Chapter Four: My Uncle
The next morning I woke up to the sun shining in my face. I got up a little groggily, confused about my whereabouts. But then I remembered everything that happened the days before. I know knew who my father was. But I would never get to meet him. Somehow I felt like an orphan, my mother had abandoned me, and my father was dead. I got dressed quickly and went downstairs. I found the kitchen after a few minutes of searching. The maid, Beatrice was in there. "Good morning Beatrice," I said a little tentatively. I felt strange talking to her like I knew her. "This must be Skye, little Zachary's child!" I very fat woman exclaimed. She had a very round face and dark brown eyes. I couldn't even count her chins there were so many. She was wearing an apron over a plain gray dress. Her hair was short and brown. "Hello," I said. "I'm Dena!" she exclaimed. I couldn't help noticing how enthusiastic she was. When she spoke she swung her arms around and the expressions on her face were constantly changing to different extremes. "Maxine and Gregory are in the dining room, show her where that is Bee," Dean said and gestured wildly towards a door. Beatrice led me silently to the door. I went through and there were my newfound grandparents sitting waiting for breakfast. "Oh Skye," Maxine said standing up, "Come and have breakfast with us," I sat down across from her and to the right of Gregory. "I hope you slept well," Gregory said. "Oh yes, the room was beautiful," I said smiling. Beatrice and Arthur brought out our breakfast of Belgian waffles with whipped cream and blueberries. I ate them eagerly; I had never tasted something so good in my whole life. I savored every bite. "Gregory and I have decided you will start school as normal in the fall and everyone will know you are our granddaughter," Maxine told me. I was a little surprised that she wanted everyone to know that her son had a daughter that he hadn't even known about. "But," she continued, "no one will know we didn't know about you, long lost relatives are so cliché," Now I understood. "I had my personal shopper go out and get you some decent clothes, I can't have my granddaughter running around in rags, you know," she laughed. I looked down at my T-shirt and gray shorts. These were the best shorts I had; they weren't rags to me. "You'll go to the same school as your uncle, our son," Gregory told me, "He'll help you out," I was nervous about meeting my uncle. It seemed so surreal that I could have an uncle the same age as me. "We are going to a wedding shower today so you'll be here by yourself," Maxine said. My heart started to pound. I had only been here one day and already they were leaving me alone here? I wouldn't know what to do with myself. "You can go swimming in the pool if you'd like," Gregory suggested. I shook my head, "I don't even have a bathing suit," I said even though I really would have liked to go swimming. Back in Monkton I never got to do anything even remotely like swimming. "Oh nonsense, Marianne, my personal shopper, is picking you up three," Maxine said waving her hand in the air. I felt very uncomfortable when I watched Maxine and Gregory drive off down the road. Maxine told me Marianne would be back soon with my bathing suits and other clothes. I found it very strange that Maxine had someone do her shopping for her but I also envied the person who was a professional shopper. Despite my poor life style I had always liked to shop and see all the new trends even if I could never own any of the beautiful garments. It was kind of disappointing that I didn't get to go shopping to buy clothes. It felt like Maxine was taking over everything. How did this Marianne person even know my size or what I would like? I sat in the living room waiting for my bathing suit. I was truly looking forward to swimming by myself. I had always enjoyed the time I had to spend by myself since it was so rare at the trailer. Now as I sat by myself with nothing to do I missed my siblings terribly. They had surely noticed I was gone by now. I could picture Anthony reading my note over and over again not believing it was true. Not believing I had just left. Just like Mama, he would think, just like Mama. No Anthony, I thought, I'm not like Mama, I'll come back for you. Finally Marianne came in the door three bags in hand. She looked over at me and said, "You must be Skye," she said. She wasn't very tall and her hair was bleach blond and cut in a stylish hairdo. Her nose and mouth were small and her teeth were sparkling white. It took Marianne, Arthur, Beatrice and myself three trips each to get everything up to my room. The flow of bags and boxes never stopped. After a while I thought we were pulling clothes out of a bottomless pit. I thought it would never end! Marianne had bought me T-shirts, shorts, jeans, dress pants, sweaters, blouses, shoes, socks underwear, bathing suits and bathrobe and even slippers. I thanked her and she left. I pulled out a red tankini with blue Hawaiian flowers all over it. I put it on and it fit me perfectly. The other two bathing suits were a black one piece and a very skimpy pink bikini that I knew I would never wear. It puzzled me how Marianne could have known my size when she hadn't even seen me before today. I went outside to the pool. The water was very warm. There were two diving boards, one higher than the other and a slide that twirled around the ladder. I dove into the deep end, happy to be alone for a while. I was floating on my back with my eyes closed when I heard a splash at the other end of the pool. I jerked up right and watched the dark figure swim closer and closer to me under water. I was frozen in place. The person surfaced right in front of me and stood up. His eyes were closed and I didn't even know if he knew I was here. He had dark brown hair and I saw when he opened his eyes, bluish green eyes. When he saw me standing right in front of him he gasped and jumped back. "Who the hell are you," he demanded. "Skye," I responded. "This is private property, you can't just come in here and go swimming in our pool," he yelled angrily. "I live here," I said calmly. "Are you crazy?" he asked, "Did you escape from the psychiatric hospital, because I heard that someone had escaped-" I cut him off, "NO, I'm your brother Zack's daughter," I told him. He stared at me, "What are you talking about, Zack has been gone for years," he said confused. I narrowed my eyes. Why would he say that my father had been gone for years? Maxine told me he had only died three years ago, that wasn't that long. I shook my head, "I'm his long lost daughter," I explained. He laughed, "You really are crazy," he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the pool and into the house. "Hey, let go of me!" I cried. "Arthur, call the police," he ordered. "Sir! Sir!" Arthur called, "That is Skye, she is living here!" The boy stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around slowly, still grasping my arm tightly. "What?" he asked. "She is Master Zachary's daughter," Arthur said. I let out a sigh, grateful that Arthur was here to explain who I was, because this impulsive guy wouldn't listen to me. I let go of my arm and stared at me. I was dripping all over the floor and suddenly I felt very aware of what I was wearing as he looked me up and down. I stared right back at him as I hugged myself tightly. He reminded me of someone, his intense gaze and those turquoise eyes.. "My parents didn't tell me about this." he said. "I just arrived yesterday," I told him. He was silent for a minute and then he smiled, "Well. I'm sorry about all that, you have to understand though, there was a stranger swimming in my pool, it was kind of weird," "Yes, I understand," I said softly. "I'm Trevor," he said sticking out his hand. I shook it. "Skye," I introduced my self even though he already knew who I was. "Skye.Skye.where have I heard that name before?" he wrinkled up his nose and frowned. I realized he looked a lot like his father, Gregory. But there was something else about him that struck me as familiar; I just couldn't put my finger on it. "Oh well," he said, "I just got back from my camping trip," "I thought you wouldn't be back for another week, I said. We went back out side and sat on lounge chairs by the pool to talk. I told him about coming here and getting a paternity test done. "No, Mom doesn't waste any time," he laughed when I told him how I was here for all of two hours but we had to go straight out to get the test done. I didn't know if I was supposed to tell him everything or not so I kept quiet about how my life was before I came here. "This is so weird," he said. I nodded. We sat outside talking all afternoon. He was smart and funny and very outgoing. I liked him right away. But I still couldn't shake the feeling that he reminded me of someone. Finally Gregory and Maxine got home, they came out to the back and stopped dead when they saw Trevor and I talking and laughing. "Trevor, dear, when did you get home?" Maxine asked. "This morning, and we had a little mishap, a stranger was swimming in our pool," he said pointing to me. Trevor told his parents about the little incident earlier and how he had thought I was an escapee from the mental institution. We all laughed about it, all but Maxine. She stayed stone faced. I went to bed that night thinking about Trevor and how wonderful this was. I loved living in La Vie. The only thing that made my happiness fade was thinking about Anthony. I missed him so much. I wanted to see him, talk to him. Before I fell asleep I heard two people outside my door talking. I heard my name so I got up and listened through the door. "Her mother was here a long time ago Dena," Arthur said. "But I still think she is here for the same reason her mother was," Dena said. Were they talking about my mother? "It doesn't matter now, Hannah Peters is somewhere where she can't take any more Jamieson children," Arthur said. They walked on down the hall so I couldn't hear what else they said. I was more confused than ever now. In my mother's letter she said that my father didn't know about me, but Arthur and Dena were talking about her like she kidnapped me. No, that couldn't be what they meant. My mother was perfect, she loved Zack Jamieson and me; she would never do something like that to him. I crawled back into bed and didn't fall asleep until the sun was starting to come up over the horizon. I got up the next morning still tired from lack of sleep. I hadn't been able to figure out Arthur and Dena's conversation. I racked my brain thinking about what they could have meant by now my mother couldn't take any more Jamieson children. I felt like everyone was lying to me. There was one week left until school started and during that time I talked to Trevor about school and my old life. He said he would introduce me to people at school. I was grateful to have someone who could help me adjust to this new life. I contemplated whether or not to write to Anthony. I thought he should know where I was, but I was afraid that he would try to come here and get me. This was where I belonged and I didn't want to leave. Finally the day came to start school. It was a private school called, Oak Glenn and we would have to wear uniforms. I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to wear all my new clothes. I hadn't even worn half of them since Marianne brought them all home. It was a co-ed school so Trevor would be there with me. The chauffer, Edwards drove us to school. He was a short, stout man who rarely spoke. He did his job and didn't talk to anyone unless they specifically asked him a question. I got my schedule in the office on the first day and headed straight for my first class, which was English. The day was pretty ordinary, besides the fact that all the people here were filthy rich. My name was changed to Jamieson so of course everyone wanted to know how I was related to Trevor. He was popular at school, the captain of the basketball team and minister of external affairs on school council. I thought he made a good made a good MEA because he was easy to approach, no one felt uncomfortable around him. He was nice to everyone. I made friends quickly because of him I realized right away that there were some girls that only became friendly with me because I lived with Trevor. But I did make a few real friends. I hadn't forgotten the conversation I had overheard between Dena and Arthur. I wanted to ask them what they had meant by everything but I didn't want them to know I was eavesdropping. I had to quit my violin lessons because Oak Glenn only had wind instruments and vocal. I was disappointed at first but I forgot about it after awhile. Life was going well. I had finally stopped feeling guilty about leaving my siblings and finding my father's family. Trevor and I were growing closer by the day but I knew I could never become romantically involved with him; he was my uncle after all. I was very happy at La Vie. I didn't interact much with Maxine and Gregory. They weren't home often, Gregory was a lawyer and Maxine was just a social butterfly. Or at least I thought every time she went out she going to some party. How wrong I was.
The next morning I woke up to the sun shining in my face. I got up a little groggily, confused about my whereabouts. But then I remembered everything that happened the days before. I know knew who my father was. But I would never get to meet him. Somehow I felt like an orphan, my mother had abandoned me, and my father was dead. I got dressed quickly and went downstairs. I found the kitchen after a few minutes of searching. The maid, Beatrice was in there. "Good morning Beatrice," I said a little tentatively. I felt strange talking to her like I knew her. "This must be Skye, little Zachary's child!" I very fat woman exclaimed. She had a very round face and dark brown eyes. I couldn't even count her chins there were so many. She was wearing an apron over a plain gray dress. Her hair was short and brown. "Hello," I said. "I'm Dena!" she exclaimed. I couldn't help noticing how enthusiastic she was. When she spoke she swung her arms around and the expressions on her face were constantly changing to different extremes. "Maxine and Gregory are in the dining room, show her where that is Bee," Dean said and gestured wildly towards a door. Beatrice led me silently to the door. I went through and there were my newfound grandparents sitting waiting for breakfast. "Oh Skye," Maxine said standing up, "Come and have breakfast with us," I sat down across from her and to the right of Gregory. "I hope you slept well," Gregory said. "Oh yes, the room was beautiful," I said smiling. Beatrice and Arthur brought out our breakfast of Belgian waffles with whipped cream and blueberries. I ate them eagerly; I had never tasted something so good in my whole life. I savored every bite. "Gregory and I have decided you will start school as normal in the fall and everyone will know you are our granddaughter," Maxine told me. I was a little surprised that she wanted everyone to know that her son had a daughter that he hadn't even known about. "But," she continued, "no one will know we didn't know about you, long lost relatives are so cliché," Now I understood. "I had my personal shopper go out and get you some decent clothes, I can't have my granddaughter running around in rags, you know," she laughed. I looked down at my T-shirt and gray shorts. These were the best shorts I had; they weren't rags to me. "You'll go to the same school as your uncle, our son," Gregory told me, "He'll help you out," I was nervous about meeting my uncle. It seemed so surreal that I could have an uncle the same age as me. "We are going to a wedding shower today so you'll be here by yourself," Maxine said. My heart started to pound. I had only been here one day and already they were leaving me alone here? I wouldn't know what to do with myself. "You can go swimming in the pool if you'd like," Gregory suggested. I shook my head, "I don't even have a bathing suit," I said even though I really would have liked to go swimming. Back in Monkton I never got to do anything even remotely like swimming. "Oh nonsense, Marianne, my personal shopper, is picking you up three," Maxine said waving her hand in the air. I felt very uncomfortable when I watched Maxine and Gregory drive off down the road. Maxine told me Marianne would be back soon with my bathing suits and other clothes. I found it very strange that Maxine had someone do her shopping for her but I also envied the person who was a professional shopper. Despite my poor life style I had always liked to shop and see all the new trends even if I could never own any of the beautiful garments. It was kind of disappointing that I didn't get to go shopping to buy clothes. It felt like Maxine was taking over everything. How did this Marianne person even know my size or what I would like? I sat in the living room waiting for my bathing suit. I was truly looking forward to swimming by myself. I had always enjoyed the time I had to spend by myself since it was so rare at the trailer. Now as I sat by myself with nothing to do I missed my siblings terribly. They had surely noticed I was gone by now. I could picture Anthony reading my note over and over again not believing it was true. Not believing I had just left. Just like Mama, he would think, just like Mama. No Anthony, I thought, I'm not like Mama, I'll come back for you. Finally Marianne came in the door three bags in hand. She looked over at me and said, "You must be Skye," she said. She wasn't very tall and her hair was bleach blond and cut in a stylish hairdo. Her nose and mouth were small and her teeth were sparkling white. It took Marianne, Arthur, Beatrice and myself three trips each to get everything up to my room. The flow of bags and boxes never stopped. After a while I thought we were pulling clothes out of a bottomless pit. I thought it would never end! Marianne had bought me T-shirts, shorts, jeans, dress pants, sweaters, blouses, shoes, socks underwear, bathing suits and bathrobe and even slippers. I thanked her and she left. I pulled out a red tankini with blue Hawaiian flowers all over it. I put it on and it fit me perfectly. The other two bathing suits were a black one piece and a very skimpy pink bikini that I knew I would never wear. It puzzled me how Marianne could have known my size when she hadn't even seen me before today. I went outside to the pool. The water was very warm. There were two diving boards, one higher than the other and a slide that twirled around the ladder. I dove into the deep end, happy to be alone for a while. I was floating on my back with my eyes closed when I heard a splash at the other end of the pool. I jerked up right and watched the dark figure swim closer and closer to me under water. I was frozen in place. The person surfaced right in front of me and stood up. His eyes were closed and I didn't even know if he knew I was here. He had dark brown hair and I saw when he opened his eyes, bluish green eyes. When he saw me standing right in front of him he gasped and jumped back. "Who the hell are you," he demanded. "Skye," I responded. "This is private property, you can't just come in here and go swimming in our pool," he yelled angrily. "I live here," I said calmly. "Are you crazy?" he asked, "Did you escape from the psychiatric hospital, because I heard that someone had escaped-" I cut him off, "NO, I'm your brother Zack's daughter," I told him. He stared at me, "What are you talking about, Zack has been gone for years," he said confused. I narrowed my eyes. Why would he say that my father had been gone for years? Maxine told me he had only died three years ago, that wasn't that long. I shook my head, "I'm his long lost daughter," I explained. He laughed, "You really are crazy," he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the pool and into the house. "Hey, let go of me!" I cried. "Arthur, call the police," he ordered. "Sir! Sir!" Arthur called, "That is Skye, she is living here!" The boy stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around slowly, still grasping my arm tightly. "What?" he asked. "She is Master Zachary's daughter," Arthur said. I let out a sigh, grateful that Arthur was here to explain who I was, because this impulsive guy wouldn't listen to me. I let go of my arm and stared at me. I was dripping all over the floor and suddenly I felt very aware of what I was wearing as he looked me up and down. I stared right back at him as I hugged myself tightly. He reminded me of someone, his intense gaze and those turquoise eyes.. "My parents didn't tell me about this." he said. "I just arrived yesterday," I told him. He was silent for a minute and then he smiled, "Well. I'm sorry about all that, you have to understand though, there was a stranger swimming in my pool, it was kind of weird," "Yes, I understand," I said softly. "I'm Trevor," he said sticking out his hand. I shook it. "Skye," I introduced my self even though he already knew who I was. "Skye.Skye.where have I heard that name before?" he wrinkled up his nose and frowned. I realized he looked a lot like his father, Gregory. But there was something else about him that struck me as familiar; I just couldn't put my finger on it. "Oh well," he said, "I just got back from my camping trip," "I thought you wouldn't be back for another week, I said. We went back out side and sat on lounge chairs by the pool to talk. I told him about coming here and getting a paternity test done. "No, Mom doesn't waste any time," he laughed when I told him how I was here for all of two hours but we had to go straight out to get the test done. I didn't know if I was supposed to tell him everything or not so I kept quiet about how my life was before I came here. "This is so weird," he said. I nodded. We sat outside talking all afternoon. He was smart and funny and very outgoing. I liked him right away. But I still couldn't shake the feeling that he reminded me of someone. Finally Gregory and Maxine got home, they came out to the back and stopped dead when they saw Trevor and I talking and laughing. "Trevor, dear, when did you get home?" Maxine asked. "This morning, and we had a little mishap, a stranger was swimming in our pool," he said pointing to me. Trevor told his parents about the little incident earlier and how he had thought I was an escapee from the mental institution. We all laughed about it, all but Maxine. She stayed stone faced. I went to bed that night thinking about Trevor and how wonderful this was. I loved living in La Vie. The only thing that made my happiness fade was thinking about Anthony. I missed him so much. I wanted to see him, talk to him. Before I fell asleep I heard two people outside my door talking. I heard my name so I got up and listened through the door. "Her mother was here a long time ago Dena," Arthur said. "But I still think she is here for the same reason her mother was," Dena said. Were they talking about my mother? "It doesn't matter now, Hannah Peters is somewhere where she can't take any more Jamieson children," Arthur said. They walked on down the hall so I couldn't hear what else they said. I was more confused than ever now. In my mother's letter she said that my father didn't know about me, but Arthur and Dena were talking about her like she kidnapped me. No, that couldn't be what they meant. My mother was perfect, she loved Zack Jamieson and me; she would never do something like that to him. I crawled back into bed and didn't fall asleep until the sun was starting to come up over the horizon. I got up the next morning still tired from lack of sleep. I hadn't been able to figure out Arthur and Dena's conversation. I racked my brain thinking about what they could have meant by now my mother couldn't take any more Jamieson children. I felt like everyone was lying to me. There was one week left until school started and during that time I talked to Trevor about school and my old life. He said he would introduce me to people at school. I was grateful to have someone who could help me adjust to this new life. I contemplated whether or not to write to Anthony. I thought he should know where I was, but I was afraid that he would try to come here and get me. This was where I belonged and I didn't want to leave. Finally the day came to start school. It was a private school called, Oak Glenn and we would have to wear uniforms. I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to wear all my new clothes. I hadn't even worn half of them since Marianne brought them all home. It was a co-ed school so Trevor would be there with me. The chauffer, Edwards drove us to school. He was a short, stout man who rarely spoke. He did his job and didn't talk to anyone unless they specifically asked him a question. I got my schedule in the office on the first day and headed straight for my first class, which was English. The day was pretty ordinary, besides the fact that all the people here were filthy rich. My name was changed to Jamieson so of course everyone wanted to know how I was related to Trevor. He was popular at school, the captain of the basketball team and minister of external affairs on school council. I thought he made a good made a good MEA because he was easy to approach, no one felt uncomfortable around him. He was nice to everyone. I made friends quickly because of him I realized right away that there were some girls that only became friendly with me because I lived with Trevor. But I did make a few real friends. I hadn't forgotten the conversation I had overheard between Dena and Arthur. I wanted to ask them what they had meant by everything but I didn't want them to know I was eavesdropping. I had to quit my violin lessons because Oak Glenn only had wind instruments and vocal. I was disappointed at first but I forgot about it after awhile. Life was going well. I had finally stopped feeling guilty about leaving my siblings and finding my father's family. Trevor and I were growing closer by the day but I knew I could never become romantically involved with him; he was my uncle after all. I was very happy at La Vie. I didn't interact much with Maxine and Gregory. They weren't home often, Gregory was a lawyer and Maxine was just a social butterfly. Or at least I thought every time she went out she going to some party. How wrong I was.