Chapter Fifty-Four ~ The Shack
The next morning Marty awakened, feeling much better. She wasn't as pale and she didn't seem to be in any sort of pain. After a nourishing breakfast in bed, Todd said, "If you feel up to it, Marty, I'd like to go visit my family."
"Of course, Todd. I feel fine. I am sorry I worried you so much last night."
Todd tenderly kissed Marty's forehead. "You've been through so much. You've lost so many of the people you love. I am sorry that your Aunt Kiki is such a total b-."
Marty placed a fingertip upon Todd's lips. "Forget her, Todd. She's not worth it. She's always been a terrible person... and she'll die alone, drinking herself to death. Today we need to concentrate on you. How do you feel about going to see your family?"
Todd sighed. "My mother abandoned me. She always treated my twin brother Victor as if he was the only one she loved - as if he was the only one who mattered. Meanwhile, my older sister Tina and I had to start working at a young age, helping my mother all we could. Then she just sent me away. She didn't even care about her own son."
Todd's hurt was evident within the tremor in his voice and the sorrowful tears that welled up in his eyes. Marty wrapped her arms around him, lending him her comfort. "It's time to face those ghosts from the past. I faced mine and I will be there for you when you confront your own."
"There's something more. Something I haven't told you," Todd said softly.
"What is it?"
"The place we lived. It was a tiny shack, nothing like your parents beautiful mansion. We had no servants. The walls were paper thin, kind of like the 'love' our mother attempted to provide us. We had so little. We were always hungry. I don't know what to to expect or even if my sickly brother is still alive. Marty, I don't want you to have to take you there to that place, but I have to do this."
"I'll be fine, Todd. I want to go with you. I will be there for you, just like you're always there for me. We'll do this together."
Todd nodded as he swallowed the painful lump that had invaded his throat.
Xxxooo
They took a carriage to the other side of town. There were hundreds of pitiful shacks. Most looked ready to cave to the ground at any second. The streets were filthy as children played in the decay.
Todd's eyes settled on the shack where he lived the first years of his life. It looked more dilapidated than ever, with the door hanging crookedly upon its hinges. Maybe his family was gone. Perhaps it was empty. Maybe he'd never see their faces again.
After leaving the carriage, Todd helped Marty down onto the street. "This is it?" she asked softly.
Todd nodded. "Welcome to my home."
She searched his eyes, but Todd was guarding his pain and indecision. Should he knock on that door or should he run from his painful past? What kind of horrors might greet them?
Todd built up his courage as he took Marty's arm and walked to the door and knocked. Almost instantly, someone answered. "Todd?" a voice gasped in surprise. Immediately, she pulled him into a hug.
They were both tearful as Todd introduced Marty to his older sister. "Marty, this is Tina," he said.
"Hello, Tina. Good to meet you," Marty said with a gentle smile.
"Please come inside," Tina urged.
The furniture was sparse, so they were seated at the rustic wooden table in the main room of the shack. There was only one bedroom, Todd's mother's room, but her bed had been often occupied by Victor who was always ailing and apparently close to death. Todd and Tina had been forced to sleep on the main room's wooden floor, huddled in blankets and attempting to stay warm.
"Where's our mother? Did Victor die?" Todd blurted out. He had scanned the shack but had not seen the woman who gave birth to him or his twin. Tina appeared to be living all alone.
"They're gone."
"Gone?" Todd murmured. "Where?"
That's when Tina gave Todd a huge shocker. "No, Victor is very much alive and well. He and Mother are living in Boston in our biological father's mansion. The selfish old coot finally died and come to find out, he had another child, a daughter who was legitimate unlike the three of us. She's living there in the mansion, too, and they are all one big happy family. Our father left the mansion to her and everything else he left to his only living son - Victor. I guess Mother forgot all about you and me, Todd. We got nothing. I had to remain here as I had nowhere else to go."
Todd grew furious at his mother. "How could she do that to you, Tina? To us?"
"I don't know, but you deserve half of Victor Lord's fortune. Our brother Victor is NOT our father's only male heir."
Marty had been silent throughout Tina and Todd's conversation, but when she heard the name Victor Lord something clicked. As a terrible pain struck her, she couldn't immediately say a word. She cried out in pain as she clutched at her bulging abdomen. "Todd!" she gasped as she stood up on shaky legs. In that moment, Marty's water had broken, splashing on the floor where Todd had slept as a boy.
Todd caught Marty in the strength of his arms as she nearly fell upon the course wooden floor. "Tina, you have to help me get Marty to a doctor," Todd spoke urgently.
Marty stared at Todd in shock, disbelieving what was happening to her. Finally she had gone into labor and there was no stopping it now. She could no longer deny it - she was about to have a child.
