Chapter 24
"You're… you're Luke's daughter?" Laura asked.
"Yes," Jessica said, nodding.
"Who is you're mother?"
"Jennifer Smith."
Laura gasped. "When? How? I mean, he wasn't with her long enough to get her pregnant twice."
"Jack and I are twins," Jessica explained. "Our mother was pregnant when Luke left town with you."
"I see," Laura said. "Does Luke know?"
"I don't think he does. Mom didn't want him to know."
Lucky remained silent. He was still in shock from finding out that he had another brother and sister.
"How… um… how is Jennifer?" Laura asked. She didn't really want to know, she was trying to be polite to Jessica since she had saved their lives.
"I wouldn't know. We haven't seen her since we were fourteen," Jessica said sadly.
"Why?"
"When she got married to Billy Boggs, she shipped us off to boarding school. We never saw her again. Not that I'm complaining. She wasn't the best mother in the world."
"You poor kids," Laura said putting her arm around Jessica. Her mothering instinct was coming out.
"It's ok, I'm used to it," Jessica said trying to force a smile.
"How long have you been hiding out in this cave?" Lucky asked.
"About two weeks. I escaped from the room Helena was holding me in and made my way to the beach. I found one of the little boats they use to bring supplies from the yacht hidden in the bushes."
"Why are you still on the island then? What happened to the boat?"
"There is an alarm system just off shore so they'll know if anyone lands on the island. I knew the boat would set off the alarm, so I threw some of my things into it and set it adrift. It worked just as I had planned. The boat drifted out to where the alarm was and it went off. The guards went out in another boat and retrieved the one I had set adrift. They found my things, but I wasn't in the boat so they reported to Helena that I had drowned. So the search was called off. I've been hiding out in this cave waiting for my chance to escape from the island."
"This is incredible," Laura said as she sat down. "How can one woman cause as much trouble as Helena has?"
Lucky sat down and put his arm around her. "I don't know Mom. I don't know."
Laura smiled weakly at him. "So what do we do now?"
"Well, I heard that Helena plans to kill Luke when he shows up here to rescue the two of you," Jessica said.
"I know she told us," Laura said. She shuddered a little at the thought.
"So, we need to come up with a plan to get off the island before Luke gets here."
Lucky and Laura nodded in agreement.
"Let's get started," Laura said.
Jessica sat down next to them and they started discussing their plans.