"I know how hard all of this must be to take in but can you tell me how much you've been told by your; I mean our father about us, if there was anything?"
Melissa thought about the question for a few seconds while contemplating her answer. It was an easy one to give. "He told me absolutely nothing, just as I've said. We were always in Toronto, but there wasn't an influx of family around us, it was mostly just us two against the world."
"Denise, or Mom as I call her, she made sure I knew that our father had gotten cold feet at the thought of twins, and had walked out, taking only you with him, and whatever clothing he could assemble of course. Her words; not mine."
"That was James all right. He always did like to travel light. Growing up he was attentive as a father, well as much as he could be when he wasn't working, but I never did see him date or have anyone come around. I remember questioning him once, but it never got a response. To this day it bothers me but I just chalked him up to being a single dad who had no time for romance."
Cheryl nodded, understanding exactly what she meant by her statement about their father. She had met enough people over the course of life that she knew were better single and were most often workaholics by nature. She had just always hoped that her father would be a man that was better then that.
"When I was found by the private detective a few weeks ago, it was so hard to believe that there was anything valid about this and now to know that there is definitely no mistaking we both were hidden from each other, my mind seems over run by questions."
"Like what?" Cheryl prodded, willing to give her just about anything she could to make this more real. When even to her it seemed so surreal.
"Our Mother, what is she like? Did she miss me at all? Why would our father hide this from us. Are we similar at all, you and I, or even her and I? I told you, there are a lot of things going on inside of my head right now."
Cheryl laughed slightly, not going for her normal full laugh so that Melissa did not feel as if she was being made fun of. "I can answer some of that for you. Denise; your mother, is pretty much the more adult version of me. She leads first with her heart, then good sense kicks in and well she's just a really good person to be around. Or she was before the sickness told hold of her."
Taking a deep breathe she continued, "She never went a day growing up without looking at our first baby pictures and showing them to me and professing her love for you, but in her age, the older she got, sicker even she just didn't have the first clue about how to go about finding you."
Melissa nodded in silence but Cheryl could almost see even more questions forming in her twin's mind just at the small amount of words that she had spoken. " I cant answer to what James was thinking, only he could do that, but I am assuming that he just wasn't ready to give up the life he had for the family like setting. But again, I have no idea and from what my mother found out, he isn't around to ask."
Melissa just nodded again, willing the words to come but knowing that when it came to talking about her father, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do.
"All I know was that when he was with me, spending time with me, he was a good father. Not the best, but then who determines that?"
Cheryl shrugged, and decided it was time for a change in the tone of this conversation. Now that she was here with her, they had forever to discuss all the time they had missed. They needed to talk about the past, of that she was certain but what seemed most important now was lightening the mood a little.
"So aside from being my mirror image, what else do you think we have in common?"
Melissa laughed and it seemed now was the time that the tension she was feeling was evaporating. She could handle this kind of questioning better then the heavier kind, that was for sure.
"Well Matt described you a bit before we entered the house, and I'm sorry for having him do that, but I was so nervous. The way he described you seemed like not only do we look exactly the same right down to our taste in shoes, but we also share the same heart. Is that even possible?"
It was a good question and Cheryl had wondered that herself. They seemed to share the same mannerisms, temperament, and a host of other things, but could it really be true that twins even shared the same heart?
"I have no idea what's possible and where Matt is concerned I think he has his blinders on when it comes to me, but I am glad that you were able to see a little bit of yourself in the way he described me."
"Okay so here's a question. Since I've had the city experience and you've had the country, what kind of things do you do around here for fun? I know I'm new here and all but all of this stress has just eaten me to the core and I'm thinking I need to have a little bit of fun again."
Cheryl didn't fault her thinking on that. Preparing for this meeting was like going to the dentist and having teeth pulled. She had looked forward to it, but was hesitant to confront it. They seemingly both needed to settle in and have a good time, it was not only expected but deserved.
"Promise me you wont laugh when I tell you?"
Melissa stuck her fingers in the air in what Cheryl thought might be the Scouts honour, but she couldn't be sure, it cracked her up none the less.
"The best thing to do when they come to town is to go to the wrestling events. We have local ones a few times a month, and then when those aren't here, the big ones usually come in. So if you're looking for the most fun in town, that would be it."
"Wrestling huh? Like the stuff we had in high school? Or are we talking the professional kind?" She knew was wrestling was of course, the big companies always ran shows in Toronto. It was almost as big a religion where she came from as Hockey, but she wanted to be sure.
"You heard of the WWE, formerly, the World Wrestling Federation?"
Melissa nodded, and Cheryl instantly cracked a smile. They seemed to fine tuned to that as well, which couldn't have made her happier if she tried. Other then Matt, she hadn't had a lot of people to share it with, unless you counted the one Sunday a month when her and her mother would watch the Shows on Pay per View.
"What would you say if I said we could go to one tonight?"
"I'd say since I've never been to one, that it sounds like a really good plan. You ready to school me on WWE Wrestling 101?"
"Gladly!"
