CHAPTER 50
As the plane touches down in Detroit I take a deep breath. I also glance at Christian. I know for a fact, that despite the fact he now knows the details of how events unfolded in his early life that he still hates this city with a passion so I am more than aware of how much this means to me that he is doing this.
"Hey, you ok bro?" I call to him and he simply nods.
"I'm fine" he mutters, "this isn't about me and my neurosis regarding this god forsaken place. Today is about you, and I'm just here as moral support for you" he adds firmly.
"Will you be taking time to visit your birth parents grave while you are here though?" I ask warily.
He stills a moment and then shrugs. "I may do" he says and I inwardly smile. Despite his obvious discomfort about being here, I am certain he will make time to go and visit his birth parents grave while he is in town.
The drive across the city takes no time at all and soon we arrive at the hotel. I hesitate a moment before moving towards it. Ana and Mia immediately each take one of my hands in theirs and Ana strokes my arm reassuringly. I am touched by their concern and I squeeze their hands as a small gesture of thanks as I walk towards the entrance.
As we step inside, I look around and my eyes immediately fall on Gideon and Eva who are already there just sitting waiting for us. They look up as we walk inside and then both stand as we move towards them. Eva doesn't hesitate, she gives me a wide reassuring smile as she comes up to me and hugs me tightly.
"Hi El! Are you ok?" she asks and I nod.
"Yep, I'm fine" I reply. She searches my face almost as if she is looking for a lie and I grin at her, "Honestly" I add.
I look up at Gideon who steps forward and offers me his hand, "Hello Elliot, Good luck today" he says simply to me. I accept the handshake and thank him. Then he turns and greets Mia and Christian before he turns his attention back towards Eva and pulls her towards him.
"You will call me when you are all done?" he asks in that way of his that sounds more like a demand that only he and Christian can seem to pull off. Eva simply nods up at him and assures him she will. As he holds her tightly and after kissing her soundly and running his fingers down her cheek, he nods once more at me and then simply walks away.
"Where is he going?" Ana asks as we watch him walk away.
"He's organised a couple of business meetings with some companies he owns here in Detroit to keep him occupied" she says.
"Is he really ok with this?" I ask and Eva links her arm in mine and assures me he is fine. I glance at my watch, as my stomach rumbles loudly which makes Mia giggle.
"Are you hungry El?" she says and I shrug.
"Yes!" I say sarcastically, as if that was a given.
"What time are your birth family meant to be arriving?" Eva asks as she looks at her own watch.
"Any time now" I say. "The plan was we'd meet up and all have lunch here" I add.
Christian nods approvingly, "So any awkward silences can be explained and overlooked as everyone being focussed on their food" he says.
"Exactly" I reply.
"El" Mia mutters and at the same time both Ana and Eva nudge me with their elbows. I feel Christian step up a little closer to me and everyone unconsciously flanks me as three women walk towards us.
I take them in as they come closer, the first is obviously Jennifer. She is walking with an air of dominant confidence and her eyes are shrewd and assessing. The woman at her left side is almost as tall as she is but looks slightly nervous as her eyes dart between us all, I can't place the expression she gives me as she looks at me, it looks almost hopeful. Then finally I take a deep breath in as I take in my birth mother for the first time. She looks downright terrified and for a moment a fission of anger goes through me at the way Jennifer appears to be ignoring this simple fact and not offering her any reassurance or comfort, in fact it almost seems as if she is simply not registering her presence at all. It is obvious that she has called all the shots as she wanted this to happen and seeing just how uncomfortable Sadie appears to be, I wonder just how much she was bullied into coming today.
I take a step forward my hand outstretched as Jennifer walks up and clasps my hand firmly.
"You must be Elliot, good to meet you in person. I'm Jennifer, this is my sister Lucy and my mother Sadie" she says as she efficiently waves her hand at the two women. We all smile kindly at each of them in turn and I say a polite hello to them both which seems to ease their discomfort. Sadie looks at me almost longingly but she doesn't make any move to come any closer.
My attention returns to Jen as her gaze falls on everyone who is standing with me. "You have quite the possie there" she says with more than a little sarcasm.
I spot Eva's eyebrows rise and she and Ana exchange significant looks. I quickly try and defuse the growing tension as I smile and nod.
"Yes, this is my brother Christian, my sister Mia and…" I don't get any further as Jen interrupts.
"Aah yes, the adopted siblings" she says curtly and somewhat dismissively.
I ignore the dig and wave my hand towards Eva and Ana. "This is Eva and Ana, my sisters" I add.
Jen leans forward and offers her hand to Ana and Eva but I can't help but notice she has completely ignored Christian and Mia. Eva and Ana haven't missed this either something which Eva can't help but comment on.
"There are two other people here for you to greet, I mean it is only polite to acknowledge their presence even if they are only the adopted siblings" she says with more than a hint of bite and warning in her tone.
Jen looks a little taken aback by that, I'm certain she wasn't expecting to be called out on her rudeness.
"Shall we go for some lunch; I don't know about you but I'm starving?" I say.
This seems to defuse the situation and we all troop towards the restaurant. As Jennifer opens her mouth to speak Eva pushes in front of her and addresses the man standing waiting to seat us after glancing at his badge.
"Hello Gareth, Gideon booked a private dining room for us" she says giving the man a winning smile. The man nods and waves his hand towards the line of doors at the end of the dining room.
"Yes Mrs Cross, the room is ready now for you and your guests if you would follow me" he says.
We all follow the man as he opens the door and we take our seats at the table. He hands out the menus and tells us a waiter will be with us shortly. Eva thanks him and he simply nods as he leaves us alone.
I glance at Jen and see she is fuming at being over ridden, but before she can say anything Eva speaks again, this time to me. "Hope you don't mind El, but both Gideon and I thought this is much nicer than sitting out in the public restaurant as we all have the privacy to say what we need to in here" she says with more than a hint of warning, which is obviously directed towards Jen.
I smile at her, "Not at all sis and I quite agree" I say, as I hear Jen mutter something about wasting her time booking a table.
I ignore that remark, and glance around the table. "So, having said that who wants to kick things off?" I ask.
At this Sadie leans forward, "I… I would like to say something" she says nervously. I frown as she glances towards Jen almost as if she is seeking permission to speak.
"Shut up, you don't need to say anything mom" Jen says sharply and Sadie puts her head down. I see Ana and Eva exchange glances and I know they are itching to say something but I speak instead.
"Hey! Don't speak to your mother like that, she has every right to say what she wants to say. This is not your show and as much as you think you are in charge; you are not the one calling the shots here" I say and then I turn towards Sadie and I reach out holding my hand out across the table towards her. "What would you like to say?" I ask her gently.
I watch as she bursts into tears and in a rush, she stands and comes round to my side of the table with her arms outstretched. I immediately stand and while I am head and shoulders taller than her, I wrap my arms around her and hold her as she sobs in my arms.
"I'm so sorry, I had no choice… I didn't want to give you up but I had no choice" she rambles and I just hold her, running my hand up and down her back trying to offer her some sort of comfort.
"It's ok, I don't blame you. I hold no resentment or ill will towards you at all. You did what you had to do. You wanted me to have a life which you couldn't provide for me at that point in time".
Sadie nods and looks up at me hopefully "And… and you've really had a good life? You had a good family?" she asks.
I smile down at her and nod. "I did, I know I told you that in my letter but it's the truth". I see the relief fill her face and she briefly closes her eyes and almost sags in my arms.
"That was all I ever wanted" she says, "If I couldn't give you a life you deserved, I wanted you to get it with a family who could give it to you" she adds.
"Ok mom, you've eased your guilt, just sit down and stop making an exhibition of yourself" Jen says.
Before I can respond Eva speaks out, "And will you shut your damn mouth, this isn't about you" she snaps.
Jen snorts loudly, "I think you will find it is" she retorts. "If I hadn't found the letter, I would never have known I had a brother. I was the one who set the ball rolling on this, I was the one who organised everything. I was the one who…" she is interrupted by Ana who butts in.
"Is behaving like an obnoxious tyrant, oblivious to the feelings of others". Ana pauses and waves her hand towards Sadie. "This is your mother, she is meeting the son she gave up for adoption for the first time in over 30 years, do you not have any compassion for how hard this is for her and what she is feeling at this moment? You are ruining her moment. This isn't about you, what you have done to facilitate this and what you want. This is about Sadie and Elliot, so with respect you need to shut your damn mouth and butt out" she says.
"Well said, baby" Christian mutters and Mia nods in agreement.
Before Jen can come back with anything else the door opens and a waiter appears and glances at us nervously.
I lean down and look at my birth mother kindly, "Are you ok?" I ask and she nods and smiles up at me, and I see a look of hope in her eyes.
"Yes, yes I am… thank you" she says. With that I release her and help her back to her seat.
"Are you ready to order?" the waiter says.
"If you could give us a few more minutes please" Ana says with a smile and the waiter nods and leaves the room.
I retake my seat and glance at Jen who is quietly seething at being called out and slapped down. I move my attention to Lucy who hasn't said anything yet, but who is watching everything closely almost as if she is assessing us.
I smile at her and she gives me a nervous smile in return, "How are you taking this news?" I ask her gently.
I watch as she nervously glances towards Jen and I frown. What is this? Are they all afraid to speak without her permission? Then she looks at Sadie and smiles at her and as their eyes meet I see some sort of unspoken conversation pass between them and I wonder what is going on.
"I had always wanted a brother, and so a part of me was elated" she says vaguely and I get the distinct impression she isn't saying everything.
I glance at Sadie who nods. "I know, but when I told David… that's my husband, he said I should keep it to myself though. When I told him he… he said I had made a mistake and rectified it by having you adopted, and that I should forget about it and get on with my life. It wasn't that easy though as I always thought about you. He got quite angry with me at times when I tried to talk about you. He told me that he wasn't interested in hearing about my past mistakes, he said I should just be talking about him now, and my family with him... that should be my priority and the only family which mattered. So, over time I just stopped, but I never forgot you and I have always loved you I could just never openly admit that".
We all stare at Sadie and the anger flows through me as I see exactly what sort of life she has lived from those few but very telling words. She has clearly been totally dominated by her husband who wanted to erase her past and who made her feel guilty and ashamed about even thinking about it. I think about the background check that Welch did and I remember that Sadie also works for her husband. I look at each person in turn, on paper they appeared to be the model family, and yet I am getting the distinct impression that behind closed doors things are not good.
"I know that Jen is a police officer, but what do you do Sadie?" I ask her as I don't want to reveal that I already know a lot about her.
She smiles sadly at me, "I work for David. He is a doctor, and I work as his receptionist and secretary" she says.
Lucy lets out a small snort at that and shakes her head. I turn to look at her questioningly and see Jen as she immediately glares at her sister making her shuffle uncomfortably and flush red.
"What?" I ask looking between the two as clearly something is going on here, something Lucy wants to say but Jen isn't too keen on letting her say it. I also see Sadie flush red and she puts her head down.
"What?" I say again.
"Oh my god" Eva says as she watches the reactions of the women in front of me.
"What?" I say again, getting more and more irritated, as I have no idea what the hell is going on here.
"You don't work for him, you are his slave, aren't you?" Eva says bluntly and I stare at her wondering if she has totally lost her mind. She continues to assess Sadie and her reaction to her words. "You 'work' for him" she says lifting her hands and putting air quotes around the word work but he doesn't pay you, does he?" she says.
Ana and Mia gasp at this and my head swings back towards Sadie who once again bursts into tears and slowly nods her head.
Christian leans forward at this, "Let me get this straight, he doesn't pay you a wage for the employment he provides you, you do realise that is illegal don't you?" he glances at Jen, "And you as a police officer should be ashamed of yourself for knowingly allowing him to do this" he adds.
Jen flushes angrily, "Of course he pays her, and there are employment records to prove he does" she snaps.
Lucy looks up, and I almost see the confidence and desperation rising in her, she wants the truth to come out and my best guess is she is hoping that if we know we will try and help. "But she doesn't see any of that money, does she? He controls it and her" she says. "The only reason he allowed mom to come here today was because he is scared of you because you learnt how to control and dominate him and you have the weight of the Detroit Police Department behind you".
We all gape at Lucy's outburst. She turns and looks at us desperately her hands are balled into fists and she bangs one on the table in front of her. "It's horrible, the life she leads it is no life at all. You think Jen is an obnoxious tyrant" she says as she glances towards Ana repeating the words she had previously used, "but he is pure evil. He says jump and she says how high".
"Lucy" Jen says warningly but Lucy isn't listening, she is in full swing now and it is obvious that she is going to tell us everything.
"NO" she snaps loudly and then after glancing questioningly at Sadie who looks absolutely terrified but then also oddly hopeful, I see Sadie give Lucy a tiny almost insignificant nod and Lucy continues.
She takes a deep breath and looking me determinedly straight in the eye she begins to speak. "I knew about you; I've always known about you, mom always talked to me about you, I knew when you were born and I knew everything about you. I knew when the letter came and I knew mom desperately wanted to meet you. We both knew that the only way that would happen was if Jen found out about you. She is just like dad - a controlling tyrant" she pauses and snorts, "but she learnt from the best and in learning from him she learnt how to dominate him. She is the only one who dad will bend for. He is scared of her, as she knows him and everything he has done over the years and she holds it over him. She knows he has been abusive to mom; she knows he treats her like a slave and that he doesn't pay her for the job she does for him. She knows that he has committed fraud in his practice but she is no better as she is the architype, dirty cop. But he knows that everything she has on him will ruin him if she decides to blow the lid on it. What she doesn't realise is we have played her". She pauses once more and glances almost triumphantly at Jen who is sitting with her mouth hanging open.
"Mom wanted to meet you so badly, so we engineered Jen finding the letter as we knew exactly what she would do and how she would take over and she would demand to meet you. We knew that she would demand that dad should let mom come here. What she didn't know is that it was also our plan to try and get mom out of the hell she lives in; we knew that this was our best chance to lift the lid on our fucked up family and help mom escape from it. When I read your second letter, the one which we didn't let Jen find and we realised who exactly you were related to" she pauses and glances at Christian before flushing once more and shifting uncomfortably. "I mean… I know it sounds like we are using you and your name and what your influence can achieve but you have to understand, we are desperate and that this is the only chance we will ever get, if this doesn't work today then we are fucking screwed. Please help me get my mom away from my dad… please I'm begging you". I stare at Lucy as tears start to leak from her eyes.
Jen who has been staring at Lucy quickly recovers and stands trying to regain control, "This meeting is over" she says.
"No, it's not" Christian says firmly and he stands and pulls out his phone. I notice that Eva is also texting furiously.
Sadie glances at me pleadingly, "Please" she whispers desperately.
That one word makes me see everything clearly, the obvious terror she was feeling when she arrived here was not only because she was meeting me for the first time, it was because this was her only chance to get out of a loveless marriage and she was terrified that if she revealed her hand and we didn't believe her or failed to help her, her life would be even worse as a result. She took a risk, a massive one and in that moment I am determined I am going to make sure everything works out for her. My attention goes back to Jen who is still desperately trying to claw back the control and end this meeting.
"Come on we are leaving" Jen says as she grabs her sisters' arm and pulls her none to gently from her chair. A moment later Taylor and Sawyer appear and stand in front of the door to the dining room with their arms crossed, and I smile as nobody will manage to get past them.
"Do you want to leave Detroit today?" I ask Sadie and she nods enthusiastically.
Lucy smiles hopefully at me. "We have all mom's stuff packed and ready to go" she says.
"You will never get away with this, dad will track you down" Jen says.
"Just watch us!" Lucy says simply.
Christian looks towards Taylor, "Taylor please take Sadie to her home to gather her belongings" he says. Taylor nods and looks towards Sadie kindly.
"Ma'am" he says simply. Sadie doesn't hesitate as she stands and practically runs towards him and he leads her from the room.
"What about you?" I ask Lucy and she bites her lip.
"I was kind of hoping to come too if that's ok?" she asks nervously.
I smile at her, "Of course it is, do you have your belongings?" I ask.
"Packed with mom's stuff" she says with a grin. My eyes widen at that and wonder just how much luggage is going to be collected.
I watch as Jen pulls her phone from her pocket and I realise she is going to warn her father. "I'll take that" Eva says as she leans forward and yanks the phone from Jen's hand.
"Give me that back" she demands, but Eva just grins at her and shoves the phone in her pocket.
"You'll get it back in a while" she says.
A moment later the door swings open and Gideon appears. "Angel, what the hell is going on?" he says his attention focussed on Eva.
Eva quickly outlines the jist of the story and how we are essentially rescuing Lucy and Sadie. Then she sniggers before turning towards Jen and she grins at her. "You might want to consider your position at the Detroit PD" she says simply and Jen snorts at that.
Eva takes a step forward. "You see, my dad is a cop – a good and honourable cop. He is also good friends with people within the Detroit PD, people who after he speaks to them could make your life rather difficult if they were to look into the allegations your sister has made against you". Jen doesn't look bothered by that and she waves her hand dismissively as she lets out another derisive snort.
Eva cocks her head and looks at Jen carefully. "Plus, you should also know that my husband and brother in law has the commissioner on speed dial" she says in a bored tone as she looks at her finger nails before she smiles sweetly again at Jen, who now has traces of fear in her eyes.
"A word of advice Jen. If you want to piss with the big boys you have to be sure you have nothing which can come back and bite you in the ass, and trust me lady you are insignificant. You think you are the all-powerful one, but seriously and trust me on this, you are really not" Eva says smugly.
I move towards Lucy and hold out my hand to her, "Come on" I say gently.
She smiles gratefully at me and slips her small hand in mine. I feel her shaking and so I wrap my arm around her and with that she bursts into tears.
Mia steps up and pulling her from me she hugs her fiercely. "Don't cry, you have been so brave today. You have done the right thing and we will look after you and your mom now, you are our family now" she says.
"Come on let's get out of here" Christian says and with that he moves towards the door. Gideon is busy texting and as we all move to leave the private dining room two hotel employees appear with two large boxes.
"What's that?" Ana asks.
"Lunch" Gideon replies, "I noticed that none of you had got around to actually eating so I text the kitchen to prepare something for you all to eat on the plane on the flight back".
"Hey! My Phone! You still have my phone!" Jen calls as she tries to follow us out, only to be stopped by Luke and also Raul who has appeared from nowhere.
Eva pauses, and looks at Jen over her shoulder, "You will get it back, when your mother and sister are safely in the air on their way to Seattle".
