This chapter is especially for myboygeorge and Mister Humphrey ;)
April 21, next day
Midtown Manhattan
They call me Caitlan Russell, but that's the name I grew up with. If you want to get technical about it, at the time of my birth, my full name was Caitlan Leilani Russell. But… even now, that isn't quite my name anymore.
Seeing as I've said that much, I suppose I should tell you some more about myself. It's only fair.
I'm thirty-five years old, and I was born to Bryton and Akela Russell on June twelfth, 1981 in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. I have an older sister, Bailey Halina, and also a younger sister, Tiffany Elizapeka. They were both born over there, too, making all three of us very proud native-born Hawaiians. I'm very close to my sisters, and always have been, but it's been in the last seventeen years that we became even closer than we were when we were younger.
More about that later.
Bailey is thirty-seven, and she's a stay-at-home mom to her two adorable sons, Manuel and Pablo, who are four and two. Bailey's husband, Juan Carlos Rivera, is a Wall Street investor, and he and they make their home in that area.
As for Tiffany, she's three years younger than me at the age of thirty-two, and she is one of the most distinguished lawyers in the family division at the local courthouse, and she just so happens to be very good friends with a handful of prominent judges and lawyers in the area. The thing about my baby sister that sets her apart from most other women I know is that she is a lesbian, and she's very proud of it. (She wants to be mayor one day, and she doesn't let her sexual orientation from keep her from reaching her goals) Tiffany is now happily married to a delightful English woman by the name of Iris Ravensdale, and she is a physical therapist over at Saint Brigid's hospital. My sister and her wife actually live around the corner from where I live with my family, so they're over all the time. They've been married for five years and are just now starting a family, thanks to the help of an anonymous donor they picked out from a catalog, and because Tiffany and Iris are equally adventurous people, both of them are pregnant at the same time! Tiffany is due any day, but Iris has three more months to go.
I moved to New York City when I was a senior in high school, and my dad and both of my sisters came with, but my mom stayed behind in Honolulu. Seventeen years later, that stubborn old bat has not budged.
But to get to that point, I have to explain how my parents met.
It was during their senior year at Chamindale University of Honolulu, where she was pursuing religious studies because she had ambitions of working at her father's church and eventually taking it over as head pastor when he retired, and my father was hard at work, earning a degree in biology because he wanted to be a teacher. His parents, Cledwyn and Teleri, started out as immigrants from Cardiff, Wales, and they moved to Upstate New York looking to expand their clothing company, and believe me, they did. Within a year of them being here, they struck gold when some of the biggest names in fashion caught wind of them and decided to invest in their business, turning it into a now booming enterprise.
Owing to their luck and their success, they became rich pretty quickly and my father had a pretty privileged upbringing, living in a mansion up in the countryside with a full staff and having everything handed to him on a silver platter. Dad admits that he has no regrets from that part of his life, but he also says that he got quite a thrill in telling his parents that he wanted to go to the other side of the country, to Hawaii, to receive his college education, simply because he wanted to challenge himself. That choice left him at odds with his parents ever since, but it's how he met my mom.
These days, my parents are legally separated but not divorced because they were both raised to believe that divorce is a sin, and all of that happened because of a vicious fight they got into after Tiffany came out. They'd been fighting for awhile, anyway—dad wanted to move us girls back to New York to give us a taste of living on the mainland because we'd never been out of Hawaii before, but mom told him that she was more than content to stay in Honolulu, the place where she was born and raised, until the day she dies—but Tiffany's coming out of the closet pushed mom right over the edge, and she started ranting and raving about how her youngest daughter turned out to be nothing but a disappointment to her. Mom was also pretty upset because she and my dad had both been raised as Roman Catholic Christians and they both came from very strict families, meaning that having a lesbian daughter was a big fat no-no.
(Neither set of my grandparents are big fans of Tiffany, either)
Bailey and I spent that whole day on the beach with our little sister, telling her that none of it was her fault and that we loved her and would stick by her, no matter the outcome of our parents' fight. (It wouldn't be until a few months before hers and Iris' wedding that she would tell us a secret she'd been carrying around since then: if not for keeping our promise and supporting her when she felt guilty about being the reason behind mom and dad's biggest fight, and then hitting rock bottom as a result, she would have done killed herself) Dad found us a few hours after the fight and told us that he was going to move himself and us to New York as soon as possible. We were packed up and on an airplane to Manhattan two weeks later. Bailey, Tiffany and I never got along well with our mother because she had always been unbelievably strict, so we said goodbye to her, and that was that. Dad talks to her every now and again, but my sisters and I have all chosen to not have contact with her anymore. She really was that strict.
I was a student at Stuyvesant High School for less than a day when I met and befriended my fellow classmates, Madison Queller and Portia Byers. Everything was okay for awhile, I was doing well in my classes and I was having fun establishing my reputation as the cool new girl from Hawaii, but then came January ninth. Madison called me, crying up a storm, because her other friend, Kate Beckett, had just lost her mother in a horrible, horrible murder, and poor Kate was already flipping out like you'd never seen before. I dropped everything and went to be with her, grabbing Portia along the way.
Portia and I became Madison's support system after that, and we closed ranks around her to hold her up after Kate bailed to do her own thing, leaving poor Madison in the dust. Portia, Madison and I have been as close as sisters ever since.
When Madison got a job in the restaurant business and was looking for someone to be her manager, I was her first choice, which was perfect because I had recently earned my degree in public relations from Columbia University and was more than ready to represent someone. Madison was my first ever-client.
As for Portia, she hasn't gone anywhere, but she went into the jewelry business and has been working at Tiffany & Co. for as long as I've known her, slowly working her way up the chain of command and has one of the best sales positions there now. Madison and I were both at her wedding ten years ago, and we both witnessed the birth of her daughter, Inga, seven years ago.
Madison and Portia even introduced me to Henry Meinrad, the famous children's author, and I had no idea at the time that we were going to fall in love and get married…
One of the things about me being a top name in public relations is that I'm quite famous in the five boroughs, and as a resuly, I am most definitely page six material, meaning that I'm as well known as Madison is and as a result, my life is on display all the time.
Over the years, I've never really felt that I needed a husband to complete me, but none of that stopped me from wanting to be a mother. My good friend from college, Norman Young, caught wind of this and after a very long talk with his wife, he offered his little swimmers to my cause, and I accepted. Nine months later, I gave birth to my beautiful son, Kalani. I let Norman be there during the birth because it felt like the only way I could repay him, but he's agreed to stay his distance and be the fun uncle because he has his own family, although… Kalani is three and knows the truth about who his father is.
Much to my dismay, the public became incredibly nosy about why I wouldn't reveal the name of the man who fathered my child, and as time wore on, I was called the most awful names. In the midst of all of that, Henry was introduced to me by friends, and before I knew it, I was pouring my heart out to him about everything and he just held me and comforted me, saying that what I had done was admirable. He also thought I was the strongest person he ever met for having endured all of the slander that the pubic threw at me.
Before I knew it, I was introducing him to Kalani, my sisters and my dad.
Three years later, after being together for just a few months short of Kalani's entire life, Henry proposed to me and we got married, making me Caitlan Leilani Meinrad.
It's now been exactly two months and a week since the wedding, and… I feel ill.
But I feel ill because I'm pregnant.
I found out just now, in a women's restroom of the Q3 because I'd taken three tests and they all popped positive. Quickly disposing of them in a trashcan and exiting the stall, I washed my hands and then got as far as the extravagant bathroom lounge sofa to process this information.
It's not a bad thing for me, being pregnant, but Henry and I just got married, and although we'd talked about giving Kalani a sibling, we'd both agreed that we wanted some time together as a couple before that happened. I'm really happy about it, especially since I had been suspecting a pregnancy for a little while, and I know that Henry will also be happy because he loves being a parent as much as I do, but still…
A baby? Now?
We haven't even been married for two months yet!
Wait…
If it hasn't been two months yet, that means that we made this baby on our wedding night!
…I wonder if Henry's going to be as amused as I am right now when he does the math…
"Caitlan, are you okay?"
"We came to check on you."
I looked up and jumped slightly when I saw Madison, whose regular pace has been reduced to a gait as of late because of her huge triplet belly. Portia was at her side, spotting her to make sure that she didn't trip or teeter to the side.
"Actually, I'm not sure."
My friends immediately sat on either side of me and looked at me expectantly, waiting for details.
"I just found out that I'm pregnant."
"Well, that's not bad, is it?" Madison's tone was cheerful, even as she tracked the movements of her unborn babies across the surface of her belly, where they were all huddled together, trying to impress her with their acrobatics. "I mean, you love kids, and you love being a mom to Kai. We also know that you love being an auntie to Manuel and Pablo."
"That's all quite true, and I know that Henry is going to be happy once I tell him, but…" my voice trailed off once I thought of the part the came next.
"Oh!" Portia said with a sudden dawn of realization. "This is a wedding night baby, isn't it, Nanikati?"
I nodded and laughed at the old nickname as I commended Portia on her math skills. Madison rolled her eyes and seized control of the situation so she could get her say in as Portia erupted into a fit of giggles like she was a little kid again.
"Did you just do a test or something?"
"Three, in fact, and they were all positive."
Madison raised her eyebrows at this. "Are you going to call Henry? You can you my office, but Portia and I can vacate it, if need be."
"No, I don't need that right now, but I appreciate the gesture."
"Would you like me to schedule an appointment for you with my sister since she monitored your first pregnancy?"
"I'll do it later," I told her as I got to my feet and stretched. "But all I need right now is to get some fresh air out back. I'll be inside in a few."
My friends watched me leave the restroom, and after that I headed over to the kitchen, knowing that the back door would lead me straight out to the alley, a place where I could get fresh air and privacy at the same time. Nobody paid that much attention to me as I made my way through the busy room because as Madison's publicist, I have free reign of the restaurant, and most of the employees are on a first-name basis with me. Once I was outside, I took a brief walk down the alleyway to get some fresh air away from the dumpsters and then sat on an upturned box to examine my baby bump that I only just became aware of after the pregnancy tests were confirmed. I was a bit startled to see that it was a bit bigger than it had been at this point in my pregnancy with Kalani, but I took it in stride and cradled the bump, loving the feel of being able to do that.
"Hi, baby. I'm sorry that we're talking out here in an alley, but mama just really needed some fresh air because it was a little too stuffy inside Auntie Maddie's restaurant. The last thing that either one of us need is for me to be getting dizzy."
Right at that moment, my stomach flipped for the umpteenth time and instead of dismissing it as morning sickness like I had been for a few days, I teared up when I realized that that funny feeling was teeny-tiny baby fluttering around inside me.
(I guess it's true when they say that you can feel baby's movements earlier in the second pregnancy. It's not a lot, but it still feels like a little butterfly)
"Oh yes, little one—I can feel you fluttering around in there, so don't worry. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is how to explain you to papa. He's going to be pretty happy, but it's all going to be very interesting… and just you wait until your big brother Kai finds out. He is going to have a field day."
Of course, there was only silence, so I looked back the way I had come to make sure I hadn't gotten lost, and I was realized to see that I could still see the Q3, and that it wasn't all that far away. A breeze blew through the alley, making me shiver slightly, even though this was a warm morning, even for the month of April. The breeze made a few papers around my feet blow out towards the street, but I noticed a newspaper get stuck on something behind a dumpster. Curious about what it had gotten stuck on, I stepped forward to free the newspaper and chuck it in the dumpster, but a stronger breeze blew through finally freeing the newspaper, and when I saw what it had been stuck against, I stopped short and screamed bloody murder.
It was a dead body!
I screamed and hurried back towards the Q3 so fast that I fell forward onto the gravel of the alley floor, landing on my knees and hands, definitely skinning them. Praying that nothing was broken and that my baby was okay, I picked myself up and kept going. I was intending to find Madison or Portia, but I was just outside the back entrance to the Q3 when I ran smack dab into was Molly Kerrigan, the pastry chef. She caught me and pushed my long inky-black hair out of my face in order to look into my eyes.
"Caitlan, what's wrong?" she asked in motherly concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"N-not quite a ghost, Molly."
"I beg your pardon? 'Not quite a ghost'?"
"I just saw a dead body! It was only for a second, but he's just over there," I pointed in the direction from where I had just come. "And he's behind a green dumpster! I—oh, no. I'm going to—"
Before I could even finish my sentence, my stomach rolled violently and I proceeded to throw up from a combination of shot nerves and morning sickness. Molly gave me a soothing backrub and then started speaking to someone behind me, presumably just inside the kitchen, issuing orders to them. The next thing I knew, Madison and Portia were fussing over me, and I was vaguely aware of Madison saying that she was no medical doctor, but some of my cuts might end up needing stitches. I didn't really come back to my senses until I was in an ambulance in the back alley, a few yards away from where a police team was now investigating the body that I'd found.
"Mrs Meinrad," came a paramedics voice. "I need you to focus right now. A Captain Beckett is here to speak with you, but I really need for you to stop fidgeting so I can clean your injuries."
"I'm sorry. Am I going to need stitches?"
The paramedic shook her head. "Nope, no surgical stitches—only butterfly stitches."
I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that butterfly stitches were only adhesive bandages. A sudden thought crossed my mind and I glided my hand over my belly.
"Is my baby okay? I only just found out that I'm expecting."
"We can look in a second, but Captain Beckett is really anxious to talk to you right now."
I sat still on the ambulance bed and let the paramedic do her thing. She made room for Captain Beckett to climb up into the ambulance and sit on the bed opposite mine, but quietly went about her work. However, I gave a start when I realized who Captain Beckett was. Most people, especially those on my circuit, would recognize her as Kate Castle, wife of the famous crime author, Richard Castle, but I recognized her as Kate Beckett, the girl who had left Madison as an emotional wreck for Portia and I to piece back together. This time around, seventeen years have passed, and we're all grown-ups now.
Of course, I couldn't stop those memories from coming back, especially the ones of Portia and I being Madison's emotional support when she asked us to come with us to Kate's mother's funeral, but for the sake of the situation at hand, I had to be mature about it, so I behaved pleasantly with Kate and cooperated with her.
(But even so, Kate wouldn't have a reason to recognize me because even when we were at school together, we were never introduced)
"Mrs Meinrad, I'm sorry that you're injured, especially in your condition, but do you feel up to feel up to answering a few questions?"
"Sure, but I insist that you call me Caitlan, because that's my name."
Kate smiled at this, but remained professional. "How long ago did you discover the deceased?"
"A half hour at the most, but I can't really be sure because I left my phone inside the Q3, and I don't really wear watches."
She made a note on her notepad before posing the next questions. "What were you doing out in the alleyway? Why were you at the Q3?"
"I was outside to get some fresh air because I was feeling surprised about discovering my pregnancy, so I decided to go to the alley because it was nearby and I didn't want to be breathing in the smell of the garbage dumpsters."
I paused for a second, trying to get comfortable on the bed while trying not to be a nuisance to the paramedic, who was almost done with her work.
"The reason I was at the Q3 today was because I'm a good friend of hers, and I'm her publicist. Madison and another friend of ours, Portia Thiessen, have been in Madison's office since about ten."
Kate made more notes on her notepad. "One last question, Caitlan—how did you find the body in the alleyway?"
I explained the specifics to her and watched as she made more notes, and when she was done, she put her pen and notepad inside her coat pocket before speaking yet again.
"Do you have any questions for me?"
"Yes, actually—if you're a precinct captain, why are you out in the field? Don't you have detectives to do that work for you?"
"I most certainly do, and trust me—they're all hard at work nearby here. As for why I'm out in the field when I could be in my office right now… that's confidential."
"Fair enough," I conceded. "But does he at least have some family members who are going to miss him? What's his name?"
Kate's tone became even more professional now, but she sounded sad. "According to the ID we found on him, his name is Charles Avery, and as far as we know we've figured out, he doesn't have any family, no."
"Does he have anybody?"
"He has a partner at the FBI who's going to miss him," Kate got to her feet and made to leave. "And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go tell her."
The other woman left, but not before handing me her business card. I pocketed it, and just as I did so, I heard my name being called from outside.
"Caitlan? Caitlan, where are you?"
My heart leapt when I recognized the voice as my husband's.
"Henry?" I looked out into the crowd of policemen and medical personnel for my husband, whose presence I barely remember requesting. "Henry, I'm in the ambulance!"
My husband, a tall blond German man with some of the bluest eyes you've ever seen, loomed into view, being escorted by a police officer. Our beloved son, Kalani, was being carried on his hip. Sir Bevedere, Kalani's precious toy camel was clamped under Kalani's arm. He never lets it out his sight.
Henry spotted us and climbed into the ambulance and sat next to me, while Kalani immediately climbed into my lap, mindful of my injuries.
"Mama, I so worried 'bout you when papa sayed to me that you gotted hurt."
"I'm okay now, Kai." I kissed his curly black locks, thankful that he didn't fidget or try to push me away like he usually does. "What about Sir Bevedere? Was he worried about me?"
My boy regarded the chocolate-colored stuffed camel in his arms and then looked back at me. "Yeah, mama—Sir Bev'dere was worried very a lot. He crided big fat camel tears, but I tolded him that it was all gonna be okay."
"If I give Sir Bevedere a kiss, will he better?"
Kalani giggled, his big brown eyes twinkling in amusement as he held his toy up to me. After I gave the somewhat grubby toy a kiss, Kalani became content and leaned against me for a snuggle, so I turned to Henry and beckoned to him. He moved closer and we shared a brief kiss, knowing that there would be more time for an intimate celebration later, when we were home and Kalani was in bed. When we pulled away, I kept an arm wrapped around Kalani so he didn't fall, but with my other hand, I cupped the side of Henry's face and smiled at him, stroking his cheek affectionately.
"What is it, ko 'u aloha?" (Even with his native German accent, it still makes me feel really warm and fuzzy inside when he uses Hawaiian terms of endearment, especially when he calls me his love, like he did just now) "You're not terribly hurt, are you? I mean, I see your cuts and bruises from where you tripped, but—"
I put a finger to his lips to keep him from talking for a second. "I'm okay, Henry, I promise, but I just want to tell you about a surprise I only just received a half hour ago."
"I like surprises…"
"Then you're really going to like this one—the surprise is that I'm nine weeks pregnant."
Henry blinked in surprise and was quiet for a few seconds, but then he just hugged me close and whispered happy things in my ears. That display of affection didn't last too long, however, because Kalani pushed us apart, protesting at being smothered.
"Mama, papa!" he complained with annoyance. "I don't like being squished up! I hafta be able to breathe!"
Henry pulled Kalani into his lap. "Sorry about that, little guy. We're just excited because mama just told me something really exciting."
Kalani turned towards me with an imploring look. "What news, mama?"
"There's a baby in my tummy, Kai. What do you think of that?"
He gave an excited gasp in response and leaned towards me to give my belly a pat. "Aloha, baby! My name Kai, and I love you very a lot, a lot!"
Henry and I watched in amusement as Kalani blew kisses to my midriff and then talk to it in a babble of English, Hawaiian and German. Still not forgetting about the paramedic's company, I tapped Kai on the shoulder and he reluctantly tore his gaze away and looked up at me with curiosity.
"Yes, mama?"
"Kai, do you see the nice lady over there?"
He glanced at her and then back at me. "Yep! Was she takin' care of you and the baby?"
"She was, yes," (Kalani quickly thanked the paramedic before giving me his attention yet again) "But now she's going to use a special machine to check on the baby to make sure that he or she is okay."
"Do me and papa get to watch, or do we hafta wait outside?" he asked anxiously. "Can Sir Bevedere watch also?"
"You and papa may watch, and so may Sir Bevedere, you all have to vacate this bed right now."
Now Kalani looked puzzled. "What's a 'vacate'?"
"It means that you and I have to get up so that mama can lay back," Henry informed him, getting to his feet and taking Kalani with him. "But there's no reason to go banana-sandwich on us now, because you and I are going to stay right here, where we can see everything."
This development sat well with Kalani and he cooperated by staying still in Henry's arms, clutching his toy camel to his chest while we watched the paramedic do her thing. Before long, everything was ready and the paramedic was working the portable ultrasound machine and moving the wand over my bare belly, pointing various things out to my family and I about the image of the baby on the screen.
"Would you look at that." The paramedic mused after she had paused to examine something else on the screen. "It looks like your baby isn't alone in there."
My heart skipped a beat and then Henry and I exchanged a nervous glance with each other before we looked back at the paramedic.
"Twins?" We chorused.
"That's right." The paramedic chirped as she held the screen towards us and pointing things out again. "Twin A is over here and hasn't budged, but Twin B is camped out next to them, happy as a lark."
Henry and I were both at a loss for words, but Kalani wasn't and he directed his next question to the paramedic.
"Twins mean that there are two babies growing in mama's tummy?"
"Very good!" she held the screen out to Kalani. "Would you like to hold it so you can see them closer?"
Kalani nodded immediately and set Sir Bevedere in his lap so he could use both of his little hands to hold the screen. Being trained to work with all age levels, the paramedic happily pointed everything out to him, patiently explaining things and answering all of his questions.
"Wow." My son breathed in awe at the screen after a minute or so. "Two babies… there are two… Papa, I feel funny…"
All at once, Kalani lost the ability to string a sentence together and he started blinking rapidly and shaking his head, like he was trying to stay awake. However, that didn't work because he fainted clean away in Henry's arms.
"He fainted!" Henry exclaimed. "Is he going to be okay?"
I laughed as I sat up and wiped the cold ultrasound gel off my baby bump. "Don't worry, Henry—he's going to be just fine."
"How do you know?" Henry was taken aback that I wasn't being a little more concerned, and I knew that part of it had something to do with the fact that he grew up as an only child of overprotective parents. "Caitlan, did you not just see what happened? Kai fainted!"
"I know that he's going to be okay because according to my dad," I told him as I pulled my shirt back over my baby bump, making a note to go shopping for maternity clothing items later. "Bailey passed out when she learned that my mom was pregnant with me, and then one of my first childhood memories is of her and I passing out when we found out that Tiffany was on the way. I remember that like yesterday, even though I was three."
Henry got to his feet and held Kalani close to him before pulling me to my feet and guiding me out of the ambulance, thanking the paramedic as we went.
"Well, in that case, do you think that Kai will wake up by the time we get to Remy's?"
I nodded, but perked up at this. "We're going to Remy's now?"
My husband kissed me on the temple. "Of course! We're going so that we can kill two birds with one stone: celebrating the news with our boy and keeping you happy and fed! I can't have the mother of my children feeling famished, can I?"
"Absolutely not, mein mann." I purred to him, using the German words for 'my husband,' and smirked when I saw how flustered he was, knowing that me speaking any German to him had the same kind of affect on him that him speaking Hawaiian has on me. "Now let's hurry up because I've had enough excitement for the morning, and so have the babies! I also just remembered that I left my things in Maddie's office."
I hurried away with the other two in my wake.
A few hours later, Melissa's Point of View
3:30 P.M.
Today has been good to me.
Even though I'm tired after having slept for a very long time, the day has been good to me.
It started last night, actually. After hanging up the phone with Detective Clarkson, I was on the move yet again, but it wasn't too long that I came across some shelter—a cheap motel that gave off a 'don't ask, don't tell' vibe—and I rented a room for the night where I promptly fell onto the bed and promptly fell asleep and slept well into the next day (today), waking up around one-thirty in the afternoon because I had been that exhausted. When I checked out, I consulted a pocket map I'd purchased from the motel clerk and figured out that I was actually in Mid Town, the one part of Manhattan that I had been trying my hardest to get back to!
I did some walking before it occurred to me that I could pay for a cab since Molly Dearling had loaded me down with all that cash, so I quickly hailed a cab and gave instructions for the driver at the corner of the street that Madison's restaurant, the Q3, was located on.
That was at about ten minutes after three, and now, exactly twenty minutes later, I was paying the cab driver the correct fare and getting out of the cab and exiting to the sidewalk, but as I stood on the street corner, staring in the direction of my sister's restaurant, a new thought suddenly hit me—the last time I bathed was yesterday morning, so I was kind of dirty, but the thing that made me feel apprehensive was my outfit (a simple yet casual cocktail dress and pair of tights that Molly Dearling had given to me, but still the same trusty combat boots I had been wearing when I left Calvin's house), and it concerned me because the Q3 has a very fancy dress code and I knew that my clothes didn't quite cut it. I am the owner's youngest sister, but it would have still be awkward if I walked through the front door of such a fine dining establishment, dressed like this.
One thing for it, then: go through the back door in the kitchen to surprise Madison because if Molly Kerrigan was there, working on her pastries, she would be able to get me through without much trouble.
(Although most people think I'm not aware of it, I've noticed that Molly Kerrigan is among a select group of women who have been keeping an eye on me the way a mother would, and they've all been like that once they learned about what happened to my parents and me that night in the park)
But… going through the Q3 kitchen means going through the alleyway behind it.
So I did.
Unfortunately, I encountered trouble when I got to the front entrance of the garbage area, which I had to go through to get to the kitchen. Some of the workers taking out the garbage saw me and tried to stop me from going in. Reason caught up with me when I realized that they didn't recognize me because of the drastic changes I'd made to my appearance, but I also realized that they weren't speaking English.
Was that… Serbian?
The only thing I could think to do was yell and hope that my sister could hear me.
"MADISON? MADISON? ARE YOU IN THERE? COME OUTSIDE!"
My raised voice annoyed the workers a great deal and they started yelling even more in Serbian. All of the commotion attracted the attention of somebody inside and it wasn't Madison, but this person was just as good.
It was Ashley's mother, Molly Kerrigan.
I was a bit surprised when she fired back at the workers in Serbian (especially when she said my name), but I quickly became pleased when the workers looked scared of her, said something to her and me that sounded like an apology and then hurried back inside again. When they were gone, Molly saw me and held her arms out for a hug. I hurried over and fell into her embrace.
"Hello, sweet Melissa. I've missed you." She whispered. "I also like your new hairstyle."
I couldn't help but laugh because Molly's defense mechanism in a situation like this is to find a joke about it.
"Thanks." As I showed her my tattoo, I remembered to switch back to my regular Australian accent, seeing as I've never had an American one. "What about this? Do you like it?"
"A phoenix is a brilliant choice." She paused a second, remembering something. "Where is Jessica Rose? Did she come back with you?"
I shook my head and felt my heart grow heavy. "No, she didn't. She's quite safe right now, but she didn't come with me."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Molly. I just want to see Madison."
The older woman gave an understanding nod and smiled, taking me by the hand. "Well, you're in luck, Melissa, because both of your sisters are in Madison's office right now!"
"Let's go, then!"
I followed her through the kitchen and over to Madison's office, where the door was wide open. She was there, leaning back on the sofa and chatting animatedly with Emily who was on the floor playing with a baby boy who couldn't be older than five months. Emily held her arms out on either side of the little boy so she could catch him in case he fell over, even though he was perched in between his mother's legs, using them for support.
Emily noticed me first, and when she did, she gave a startled cry of surprise and got to her feet, scooping up her son as she went. I had about ten seconds before she was holding me close in a hug and crying happily.
"Melissa! You're back, you're back!"
"I am, and I'm never going to do anything like what I did ever again!"
I didn't want to let go of Emily, but the baby in her arms began making noises of protest about his personal space being invaded, so I pulled away and looked from him to Emily.
"Is this your son? Emmy, he's perfect!"
My sister smiled proudly. "This is mine and Thomas' boy, Dashiell. We call him 'Dash' for short."
I gave baby Dash a happy greeting and he immediately grabbed onto one of my fingers with his whole right hand, but he still seemed reluctant to come closer to me. When Emily reassured him that I was okay and that I was one of his aunties, he seemed to understand and all but jumped into his arms. I caught him and laughed more when he started cooing happily and giggling, like he'd known me forever.
"What am I?" Came a new voice. "Chopped liver?"
I jumped when I saw Madison was now standing by me because I hadn't noticed her get up, bur when I made to move toward her, I stopped short when I noticed a huge change about her appearance, especially in her midsection. She was massively pregnant!
"Look at you, Maddie! You look great!"
"I could say the same to you, Missy." She teased playfully. "A new hairstyle and a tattoo? I approve."
"Thanks…"
Madison gave me a hug and even though it was brief, I felt her baby move against me and nail me in the stomach rather hard. She pulled away and massaged her belly, smiling.
"Baby boy really doesn't like having his personal space invaded."
"You're having a boy? Oh, Maddie—"
"It's more like one boy and two girls." Emily interjected. "They're due to be born in two weeks."
"Triplets?" I gasped, not being able to get much further than that.
"Yes," Madison nodded. "And I'll fill you in on that in a bit, but sit down on the couch and I'll go and fix you a sandwich from the kitchen. You must be hungry."
This was true because I'd skipped breakfast. "I am pretty hungry right now…"
"Brilliant!" she chirped, already turning on her heel. "I'll be back in ten minutes."
I stared after her, very surprised because when she had been in the final homestretch of her pregnancy with Lucy, she had been flat out irritable and nowhere near this energetic.
"We've learned that it's just best to stay out of her way these days." Emily said as she came to stand next to me. "You'll understand when you're pregnant, Melissa, and I hope that it's going to be soon because Maddie and I really want a niece or nephew from you for us to spoil."
I blushed furiously at this and was at a loss for words because what she'd said had taken me that much by surprise. Emily took advantage of this and steered me back towards the sofa, saying that as long as I kept Dash entertained, she would gladly fill me in on everything I've missed.
