AUTHORS NOTE: Just another quick shout out to 'Red77' for your review and your idea in the remark you made which I am now going to steal. My original plan was to have Sadie contact Elliot after receiving the letter from Ana and Eva, but I liked your idea of having one of Sadie's other children reach out instead. The idea of them finding Elliot's letter is also quite appealing and more in line with the ripple effect of people's life decisions, and how it effects more people as the ripples expand which is what this story is meant to be all about. So, this has required a bit of a re-write but I hope I have done your comments justice, in this and the upcoming chapters and thank you for the inspiration.
CHAPTER 48
(EVA)
"So, you're happy with that?" I ask Ana as I watch her reading through the draft of the letter we are going to send to Sadie.
I hold my breath as it has taken us long enough to get a draft of a letter we are both happy with as the piles of screwed up paper around us attest to. I glance around at the mess surrounding us.
"You know it would've caused much less of a mess if we'd just drafted it on a laptop" I say with a smirk.
Ana looks up and after looking around nods. "Yes, you are probably right, but we agreed this needs to be a hand written letter. I know it's old fashioned and outdated, but it is also more personal and we need personal in this instance as we need to convey that this is indeed a personal matter. How would that look to Sadie if she receives it as a printed typed up letter? It could've been written by anyone and we had just signed it… it's just so impersonal. I know we have wasted a lot of paper but this was the right thing to do" she says firmly.
I nod as I can't argue with any of that, we need Sadie to read this and empathise with what we are saying and if all she can see is a sterile typed letter that isn't going to convey the message which we want to get across to her.
I hear Ana sigh, "Well, I'm still not totally happy with it, but it's better than all the other attempts. I just hope that it hits the mark and has the desired effect".
I take the letter from her and read it again, wondering what she means and what it is that she isn't happy about.
Dear Sadie,
Hello and I hope you don't mind us calling you Sadie? You don't know us but we are Elliot's half-sisters Eva and Ana.
We felt it was important that we write to you as we saw the letter you sent to Elliot and we wanted to reassure you about a few things and hopefully help you to reconsider your stance at not wanting to meet our brother.
First of all, we can totally understand how disconcerting it must have been for you when it became apparent that we are linked to Elliot through Frank after what Frank did to us by outing our biological link in the media. It appears that you were the first of many women who Frank used for his own pleasure. Our mothers Monica (Eva's mother) and Carla (Ana's mother) were both abandoned by Frank after he became aware that they had become pregnant with us. We are also very aware that there could be even more women out there who were used by Frank and possibly even more siblings. We want to take this opportunity to update you on what exactly has happened since you informed Elliot of the identity of his sperm donor. We believe Elliot informed you of his link to Ana, who coincidently is married to Elliot's adopted brother Christian, so Ana has been a part of Elliot's life for a number of years without knowing of the blood link to him.
All we want to say regarding the elephant in the room which is the fact that we are married to two multi billionaire businessmen is, that it has no baring whatsoever on this situation and could in fact prove to be a blessing. Our husbands have the resources to be able to help facilitate a meeting between you and Elliot, should you want it whilst ensuring your complete privacy. Frank is no longer a feature in any of our lives. We had met and were getting to know each other without the media being aware of our relationship and it was only Frank's stunt when he informed the media about us, that brought our relationship to their attention. However, this backfired on him completely as it also brought him to the attention of the military who had been under the impression that he had died, whereas it appeared that he had actually deserted years previously. He has now been sentenced to a considerable time in prison for that desertion and has no means to make any contact with the media, so rest assured that he cannot do anything which could negatively impact on your privacy. We also understand that your family know nothing about Elliot and it is understandable that you don't want them to be involved. All we can say to that is should you wish to meet Elliot, everything possible would be done to ensure complete discretion in the matter.
The main reason we are writing to you is to implore you to reconsider your decision not to meet Elliot and the reason for that is, that our brother needs closure. We have all now met Frank and we have all got that level of closure and the knowledge that he really isn't worth bothering about, so for all of us that part of our lives is now complete and finished. However, there is still that element of unfinished business with you. Elliot needs to see you face to face just once to get that closure. We don't have that issue as we both had our birth mothers in our lives so we knew exactly where we came from, but Elliot doesn't have that. It meant a great deal to him when he found out who we were to him as he said he had some more people in his life who he was biologically linked to other than his daughter.
We want to assure you that from the things Elliot has said we are fairly certain that all Elliot wants is just one face to face meeting. He is not expecting anything more from you and holds no ill will towards you. We also want to make it clear he does not know that we are writing to you and he is in no way choreographing this situation. The only reason we are doing this is because we can see that despite Elliot getting his closure with Frank, he is still missing something and until he gets it that final piece of the jigsaw that is his life will remain unfinished.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and we sincerely hope that you will reconsider your stance and will agree to meet our brother just once to give him the closure he needs and deserves. If you feel you can help and are willing to meet with us, please get in touch via Miranda Bennett at Finding Family. She has been onboard with everything since the beginning and as a close personal friend of Gideon Cross (Eva's husband) is fully aware of the need for discretion.
If you still decide that you do not want to meet with Elliot, we will just say thank you for taking the time to read this and we wish you all the best for whatever you do with the rest of your life.
Warmest Regards and Best Wishes to you.
Eva Cross and Ana Grey
"Well, I can't see what we can change" I say as I finish reading it. "It pretty much says everything we want her to know and we have been as tactful as we possibly can be and considerate of her feelings so there is nothing more we can do" I add. I quickly read through it once more.
"I think the only thing I'd change is the bit at the beginning where we introduce ourselves as El's half-sisters. I mean as far as we are concerned, he is our brother so we should say that and just call ourselves his sisters, rather than be pedantic about the semantics of the situation".
Ana nods and takes the letter from me and quickly scribbles out the word half. "Who is going to write it?" she asks and I think for a moment.
"You should write it, as your handwriting is lovely whereas mine looks like a spider has fallen into an ink pot and then crawled across the paper. We will both sign it at the end but we want Sadie to actually be able to read it" I say with a grin.
I watch as Ana quickly writes it and then signs it before handing it to me. I quickly read it once more and happy with what I have seen I add my signature to the bottom of it.
I hold it up, "So we are happy with this?" I say and I watch as Ana thinks for a moment and then nods.
"Yes, I can't see us improving on that, so let's send it" she says firmly.
I watch her fish out an envelope and I hold out the letter and she quickly pushes it into the envelope and seals it.
After she has written Sadie's name on the front, she looks at it once more before she hands it to me so I can send it to Miranda to be passed on. That done we make our way downstairs to find our husbands.
When we eventually find them chatting in Christian's study, we join them. I watch as Ana almost automatically slides into Christian's lap and he wraps his arms around her before nuzzling her neck and kissing her.
I sit down next to Gideon and he wraps his arm around me and urges me closer.
"Hi Ace" I mutter as he lowers his head looking for a kiss.
"Angel" he growls before planting a rather chaste kiss to my lips.
The atmosphere in the room is totally relaxed as we are chatting, but as we are laughing at something Gideon has just said there is a knock at the door and as it opens I see Taylor standing there.
"Excuse me sir, Mr Grey is here" he says.
"Which Mr Grey?" Christian asks and I can see he is wondering if it is his brother or his father and he is probably also wondering why either of them are here at all.
"Your brother sir" Taylor says and I automatically look at Ana as he says this.
A moment later Ava pushes past Taylor and hurtles into the room. Christian and Ana both stand and Christian catches her as she throws herself at him before wriggling free and throwing herself at Ana.
"UNCLE KISSCHUN! AUNTY ANA!" she squeals and then she pauses as she sees me and then Gideon and another delighted squeal leaves her as she runs towards us.
"UNCLE GIDEON! AUNTY EVA!"
We are all smiling indulgently at Ava as Elliot makes his way into the room. But as soon as we see him, we are all immediately on alert as he looks concerned - almost panic stricken.
"What's wrong?" Christian asks immediately as he takes a step towards Elliot.
"I got a rather interesting phone call… I'm sorry I know I could've called but I needed… I mean…"
He is clearly distressed and we are all wondering what on earth has happened.
Christian looks across at Taylor, "Taylor, could you?" he says pointing at Ava and understanding immediately he nods and moves towards her.
"Hey Ava, shall we go and see if Gail has made some cookies?" he says holding out his hand to her and Ava runs to him and grasps his hand.
"Thank you" Elliot mutters. Taylor nods and leaves the room closing the door behind him.
"What's happened?" I ask as Elliot sits down on the sofa and Ana and I sit beside him.
"I got a phone call out of the blue. I have no idea how she managed to track me down… well I do, I mean all she had to do was google me" he begins. I glance at Ana; he is rambling so he is obviously in shock about something and I am on alert at the news that someone has contacted Elliot.
"Who?" Gideon asks simply as he also sits down again.
"My sister" Elliot says.
Ana and I take in a sharp breath at this, wondering if we are looking at another of Frank's offspring, but Elliot looks at us and shakes his head.
"Sadie's daughter" he says.
"What?" Christian splutters and I feel my mouth drop open. I look once more at Ana and she also looks stunned at this news.
"Take it from the beginning El" I say simply as I try and wrap my head around this.
I watch as he takes a deep breath and begins to explain.
"I'd just finished talking with Meg and… thanks again for that bro" he says looking at Christian, to which Christian just waves his hand impatiently wanting to know who else has called Elliot.
"Well, after that and after I'd spoken to you, I was just sorting my stuff out and I heard my work cell phone ringing… you know the one I keep just for clients to contact me when I'm on sites. I wondered who the hell was calling me as they all knew I was away on leave for a few days and I'd made sure that everything was adequately covered… anyway, I looked and it wasn't a number I recognised but it was a Detroit number. I answered it and this woman was on the other end. She asked me if she was talking to Elliot Grey, I asked who it was and she said that she believed that if I was Elliot Grey that she was my sister. That took me back a bit, and I first thought it was another sibling from Frank who had tracked me down somehow. She said her name was Jennifer and that her mom was Sadie. She then said that she had found the letter I had originally sent to Sadie, but she didn't say anything about my follow up letter. She said that she knew nothing about me and that her discovery had caused quite a stir as she had confronted Sadie and demanded to know about me. So now it appears Sadie's whole family know about me".
"Jesus" Gideon says and Christian runs his hand through his hair.
"What else did she say?" Ana asks gently as she reaches for Elliot's hand.
Elliot sighs, "She wants to meet me. She said that Sadie had come clean after she had confronted her and told her who I was. She said that I lived in Seattle and that I worked in construction. She explained that she googled me and found the details for Grey Construction and therefore my contact number. She also said she realised who she was dealing with" he says as he glances meaningfully at Christian, "But she assured me that it was me she wanted to get to know and she had no interest on capitalising on the Grey name. She is apparently a police officer, and she is married and has a young son. She has a younger sister and her name is Lucy… so I am Sadie's only son" Elliot says.
"Wow" I say as I lean back into the sofa.
"How are you going to go about this?" Ana asks.
Elliot looks up at her and shrugs, "I have no fucking idea. I want to meet her, but I don't want to take Ava with me… not for the initial meeting anyway. I was also hoping that… if you don't mind, I'd like you and Eva to come with me?" he asks and he looks at us and then at Gideon and Christian who both look slightly uncomfortable at his request.
"Of course we will," I say immediately and Ana nods her head firmly.
"Will Sadie be coming to that first meeting?" Ana asks.
Elliot shrugs, "I don't know, Jennifer said she was hoping to get Sadie to be with her when she meets me but she said that she wasn't sure if she would. It seems she holds a great deal of guilt and shame because she put me up for adoption and then kept me a secret. Plus, she told Jennifer that she had refused to meet me, so I'm guessing she thinks that because she said that I won't want to meet her. She did say that Lucy definitely wants to meet me so she will be there at the first meeting".
"What about me… and Mia?" Christian asks carefully. I can see this is clearly bothering him, but he is trying not to let it show.
Elliot smiles at him, "I'd love you to be there bro… Mia though? Would she even want to? Plus, I don't want her being her usual selfish entitled self and say something which alienates people".
Ana shakes her head, "No, Mia knows how to behave and she would be hurt if you didn't at least ask her, remember what happened when it all came out about Eva and I being your sisters, and the resentment that caused" she says.
Elliot nods in agreement, "Yes, you're right… I'll call her and ask her" he says adamantly.
"What about Meg?" I ask as I remember that Megumi is uprooting her life to come to Seattle.
Elliot turns towards me, "What about Meg? I mean… of course I'm going to tell her about all this, that's a given" he says.
"I mean are you going to ask her to go to Detroit with you to meet your sisters and possibly your birth mother?"
Elliot leans back and sighs, "I don't know… I mean I don't want to dump all this on her and make her feel obliged to come. We are still very new and really only friends at the moment, friends which I am hoping will develop to be become more but I don't want to scare her away and make her regret coming to Seattle".
I smile kindly at him, "As long as you are honest with her everything will be fine. I know Megumi and there is no doubt in my mind that she has strong feelings for you so she will want to support you. She hasn't behaved like this towards a man for a long while, so I can categorically say without any doubt that what she feels for you is the real thing. Obviously, I can't predict what she will say exactly but as long as you are honest with her I'm more than confident her response will be positive".
Elliot smiles gratefully at me, "Thanks Eva that makes me feel much better" he says.
"So, when is the reunion going to happen?" Christian asks and none of us miss the sharp bite in his tone. Ana reaches out and grips his hand and as she touches him, we watch as he pulls her towards him and places her in his lap once more before wrapping his arms around her and holding her impossibly close as though he is afraid that she is going to go.
"Christian?" She says carefully but he doesn't respond other than to bury his nose in her hair and inhale deeply. We can all see he is struggling and clearly quite distressed at the moment but is trying hard to rein in his emotions.
"Bro?" Elliot says carefully and with that one simple word Christian responds and looks up at him. He takes a deep breath and manages to give Elliot a brittle smile.
"Yes?" he says after a moment.
Elliot sighs and rubs his face with his hand, "Look, I'm still coming to terms with this new information as it is, so nothing is going to happen quickly. As Ana said, I need to talk to Mia about it and my priority – other than Ava of course is the fact that Megumi is uprooting her life and moving here, essentially to be with me. So, I am in no rush to meet anyone else. I want to… I mean don't get me wrong on that, but right now that isn't my priority and besides Sadie didn't even want to meet me in the first place so I can't even be sure that she will even be there when the meeting with Jennifer and Lucy happens. If she decides she wants to come along with her daughters, I'm not going to prioritise that meeting over everything else I have going on at the moment".
We watch Christian nod and after hearing that we see him slowly begin to relax again.
I glance at Ana and she meets my gaze with a worried look on her face. I am guessing not only is she worried about Christian's reaction to this news but she is also worried about El and how it will affect him if Sadie decides that even with this opportunity she isn't going to show up.
"I guess that makes our letter kind of redundant" I say and this produces a smile from Ana and a small nod.
I glance at Elliot and he looks at me questioningly.
I shuffle uncomfortably in my seat, "Ana and I have written a letter to your birth mom. We felt after what you said on the plane, that you needed that face to face meeting with your mom like you had with Frank, to get some kind of closure on that part of your life. We wrote to her trying to persuade her that her privacy would be observed and told her Frank was no longer in the equation and couldn't do anything stupid. But now that her kids have found out anyway, there is no point in sending it. I was going to send it to Sadie via Miranda at Finding Family". I pause and let out a small snort, "It took us ages to write and there is half a rain forest of wasted paper from the failed attempts as we tried!"
Ana giggles at that comment and I pull the envelope from my pocket and hand it to Elliot, he takes it from me and opens it to read what we had written. When he has finished, he looks up and smiles at us.
"Thank you for doing this, but confession time… I already knew what you were doing. Christian guessed you two were up to something and figured out you may be thinking of writing to Sadie and he gave me a heads up about it when we spoke earlier. However, I think you are right there is no need to send this now. I mean if she does decide that she doesn't want to meet me and she won't listen to her own daughters there is no chance she will listen to you two, no matter how many reassurances you give her".
Before we get chance to respond to that, the study door opens and Ava reappears with a cookie in her hand. She makes a beeline for Elliot and clambers into his lap.
His attention is immediately focussed on her as she offers him the cookie.
"Thank you, sweetheart," he says as he leans down and takes a bite out of it making Ava giggle loudly.
"It's for you" she says as she holds it out. Elliot grins and just leans down and takes another bite whilst not offering to take it from her.
"DADDY!" she says loudly which makes us all laugh.
Eventually Elliot stops messing with her and takes what's left of the cookie from Ava.
"Thank you" he says and pops the rest of the cookie in his mouth and then hums in appreciation.
"God, Gail does make the best cookies" he says.
