dark green suspicion and she didn’t take her eyes off of Natala.
*
The adults filed into Bo’s office, shutting the door. The twins in particular were threatened with the chores of cleaning all the gutters, including Ten Acres and Manor house next fall if they listened in. That didn’t stop them from sneaking up to the door, glass pressed to it. The others hung back, waiting for the report. No one eavesdropped likes the twins.
Brian ran his hand over his dark hair as he slumped in one of the chairs. His brain was still whirling, flashes of memory coming to him in a rapid onslaught he wasn’t ready for. He had a daughter!
“Dan, you still got that genetic forensic guy owing you?” Bo asked.
Dan snapped his cell shut.
“I just sent him a text. I think this qualifies for calling in that favor.”
Helen touched her oldest son’s shoulders. “Brian?”
Brian shook his head. “She’s mine. I know it. She looks a lot like Talaitha to me, but she’s mine.”
“She does have a couple of our features,” Peter said.
“I can feel it,” he murmured. “I always wondered why Tala left. It was so sudden, and after her family cast her out, I couldn’t believe it. I wondered if she had gone back to them, or if they threatened her.”
“I suspected,” Jim said quietly. “Like I said, I even sent a PI after her, Fenton Hardy. One of the best officers of the NYPD who did some private cases, and eventually opened his own agency. He couldn’t find her. She simply vanished. He looked hard, for a good year after she was gone.”
Brian exhaled. “Should I take her home tonight?” he asked. “I…I don’t know what to do.”
“Let her stay here,” Trixie said. “The kids are all spending the night anyway, she might feel more comfortable with Aralyn, Tiffany and Lyris around; they’re in the same age group. The kids are going to want to tell her all sorts of tales anyway, and I think she might be less scared with people her own age around. The twins will make her feel like she belongs in no time, and it’s probably good for Aralyn and Tiffany to take her in hand.”
Brian shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe this. My daughter. Did you see her? She’s malnourished, probably anorexic and anemic, God knows what illnesses she might have if she’s never had an immunization—Tala used to get sick very easily. She’s had a hard life, you can see it in her eyes.”
Jim and Dan, both orphans as young teenagers, exchanged a knowing glance. Jim had been stuck with a vicious stepfather, and Dan had joined a street gang, prior to meeting Trixie and Honey.
Helen repressed the urge to say it, but Trixie didn’t.
“Why didn’t you ever mention there was someone?” she demanded.
Brian shrugged. “I met her after,” here he glanced at Honey, “all of you got engaged. She was so special, we just kind of…fell in together. I wanted to bring her home but she would never come. She was too ashamed of what she was.”
He stood, pacing the room. “Why would she do that? Why would she run off because she was pregnant? We were happy—Jim can attest to that!” His friend nodded. “I wanted her to marry me. And then I came home one day and she was just…gone.”
Brian sat back down in his chair, his head in his hands. His family wasn’t sure what to say.
“Don’t worry Bri,” Trixie said quietly. “You have all of us. And so does she.”
***
Natala stared at Aralyn’s room. The soft blues, pretty furniture—it was extravagant to her.
“Mine and Lyris’ clothes will be way too big, but Tiff is closer to your size,” Aralyn said. Tiffany was pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a matching top. “And she always has clothes here, so don’t worry about it.”
“There’s shampoo, conditioner, whatever you need in the bathroom,” Tiffany offered. “I’ll get you towels.”
Natala was escorted to the bathroom.
“Take your time.” She was assured.
She spent a full minute staring around the bathroom. She had never seen such a pretty bathroom that wasn’t in a magazine. The RVs the troupe lived out of were nothing like this. Something told her this wasn’t really extravagant, but it was still nicer than any she had ever had. This was how normal people lived, she realized.
Natala followed the semi-order and took her time. The shampoo was sweet smelling and luxurious, she enjoyed working it through her long hair; the conditioner as well. Conditioner was something of a rare treat, there was never money to spend on it and stealing was so much more difficult these days. Plus one of the others would have just stolen it from her. She reveled in the lavender scented body wash that lathered up so much better than her standard soap bar. All the stuff she had seen commercials for so many years, and only rarely able to use, she thoroughly enjoyed.
She dried off, and changed into the clothes she had been given. With her hair in a towel, she hesitantly approached Aralyn’s room, pausing outside the door to listen to her new cousins.
“Way too skinny. We need to fatten her up a bit.” Aralyn, Natala thought. Definitely the more outspoken and leader of the younger generation.
“I think she’s had a brutal life, Ari,” Tiffany said.
“I think you’re right. Good thing you have so many clothes here still. These should fit her until we can get her some other clothes. Mine would fall right off.”
Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped, turning in fear. It was the girl with the facial piercings. Someone’s girlfriend. She beckoned Natala to come with her into another bedroom. The twins’ room, from the twin beds and the smell of young men.
“I’m Lyris,” she said.
Natala nodded. “Tim’s girlfriend, right?”
Lyris nodded. “I’m not blood kin to this family, so I wanted to have a chat.”
Natala sensed danger. The girl’s pale green eyes were hard, her entire demeanor threatening as she stepped up to Natala.
“This family took me in when I had nowhere else to go. Tim and Dan got me out of nasty situation, and it turns out, I have a flair for fashion design, so Daisy gave me a job.” Natala nodded in understanding. “This is a good family. These are good people, probably some of the best you’ll ever meet, and I owe them everything. If I find out you’re running a scam to get Brian’s money, or anyone’s money, or you break their hearts, I. Will. Tear. You. Apart.”
Natala swallowed. She didn’t doubt it; the girl’s aura was dark and serious. “I’m not running a scam, I swear. I don’t know if I’m really his and I was honest about that. My mother said I was, but until there are tests, I don’t know. But I swear, this isn’t a scam.”
The green eyes evaluated her for a long moment, and softened. “I want to believe you. And I promise, I will be the first one to welcome you to the family because I know what it’s like to feel lost and alone. But I won’t have any of them hurt. I owe them too much and they’ve become my family.”
Natala nodded. “I can respect that. I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just want to find my father.”
Lyris nodded. “If it really is Brian Belden, you are one lucky girl. Now, come on, let’s you get settled.” She smiled, and put her arm around the other girl’s shoulders.
Lyris knocked lightly on Aralyn’s door. The girls looked up and smiled.
“Come in,” Aralyn said. “Here, warm socks, and slippers.”
Natala took them shyly and joined her cousins.
“Wow,” Aralyn studied her. “I do see some of Brian. My mom is Trixie, Brian’s sister. Tiffany is another cousin. Her father, Luke, is cousin to my Dad, Bo. Her mom, Honey, used to date Brian when they were teenagers.”
Natala nodded.
“It’s a bit confusing for a while,” Tiffany said, “but you’ll get used to it. Just don’t trust the twins. There are three sets, but only one set of identical and they’re the ones to look out for.”
“My brothers,” Aralyn said dryly. “Don’t ever eat anything they hand you, don’t ever close your eyes or turn your back on them if you only see one, because the other is lurking somewhere. And never, ever volunteer to help them with an experiment. They’re our own version of Fred and George Weasley."
Natala gave a smile. She knew who they were. She had snuck into more than a few movie theatres.
Tiffany handed her a comb, and Natala undid the towel to let her hair down.
“Wow, your hair is amazing,” Aralyn admired it.
“Thank you,” Natala said shyly, running the comb through. She was amazed by how easy it was to comb, having used conditioner. “I want to cut it though, it is too cumbersome. I should have done it sooner because it’s mostly aggravating. I wasn’t allowed to in the troupe, Gypsy women are supposed to have long hair.”
“Even in this day and age?” Tiffany asked.
Natala nodded. “My troupe was run by Mama’s father, and he was very strict. When he died, my uncle took over, and he was just as strict and trafitional.”
“Well, we’ll take care of the hair,” Tiffany assured her. “But if you’re ready, why don’t we go downstairs? I know everyone is anxious to talk with you.”
Natala agreed and followed her cousins downstairs.
***
There was a round of enthusiastic ‘Happy Birthdays!’ when the four came downstairs, and one of the blond twins queried about spankings, which his father shot down instantly.
Brian rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling old.
“I’m sorry to be such a surprise,” she said quietly to him as she joined him on the sofa.
“It’s all right. It just…it’s been a lifetime since I saw your mother,” he answered.
“I don’t think she forgot you, ever,” Natala said. “Sometimes she’d be very sad, and seemed very far away. She always said she was remembering a happy time, and I think it was her time with you. But she’d never tell me.”
Brian gave her a sad smile.
Jim Frayne stood back, studying the young woman. He had once had a cousin appear mysteriously, only to be a fraud, while his real cousin had amnesia. The girl did bear a resemblance to Brian and Peter, but so did half the kids in the room, including his oldest son Byron, whose mother was Brian’s dark haired cousin, Hallie.
Jim was grateful Hallie wasn’t there tonight. That would have been a disaster because his wife would have had to open her mouth and make overly bitchy comments. Which of course would have propelled Trixie into a furious rage though the last time Hallie got snarky, it was Aralyn who popped off with a response to put Hallie in her place. The family didn’t need extra drama tonight. It was definitely good Hallie was at home. He figured she was passed out drunk already.
A glance at his old friend Dan, and knew the Marshal was thinking the same thing. It had been Jim’s imposter cousin’s scheme that had resulted in a teenage Dan being kidnapped and tied to a bedpost for almost two weeks.
“What are you thinking?” Trixie and Honey appeared at his side.
“I knew her mother. She does look like her a bit, but there’s a resemblance to Brian too.”
Trixie nodded. “Is the timing right?”
Jim nodded. “Yeah. And I’m pretty sure Talaitha wasn’t running around on him. She lived with him. Her family did ostracize her for shacking up with a non-Gypsy. She had nowhere to go, which is what devastated Brian when she left. I could never trace her troupe, and their pub was shut down in a hurry. They all just vanished. I don’t think her last name was real, because I could never find her.”
“Why didn’t he ever mention her?” Honey asked.
Jim shrugged. “She was painfully shy. And I think she was worried she would be looked down on, because she was a poor Gypsy girl. I also suspect she was here illegally. She had a pretty heavy accent.”
“Mom,” Tiffany and Aralyn appeared in front of them. “It’s time to open Christmas Eve presents. Tiff, Lyris and I are willing to give up ours to Natala. She needs them more than we do.”
Both women looked with pride at their daughters.
“That’s very generous of you,” Honey smiled, “but something tells me she won’t take them.”
Natala sat quietly as the present distribution began. Everyone was allowed to open one gift tonight. Every time someone tried to hand her a gift, she shook her head and refused.
“I appreciate it,” she said, “but it should go the rightful owner. I have my present,” she said, glancing at Brian, who smiled at her sadly, his emotions in turmoil. Talaitha was lost to him forever, but if she was telling the truth, she had given him the best present he could have hoped for. Even if she was more than twenty years late.
In the wee hours of the morning, the party wound down. Sleepy children crawled into sleeping bags and air mattresses. Snow had begun to fall. It was decided Natala would bunk with Aralyn, Tiffany and Lyris in Aralyn’s room. Aralyn and Lyris slept on an air mattress so Natala could share the bed with Tiffany.
The girls turned in, and for the first time in she didn’t know how long, Natala tumbled into a heavy sleep, and slept peacefully.
Meet the cast in full & see the family tree!
Author’s Notes
- A huge yee-haa to the fabulous and lovely Ronda, for editing this and her suggestions which made it much better!
- Natala is going to stick around for a bit as she acclimates to her family. She has a dark story to tell, that needs telling.
- Word Count, 7,629
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