A Past Long Forgotten
"Oh sorry, I'm not..." Julia stammered. "Pru! There's someone at the door!"
"Who is it?" Pru was already behind Julia. "Yes, hello. How may I help you?" asked Pru to the woman at the porch.
"Purity. It's been so long. Twenty-three years," said Paige Halliwell, looking at Pru lovingly.
"Excuse me, do I know you?" Pru had put on her defensive mode. Who was this woman?
"She's our mom's sister. Our aunt." Julia piped in, a look of confusion on her face.
"Yes, Paige Halliwell. Oh gosh, I'm an aunt now,"the stranger said to no- one in particular.
Pru had taken a moment to take this all in. An aunt? Mom's younger sister? "Wait a minute, that can't be- oh, sorry, please come in. Drew! Xan!"
"What?" yelled Drew, coming out the den. Xan followed, still clutching their mom's will. Both were surprised to see the strange woman in their house and curious to know who she was.
"Have a seat,"Pru told Paige. "Would you like anything? A drink?" If you want to now what I want, I want an explanation. If she's thinking of pulling any funny stuff, there's four of us to one of her, Pru thought, seeing Julia, Drew and Xan take their seats
"No, I'm fine," Paige replied. "I know I've come at a bad time. I'm sorry about your father."
Pru's mouth twitched. What a way to greet us.
Paige Halliwell did not seem to notice.
"It's just that I saw it on the paper, and I've been looking for you for so long, and I got here as fast as I could, and now..."
Paige smiled at all of them.
"I knew that Piper," Paige's eyes glazed over, "would want me to be with you."
Pru crossed over to where Xan was, and took their mom's will.
"This is my mom's will," Pru held the paper for her to see, "and she hadn't written that she wanted us to be with an aunt who would only come to us after our father's death."
"But she does want us to live in your house in San Francisco," Julia interrupted. "Maybe she meant that we would live with you, if you're still living there. Pru doesn't have a job yet." Julia looked over at Pru, who gave Julia a face which said "what are you doing?" and "lay off" in one glance.
"Our mother never told us about you. She never told us much about her family. We have a picture," Pru paused and looked over the fireplace shelf, and saw the picture of the Halliwell sisters missing, "here... somewhere."'
Julia walked over to the brown carton, fished out the picture, and gave it to Paige. "You're not there," Julia spoke quietly. Paige ran her finger lightly over the photo.
"You're right," Paige replied "I'm not in the picture. That's only Piper, Prue and Phoebe. My older sisters."
"Prue and Phoebe, so those are their names. Wait a minute, our mom was the oldest?" asked Julia.
"No, see, Prue," said Paige, pointing at the woman in the middle, "was the oldest. Phoebe is the one at the right, the youngest of them. I guess I'm not in any of the pictures your mother has. In fact, I've got only a few of me with Phoebe and Piper back home."
"Aunt Phoebe and Mom? Why? What happened to Aunt Prue?" asked Xan. A few seconds into family history and he had already started calling them aunts, Pru thought.
"What's with all the P's?" Drew muttered to himself.
"You come here after my father's death and tell us you're our long-lost aunt. Mom never told us all this. I need to know why," said Pru sternly.
"Well, I can't explain this clearly now, but, well, we sisters have a family secret. So secret that I can't tell you. Problems our family had that we had to cope with every day. Problems which took up our whole lives," said Paige in a rush of breath.
"I was the child of my mom, Piper's mom, and a man I never came to know. I was left by my mom and him, in a church for the nuns there to take care of me. I was just a baby then. I was adopted, and the one thing I wanted was to meet my real parents. And then I grew up, and I found my sister Prue in the newspaper." Paige gave a sad smile then, saying "You could say I had a knack for obits. And I went to find my mother there. Who I found was my sisters, your mom, Piper, and your Aunt Phoebe. Phoebe was the first one to believe I me."
"I found out our family secret later on, and life got harder, but I knew I could pull through."
"But when Phoebe died," Paige gulped as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Piper couldn't take it anymore. She left me. I was crying for days."
Paige put her hands to cover her face as her crying shook her whole body. Julia offered her shoulder to cry on, hugging her. Xan had gone to the kitchen, coming back with a glass of water. Pru reached across the sofa for the box of tissues. Drew sat still, then shifted uncomfortably.
Paige dried her tears, and, thanking Xan, drank the water. "But that's all behind me now. What matters is that I've found you, and I couldn't be more thankful. Four fine children. I knew Piper would make a great mom."
"Yes, we know that our mom is the greatest. And we thank you so much that you came, but, I'm sorry, we can't go to San Francisco. We're going to live with our father's sister, Lucy White –" Julia had gripped Pru's hand, digging her nails into her flesh.
"Excuse us for a moment, please," said Julia to her Aunt Paige, as she while holding Pru, led them to the den. Drew and Xan followed.
"What are you doing?!" complained Julia.
"What do you think I'm doing? A woman comes here claiming to be our aunt! We should have slammed the door in her face!" Pru answered.
"Why are you making this harder for us? Aunt Paige can support us! You can find a job! We'll just change schools! Even you don't like Aunt Lucy! I bet she doesn't even know we're supposed to live with her!"
"Ok, I may not like Aunt Lucy, but when a long-lost aunt comes to our house, I don't just take the chance and think that hey, maybe she IS our aunt!"
"Tell me how she can tell who Piper—I mean, mom, is in the picture? Huh?"
Pru began to stroke her temples. "You're giving me a headache. Xan, please talk some sense in your sister."
"I don't know, Pru," said Xan, "I think you're making this harder on yourself and us. We should give Paige a chance to explain."
Pru stared at him with her steely blue eyes, her lips pressed together and her forehead in furrows.
"Don't do that, Pru you're gonna get wrinkles." Julia joked weakly, trying to alleviate the tension. That was what Dad used to say when Julia or I was upset, Pru thought. It was supposed to make us laugh. Well, I'm not laughing now.
Pru turned her gaze to Drew. "Don't tell me you believe her, too."
"Okay," answered Drew.
"Dear God, help me," grumbled Pru
"I don't know," Drew said, "Aunt Paige looks cool."
"She is not our aunt."
"She is, too," Julia insisted, "I know it. It feels right somehow. All this."
"So what, you're like, psychic now?" yelled Pru.
Paige was standing in the doorway. "Is something wrong?"
"Well that's an understatement. Did you think we'd believe you?" Pru scoffed.
Suddenly, as if on cue, a bunch of papers fell out of Paige's open purse.
"Let me help you,"Julia offered, picking up the documents, taking a glance on one of them. "It's-"
"Proof of my Halliwell line. My sisters – your aunts – left everything to me, Piper planned it. She didn't want anything to remind her of the life she had had. Except the memory of her sisters."
Julia, Xan, and even Drew, began to read over Paige's papers. If what Paige said was true, mom didn't want anything, except a remembrance of her sisters, then why hadn't her mother talked about Paige Halliwell? What was the secret her mother's family was hiding? Why didn't she want anything to remind her of her past?
Paige Halliwell had a lot to explain.
"Oh sorry, I'm not..." Julia stammered. "Pru! There's someone at the door!"
"Who is it?" Pru was already behind Julia. "Yes, hello. How may I help you?" asked Pru to the woman at the porch.
"Purity. It's been so long. Twenty-three years," said Paige Halliwell, looking at Pru lovingly.
"Excuse me, do I know you?" Pru had put on her defensive mode. Who was this woman?
"She's our mom's sister. Our aunt." Julia piped in, a look of confusion on her face.
"Yes, Paige Halliwell. Oh gosh, I'm an aunt now,"the stranger said to no- one in particular.
Pru had taken a moment to take this all in. An aunt? Mom's younger sister? "Wait a minute, that can't be- oh, sorry, please come in. Drew! Xan!"
"What?" yelled Drew, coming out the den. Xan followed, still clutching their mom's will. Both were surprised to see the strange woman in their house and curious to know who she was.
"Have a seat,"Pru told Paige. "Would you like anything? A drink?" If you want to now what I want, I want an explanation. If she's thinking of pulling any funny stuff, there's four of us to one of her, Pru thought, seeing Julia, Drew and Xan take their seats
"No, I'm fine," Paige replied. "I know I've come at a bad time. I'm sorry about your father."
Pru's mouth twitched. What a way to greet us.
Paige Halliwell did not seem to notice.
"It's just that I saw it on the paper, and I've been looking for you for so long, and I got here as fast as I could, and now..."
Paige smiled at all of them.
"I knew that Piper," Paige's eyes glazed over, "would want me to be with you."
Pru crossed over to where Xan was, and took their mom's will.
"This is my mom's will," Pru held the paper for her to see, "and she hadn't written that she wanted us to be with an aunt who would only come to us after our father's death."
"But she does want us to live in your house in San Francisco," Julia interrupted. "Maybe she meant that we would live with you, if you're still living there. Pru doesn't have a job yet." Julia looked over at Pru, who gave Julia a face which said "what are you doing?" and "lay off" in one glance.
"Our mother never told us about you. She never told us much about her family. We have a picture," Pru paused and looked over the fireplace shelf, and saw the picture of the Halliwell sisters missing, "here... somewhere."'
Julia walked over to the brown carton, fished out the picture, and gave it to Paige. "You're not there," Julia spoke quietly. Paige ran her finger lightly over the photo.
"You're right," Paige replied "I'm not in the picture. That's only Piper, Prue and Phoebe. My older sisters."
"Prue and Phoebe, so those are their names. Wait a minute, our mom was the oldest?" asked Julia.
"No, see, Prue," said Paige, pointing at the woman in the middle, "was the oldest. Phoebe is the one at the right, the youngest of them. I guess I'm not in any of the pictures your mother has. In fact, I've got only a few of me with Phoebe and Piper back home."
"Aunt Phoebe and Mom? Why? What happened to Aunt Prue?" asked Xan. A few seconds into family history and he had already started calling them aunts, Pru thought.
"What's with all the P's?" Drew muttered to himself.
"You come here after my father's death and tell us you're our long-lost aunt. Mom never told us all this. I need to know why," said Pru sternly.
"Well, I can't explain this clearly now, but, well, we sisters have a family secret. So secret that I can't tell you. Problems our family had that we had to cope with every day. Problems which took up our whole lives," said Paige in a rush of breath.
"I was the child of my mom, Piper's mom, and a man I never came to know. I was left by my mom and him, in a church for the nuns there to take care of me. I was just a baby then. I was adopted, and the one thing I wanted was to meet my real parents. And then I grew up, and I found my sister Prue in the newspaper." Paige gave a sad smile then, saying "You could say I had a knack for obits. And I went to find my mother there. Who I found was my sisters, your mom, Piper, and your Aunt Phoebe. Phoebe was the first one to believe I me."
"I found out our family secret later on, and life got harder, but I knew I could pull through."
"But when Phoebe died," Paige gulped as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Piper couldn't take it anymore. She left me. I was crying for days."
Paige put her hands to cover her face as her crying shook her whole body. Julia offered her shoulder to cry on, hugging her. Xan had gone to the kitchen, coming back with a glass of water. Pru reached across the sofa for the box of tissues. Drew sat still, then shifted uncomfortably.
Paige dried her tears, and, thanking Xan, drank the water. "But that's all behind me now. What matters is that I've found you, and I couldn't be more thankful. Four fine children. I knew Piper would make a great mom."
"Yes, we know that our mom is the greatest. And we thank you so much that you came, but, I'm sorry, we can't go to San Francisco. We're going to live with our father's sister, Lucy White –" Julia had gripped Pru's hand, digging her nails into her flesh.
"Excuse us for a moment, please," said Julia to her Aunt Paige, as she while holding Pru, led them to the den. Drew and Xan followed.
"What are you doing?!" complained Julia.
"What do you think I'm doing? A woman comes here claiming to be our aunt! We should have slammed the door in her face!" Pru answered.
"Why are you making this harder for us? Aunt Paige can support us! You can find a job! We'll just change schools! Even you don't like Aunt Lucy! I bet she doesn't even know we're supposed to live with her!"
"Ok, I may not like Aunt Lucy, but when a long-lost aunt comes to our house, I don't just take the chance and think that hey, maybe she IS our aunt!"
"Tell me how she can tell who Piper—I mean, mom, is in the picture? Huh?"
Pru began to stroke her temples. "You're giving me a headache. Xan, please talk some sense in your sister."
"I don't know, Pru," said Xan, "I think you're making this harder on yourself and us. We should give Paige a chance to explain."
Pru stared at him with her steely blue eyes, her lips pressed together and her forehead in furrows.
"Don't do that, Pru you're gonna get wrinkles." Julia joked weakly, trying to alleviate the tension. That was what Dad used to say when Julia or I was upset, Pru thought. It was supposed to make us laugh. Well, I'm not laughing now.
Pru turned her gaze to Drew. "Don't tell me you believe her, too."
"Okay," answered Drew.
"Dear God, help me," grumbled Pru
"I don't know," Drew said, "Aunt Paige looks cool."
"She is not our aunt."
"She is, too," Julia insisted, "I know it. It feels right somehow. All this."
"So what, you're like, psychic now?" yelled Pru.
Paige was standing in the doorway. "Is something wrong?"
"Well that's an understatement. Did you think we'd believe you?" Pru scoffed.
Suddenly, as if on cue, a bunch of papers fell out of Paige's open purse.
"Let me help you,"Julia offered, picking up the documents, taking a glance on one of them. "It's-"
"Proof of my Halliwell line. My sisters – your aunts – left everything to me, Piper planned it. She didn't want anything to remind her of the life she had had. Except the memory of her sisters."
Julia, Xan, and even Drew, began to read over Paige's papers. If what Paige said was true, mom didn't want anything, except a remembrance of her sisters, then why hadn't her mother talked about Paige Halliwell? What was the secret her mother's family was hiding? Why didn't she want anything to remind her of her past?
Paige Halliwell had a lot to explain.