Now that Meg knows Katherine McMichaels is her twin sister, long since separated, how will she ever confront her father about it now? Time will tell.
Chapter Eight
Hello
Crawford smiled as he put the last touches of the dinner for two in order. Salmon garnished with orange slices and raspberries...it was her favorite, he found out not long after they got together. It was one of the things he remembered Pretorius teaching him that was perfect for Valentine's Day, though it was one of the things he remembered being one of the many fabulous meals he would invent for one every other woman he would bring back to the house – but then, as he told Bubba and his Kathy, "it would always end with screaming".
Saturday night, the same night on the same day Katherine had picked up her dress and waiting for their day. There were times Crawford asked her if he could see her in it, and she would always tease him and tempt him, saying that it was "bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding day". Superstitions still running despite Crawford's lingering to the point where God played a lesser part in the universe as a whole. This was another thing he and Herbert agreed on: science played a role in life, not theology. But limits were always drawn, and some were never meant to be crossed.
Love, however, was limitless. This one small detail which played a part in tonight was proof of his own doing. One of the small things he would ever thank Edward for. The small table in the house of suburban Arkham he shared with Katherine was lit with two tall pillar candles and the crystal vase filled with roses. He fidgeted nervously and excitedly as he thought of the present he'd gotten her the day before but waited for tonight as they celebrated getting married in a month. It was September fourteenth, and their wedding day was October eighteenth. He couldn't be anymore happier for that day to come, and Herbert was going to be there, but while he knew his cousin was happy to attend for his sake, Crawford was mostly worried about Uncle Rick and Aunt Isabel unwillingly speaking to their always-unwanted son. His parents died when he was four in a car crash and went to live with them, and they loved him like their own.
It was wrong in Crawford's book to be in a family where love didn't exist. Katherine and Aunt Isabel didn't clash, but the coolness was there. Kathy didn't like her future aunt-in-law the moment she laid her eyes on her as well as the moment she learned Herbert was unwelcomed and always had been. They didn't even praise Herbert's uniqueness and intelligence, not even bade him luck when he went off to Zurich, leaving Crawford alone at Miskatonic. Going to that prestigious medical school was another argument they'd had before graduating high school, mostly because Crawford could see Herbert making it the same way he had, although Dean Halsey wouldn't have accepted his wild theories on the nature of death; the dean would have been on his tail from the first moment on, and Herbert was known for the love of secrecy for the sake of his life's work.
He shoved the thoughts of Herbert and the work aside for the night. Tonight was him and his fiancée and nothing else. Crawford looked up when he heard the soft footsteps in the doorway. There was Katherine in a soft blush-colored lace dress that stopped at the knees, not baring much of her chest but enough to leave room for the present he got her, and her hair held half up with curls falling over one shoulder. His breath caught in his throat as he picked up the two glasses of red wine and walked over to her, first pecking a sweet kiss on her soft, plump lips. "You look beautiful, baby," he said softly.
"And you're so handsome, honey," she answered, returning a smile. Her attention shifted to the exquisite dinner he'd made just for them. "Smells great. I'm hungry so much, and afterwards..." Her eyes twinkled suggestively like the deepest pools sucking him to his doom, which made him want to drown with her. He grinned at her and led her over to the table.
"That will happen, but first things first." He set his wine glass down and took hers to join, before reaching into his shirt pocket for the jewel, dangling it before her eyes. The sparkle was addicting as her eyes were, this real example of a perfect fairytale.
Katherine gasped as he went behind her and clasped its around her neck. The pear-shaped diamond stopped above her heart, barely touching the soft curves of her chest. "Oh, Crawford, it's beautiful."
He kissed the bare skin of her neck. "Not as beautiful as you, my love." He certainly looked forward to spending the rest of his life with her. She's treated him the same way she treated all of her patients, with intense kindness and support when so many others in the world used and manipulated others to get what they wanted. Katherine turned her face his way and was just leaning in to accept another on the lips when the doorbell rang unexpectedly.
~o~
Part of Megan wasn't sure why she was even here, even though she knew why. Her body felt empty, light...almost dead and literally unmoving despite her being aware of her every movement and surroundings. She had found time to sneak to the records and found Katherine McMichaels' birth certificate for confirmation. Though she believed every word the other woman said, she still needed to see it. A blood test wasn't necessary because birth records never lied.
Their birthday was the seventeenth of January, twenty years ago exactly, both born in the evening, but the difference was that Katherine came ten minutes before Meg. Which confirmed it officially.
Katherine McMichaels was her twin sister.
How could her father keep this from her? Meg held her coat together from the chilling September wind, the cold fear and anger closing tighter around her heart, standing outside the front door of the address Katherine gave her earlier. "Whenever you have it in you," she'd said before leaving her for the day. Leaving her hollow and confused...and hurt most of all. Why was this happening now? Why didn't it happen before? How could Daddy do this to her? There was so much she'd wanted to ask him, demand the answers even if it risked her future, but that was what scared her. One act of rebellion meant she was losing everything, becoming a submissive wife and eventual mother even if it sickened to her bowels.
Katherine lived with her fiancée, Crawford Tillinghast. The cousin of Herbert West, her odd housemate. She hadn't spoken to or heard from him since West moved in with her and her father, nor had Herbert spoken to her about him, not that she expected him to. It was strange walking up to his house when she had no idea how to continue to try and talk to the twin sister she never knew she had. A twin who was like her in so many ways, successful career field and a mostly perfect success rate even though Meg's own was nearly the same, but more deaths than crazies locked up.
The door finally opened, and she found herself looking at a face resembling West that she had not seen since early last week. "Oh, Crawford, hi," she said awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. The anxiety returned now, more than worrying about her father demanding to know what kept her so long. She'd left work and came right here instead of straight home; if he came home and she was still out, he would want to know what made her so distracted from making dinner.
"Megan." Crawford looked her over with a worried eye; worried over what? "What are you doing here?"
"I invited her." Both turned their attention behind her at the sound of Katherine's voice. She was smiling, and Meg managed a small one of her own. "I didn't think you'd do it so soon," she stated, walking to stand beside Crawford, who blinked and looked back and forth between the two women with a rapid eye.
"Ladies, I don't think this is a good time –" he started.
"Guys, I'm sorry, but I don't have much time before my father wonders where I am," Meg interrupted, not meaning to be so rude. Crawford turned his attention back to her.
"He doesn't know you're here?"
"Of course not. How could I explain that I just met an identical twin I never knew existed?" Meg returned calmly. "And to know she's getting married to the cousin of a housemate who creeps me out, which I'm also happy for." She didn't mean for it to be that way, but West did sort of scare her as much as he...set her nerves on fire. She still hadn't found the time to look into his file, and Daddy was leaving on Monday for a board meeting with Carl for Boston, planning to be gone until Friday. That meant she had the whole week and the house to herself, and freedom from Carl even if it was short-lived. Rare were her times alone.
But maybe this week she wouldn't be so alone now with these two in front of her – and the other one she rarely saw unless in school and in Hill's classroom, where he was still doing a fine job making their teacher furious.
"Perhaps maybe we should continue this another time," Crawford said abruptly, bringing her back to reality. "Meg, it was nice to see you again, but maybe you should go home before your father finds out." He gave her a little smile; it wasn't meant to be cruel. It was as though he was actually worried for her, but how could he be THAT worried for her? She barely knew him any more than his cousin; where was her life going now with two strange men?
"Okay then." She nodded to them both and turned to leave. "It was...nice seeing you two again." Especially Katherine, the sister she was still in shock of but was beginning to think that things were going to change. Change was either good or bad, but right now Megan couldn't tell which one. Just that her nerves were rattling more than ever.
~o~
"Please don't be mad," Katherine begged when her fiancée closed the door. Or perhaps she should have known better because Crawford whipped around and put his back against the door.
"Seriously, Katherine? When her father –"
She lost it in spite of herself. "To hell with him!" she shouted. "Crawford, I'm tired of hiding and keeping secrets. It wasn't like I planned anything." The magic lost in the change of atmosphere, she turned and stalked away from him. This had gone on for far too long, covering things up and keeping them hidden. She'd just met her sister who took it better than she thought, or maybe Meg was actually hiding the shock and anger she was feeling. She didn't know why Crawford was so afraid all the time as much as she loved him. He couldn't just run away forever from letting the truth have its day.
"Kathy, please, don't." He grabbed her by the arm and turned her around, preventing her from going any further to their room where she'd planned to lock herself in for self-preservation's sake. "Don't shut me out. I didn't mean what I said. Don't be angry with me on our night of all times."
She jerked her arm our of his hold. "Yes, I'm angry, but not at you!" she burst. "The fact that I'm actually the daughter of a man who used my mother and abandoned her so he could separate me from my own flesh and blood, let her grow up never knowing her other family for the sake of him protecting his own family. To know that Meg's life is no better than mine is, getting married to a man who sickens me as much as the man who is in no form the father he should have been to me. And to know that he was the cause of Dr. Gruber's death and the reason your cousin hates him so much is even more so. We live in a world full of people who lie, keep secrets, place boundaries for their own sakes and cowardice, and that's why I try to make peace. Crawford..." Katherine paused to take a deep breath and sigh, trying to calm her fraying nerves. "I love you, but it's too late to turn back now. Families never keep secrets from each other. My mother never did that to me, your family wasn't shy about being blunt, and Herbert isn't either. Do you really want to pass down secrets and lies to our kids?"
He sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't." He huffed slightly then and rolled his shoulders back in his own method of regaining his calm. "I'm sorry, Kathy. I didn't mean to lose it on our special night of all nights. I want to make up for it now. So, what now? How are we going to have you and your sister meet up for more catching up?"
Katherine grinned that he was now on the same page as her. "Well, tonight it's back to us. We'll worry about the details tomorrow." She leaned up and pecked him a kiss on the mouth, leading the way back to the table to get back the magic which had been ruined by family drama.
~o~
Daddy still wasn't home by the time she returned, but it was a lie to say she was wholly relieved. Rufus yowled and jumped into her arms, but it wasn't just that he was happy to see her. Normally when he made that awful sound, it was because he was terrified, and she saw why. There was Herbert making his way down from the stairs, pausing at the bottom step and smiling oh so slightly. "Why, Meg, you've arrived later than ordinarily." She raised an eyebrow at the nicer term, one of the synonyms for "normally". He was a smart man...smarter than Hill.
"You really want to know what kept me, or you gonna let me get to cooking dinner for Daddy to come home to?" she asked with a soft laugh, setting Rufus down so he ran off in the opposite direction, past West and into the kitchen. Herbert watched him go with a blank look before turning it back to her. He didn't answer her, so she decided to just go straight to the kitchen. He didn't give her a definite answer as he sat himself down at the kitchen counter, gracefully so while keeping his eyes on her. Meg rarely saw him come in, even as she prepared Daddy's favorite beef stroganoff, but even if she did, it was his favorite choice of sandwiches. His constant lingering gazes burned into her back for a long period of time before he broke the silence.
"Well...are you going to tell me what kept you?"
Meg whipped her body around and found no trace of that smile of his. Oh, now he was asking her. "If I told you, would you really be interested in what I have to say?" she asked coolly.
He smirked to one corner of his mouth. "I'll listen attentively, yes, but that depends entirely if I'm interested by the time you break it out."
She scoffed and shook her head. "Well, if I tell you, Herbert, would you promise me you won't tell my father?" Chances of that were high, because Herbert West saw and heard things that he chose not to speak to another soul unless he had a reason. That was her cue to continue. "I have a twin sister."
He surprised her with his answer. "Katherine."
Meg couldn't believe what she'd just heard, and the bubbling of the noodles in the pot forced her to turn her attention to it and stirred them to make sure they didn't stick to the bottom. "How did you – you knew all along," she accused, stirring faster and furiously, almost losing control before a small drop splattered onto her hand, making her yelp and drawing back, setting the spoon down and running to the sink to put her hand under the cold water. "You knew we were sisters." Of course; Katherine must have told him at some point.
"I did," West answered smoothly. "But I might not have dwelled on it so much, but I comprehended that you would find out yourself. After all, your father might not have wanted you knowing this, I think." His long, slender fingers were drumming steadily on the countertop with the beat of a foreign drum. The sound itself matched the rhythm of her heartbeat as she nodded in agreement, but before she could say anything, the front door opened, and her father called to them that he was back.
"Dinner's almost ready," Meg called, though she could have sworn her voice cracked a little. She went back to adding the flavoring to the hamburger meat in the other pot and then finishing heating the noodles, taking them to the sink to drain. Her body was aching for a release of tension when Daddy finally walked in and smiled at her before turning his attention to Herbert and gave him one, though it seemed forced. He and West barely communicated much since the grant meeting with Carl, too. But him and Herbert were the least of her worries, unlike the fact that her own father, her flesh and blood, had lied to her all her life. She didn't know who she was anymore, or him, at least.
It made her wonder, too, if that was why Marianne Halsey killed herself.
Now that it was making sense now, there were those times Marianne said that Meg didn't even look like her, said that she was no daughter of hers, though at the time Meg dismissed it as mere cruel words. She didn't know why, as a maturing adult, she didn't see the signs then, but how could she? She'd been a teenager then who understood but at times decided to brush it off because it did not seem possible, that she might as well had been assuming.
This, however, was not the time to assume. It was time to face the facts.
"So, honey, Carl will be coming over for the day tomorrow, so you two can spend some time together before we leave Monday," her father explained as he shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the rack in the kitchen. "Thought maybe you two could head to lunch or something, and West, if you want to get out of the house for awhile..." he started only to be interrupted smoothly and calmly.
"I would love to, Doctor," Herbert said, "but I have some work to catch up on, if the both of you understand that."
Alan seemed to take that. "Very well. Guess it's just the two of you then, Meggie," he told her with a smile. She couldn't return it, only nodded in silence, her mind too heavy with thoughts and plans of investigation involving Herbert West's file in his office.
But how would she ever confront her father about her newly found twin sister, Katherine McMichaels?
