Chapter Nineteen – Chloe in Las Cruces
Chloe and Jarod arrived late Friday night in New Mexico. They went straight from the plane to a rental car, Chloe had reserved before she left Salem, to their hotel room. Which was reserved as a double suite due of course to the master hacker himself, Conrad and his uncle JT. After arriving in the hotel Chloe hadn't feel much like talking, too tired so she went straight to bed due to jet lag. With the unspoken promise, of course to talk to Jarod in the morning.
And she had kept to her promise; once she woke up the next morning she talked to him. Jarod, who had been up for about two hours, was dressed, and eating cereal while watching TV. Chloe entered the sitting area of the hotel room still dressed in her pajamas and looking a bit tired with her hair hanging in a tangle about her shoulders. "Good, I'm glad you're up," she said over a yawn. "You and I need to have a little discussion about how you came to be here."
"Mom, I'm sorry about what I did. But–––," he was unable to continue as she interrupted him.
"You should be sorry. Do you even realize how dangerous that was? What if something had happened and didn't get onto the right plane? What would you have done then, huh? What you did was very dangerous and uhh hello," she tapped his head. "It's illegal, when we get back to Salem you are grounded."
"But, Mom I was trying to come and help you. You can't ground me for that. I didn't think it would be a problem. Everything was set-up perfectly. I made sure of it, Conrad and I made sure all of the plans were error proof." Jarod tried to explain anxiously to his mother, although he knew in the end it wasn't going to help.
"Jarod, I don't care how error proof, you thought your plan was. Anything could have happened, it was extremely dangerous; you could have gotten into some serious trouble. I will not discuss this with you any longer. When we get home to Salem, you will apologize to your Grandmother for scaring her. And then you, the twins and Jessica are grounded for at least two weeks."
"But Mom, they didn't help. It was only Conrad and me." Jarod responded attempting to take the blame off his brothers and sisters.
Chloe held up a hand to silence him." Conrad and I, and Jarod I know you weren't in this alone. It has the twins and Jessie written all over it. In fact, I'm sure you all had a hand in this … this glorious plan of yours. So all of you will be grounded and that is that. Now, I'm supposed to be at Liz's in an hour so I'm going to take a shower and get something to eat. Okay." She asked checking her watch. Jarod nodded. "Good then I'll be back in a little bit." Chloe left the room and Jarod released the breath he had been holding.
"Well, at least it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." He sighed before he resumed eating his cereal and watching the cartoons.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
An hour later …Chloe and Jarod were pulling in front of the ranch-style house of Liz Evans. It was two levels and it looked very big from the outside. Chloe put her car in park and took off her seatbelt. She looked over at Jarod smiling. "Well come on let's go partner." Jarod release his seatbelt and opened his door,
Chloe stood outside waiting for him at the front of the car. Once he got out she walked behind him up to the door. When they got to the door they barely had a chance to ring the doorbell before the door swung open. Chloe's finger was still poised when it opened. To her surprise a little girl answered the door. She looked about one or maybe two years old. Upon observation Chloe immediately she was Liz and Max's daughter because of her long chestnut brown hair and eyes. She completely resembled Liz but the dead giveaway of course was her ears that stuck out slightly from her head. A couple of seconds later a little boy ran up beside her. Clearly it was her twin, he looked like their father with hair and eyes and of course the ears.
"Cool Mom, they're twins," Jarod said in wonderment because the only twins he had ever met were his own brother and sister. He stared at the children who stood side by side and had yet to say anything as of yet.
"Zan, Ava ... what are you two doing with the door open like that? Are you two rugrats trying to get me into trouble?" Said a voice from the back of the hallway. "Oh Aunt Chloe, I didn't see you." A pixie looking blonde girl said as she walked over to the twins and grasped their hands.
Chloe smiled in recognition as she leaned over and hugged the girl. "Devon sweetie, I didn't expect to see you here." Devon had moved the twins away from the door so that Jarod and Chloe could walk in.
"Well Momma asked me to help baby-sit the munchkins today with Delia. Besides, I really didn't want to go with her today she's taking Tavian, and Zarian shopping today and frankly they both whine too much." Devon had long, slightly curled blonde hair that ended past her shoulders. Her eyes still had that mischievous glint of brown even though her eyes were a bright emerald like green. She was only a few inches shorter than Jarod.
"Oh well, I completely understand that." Chloe said as she followed Devon towards what she assumed was the living room. As they rounded the corner, she spotted Liz on the telephone waved. She waved back smiled back and pointed signaling that she would only be a minute her over to the couch; Chloe wasn't at all surprised to see Liz back into her thin shape after having the twins a little over a year and a half ago.
"Look Gabriel tell your Aunt Maria that I will call her back later. And be sure that you and Rion behave yourselves." Liz said into the phone before she clicked it off. When she turned around fully and saw Chloe standing there with Jarod. She stared for a moment at him before moving her gaze back to Chloe. "Sorry about that. I had meant to meet you at the door. But the twins got away from me when the phone rang." She went to hug Chloe.
Chloe returned the brief hug. "It's okay with me completely. I was just talking to Devon. Maria took your boys shopping with her too?" She asked incredulously.
"Yeah. But Isabel and Tess are with her too. They're getting the boys fitted for their suits today. You know for Amy and Jim's upcoming wedding, they decided or rather Amy decided that she wanted it to be a completely formal affair. So all of the children are being fitted." Liz explained to her as she leaned down and picked up her daughter. "Max will be here to supervise the little ones in case they are any trouble for Devon and Delia, they'll both be here so it's no worry at all."
Chloe had totally forgotten that Jarod had never met the Evans or even Devon for that matter. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think about this. Devon, Liz this is my son Jarod." She said placing her hands over Jarod's shoulders as he moved to stand in front of her. "Jarod, this is one of my friends and somewhat cousin, Liz Evans and that is her niece Devon."
Liz took Jarod's offered hand and shook it with her free one. "Well, it's nice to meet you Jarod. These two little rascals are my youngest children, Zan and Ava. If I'd have known you were coming with your mom I would have had my sons stay today." Her eyes went from Jarod's to Chloe's.
"That's okay." He responded,
"Oh well good then. I'm going to drop off little Ava and Zan with their Dad, get my keys and then we can leave, Chloe. You'll have to stay here Jarod they don't allow children in the facility I work at." She said by way of explanation. He nodded. "Okay, then Devon could you get Zan for me sweetie." Devon nodded and went to pick up the baby before following Liz out of the room, leaving Chloe and Jarod all alone.
"Well, that certainly was interesting Mom. Do all of her kids look like her?"
"Yes … well to some extent they all resemble her and husband Max, who you will probably meet later. Look Jarod, even though I know you sneaked on the plane to come help me but I'm still angry with you this is not over. And I expect you to be on your best behavior while you're here, okay?" She leaned down so she could see into his eyes.
"Mom, you know I will."
"I'm serious Jarod, Be on your best behavior and please don't get into any trouble while I'm gone. I trust that you will do that for me."
Liz arrive back in the room with her purse and keys, she was ready to go. "Come on Chloe let's go." She looked towards Jarod. "Jarod it was nice meeting you. Hopefully, next time my son will be here. Devon will be here with you if you need anything, just ask her she knows where everything is. She'll be back in a few seconds." She said before turning to lead Chloe to the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
Chloe and Liz had been at the center for a little over three hours waiting for the final results to be printed.
"So he snuck onto the plane with you?" Liz asked completely enthralled in disbelief as she sipped some of her coffee.
"Yeah, I didn't even notice he was there until after take off when I could nothing about it. He hid in the bathroom so I wouldn't see him. You have no idea how angry I was––– and still am at him. But, you know a part of me … a part of me…" She paused.
"A part of you was glad that he came with you." Liz finished for her nodding.
"Yes, that's it exactly. I'm glad that he's here with me because it concerns him too. He has a right to know who his father is, it's his identity." Chloe said pushing her hair off her shoulders thinking about her son and the affect these results would have on him.
A beeping sound a few feet away brought Chloe out of her thoughts. She looked over to Liz who had turned to the computer and was typing something. Chloe glanced from the computer screen to Liz's face. The beeping stopped.
"Are the results finished?"
"Yes, they just came thru the computer and are on their way to the printer. We'll know in a few minutes if Jarod is Philip's biological son." Liz got up from her seat and walked to the printer she waited as the sheet came out. When it did she examined it closely, she walked over to Chloe, with the paper in her hand, her face revealed nothing so Chloe didn't know what to expect. "Chloe do you still want to go through with this, you know I can trash these results if you're having any seconds thoughts." Chloe slowly, silently shook her head and waited for Liz to tell her the results. Liz sat down in her seat and looked Chloe directly in the eye. "The results are conclusive, Philip has a 99.9 percent chance of being Jarod's biological father. He's the father there is no doubt about that now." Chloe took the paper from Liz's hands and stared at it for a moment.
She released a deep breath she had been holding; closing her eyes and brings the paper to her chest. Finally, she had the answers she had been looking for, the knowledge of the father of her, no their son. She opened her eyes, with tears starting to come down. "Thank you Liz. Thank you so much for doing this for me. I-I don't know what else to say."
Liz nodded understanding completely. "Chloe, you don't need to say a thing just seeing how happy you are is enough. So what do you say we get out of here so you can go tell your son the good news?" She asked smiling happily.
Chloe nodded but didn't speak because she had a frog in her throat. Finally her family was complete.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
For the first couple of hours that Jarod had been left at the Evans home he'd met Max played with the twins, Liz's other niece and watched TV. After the twins had left for their afternoon nap, he remained watching TV with Devon. But, that was a while ago now he and Devon were talking in the kitchen while eating a snack.
"So you have four younger brothers and sisters?" Jarod asked popping a carrot stick in his mouth.
"Yep, I'm the oldest in my family, my twin Azarian, twins run a lot in my family, is a minute younger than me. Then there is my other brother Tavian, he's two years younger than me and I complete pain in the you know what. Next are my sisters Zora, who is seven and the baby of the family is Kimara, who is almost two." Devon answered pushing a flyaway strain of hair out of her face before she continued counting down her family. "Momma says she was making up for not having any other brothers or sisters when she was younger."
"Wow, that's a lot. I thought my Mom and Dad …" his voice trailed off as he mentioned his father.
Devon paused mid-tuning of her carrot stick and looked at him. "You really want Philip to be your father don't you?" Jarod didn't respond he just looked at her surprised. "I kind of figured that was it from Aunt Liz and Aunt Chloe." She responded her green-hazel eyes seemingly almost hypnotic, he thought as he stared at them.
~I have this connection with him somehow but I can't explain it … I just feel this connection to him … I just feel it. ~ Devon thought to herself leaning over and touching his hand, he was so into his own thoughts that he wasn't taken into the flash, but she was. Devon saw everything Jarod had survived and some things to come. Then she saw it …something that could change his life forever with his parents, it would change everything.
"Jarod … I–––," She was stopped from talking by the door opening. Liz walked into the kitchen and put her purse down on the table.
"Devon," she paused giving her a look, which begged to remain silent. "Jarod, your mother is outside waiting for you by the swings, she wants you to go to her." She informed the boy before he headed outside. After he left she turned to Devon.
"Aunt Liz, I had a vision, I saw––,"
"I know Devon I saw it too." She answered.
"But, I was going to tell him to-to watch out, to be aware." She flipped her long blonde hair behind her shoulders.
"I know honey, but you can't tell him anything." She sat down and tried to think of a way to explain it. "What's going to happen between Jarod and his parents … it's their destiny to deal with it. While we can see things … the future we can't change it or reveal it. Even though, we have this gift, there is a line that has to be drawn somewhere. We can see the future but we cannot change it. It's up to them to change it, to make it what it should be to shape it. It's up to them." Liz answered her niece sincerely.
~*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*~
Chloe sat outside on the swing moving back and forth. When she saw Jarod she paused in her movement. She waved him over to her.
"Liz said you wanted to see me, Mom."
"I did, I do … come, come sit next to me." She gestured toward the seat next to her. They sat on the swing together saying nothing but just enjoying the warm breeze on the swing.
"So … did you get the results? Is Philip m-my father, my natural father?" Jarod asked breaking the silence hesitantly.
Chloe looked over at her son, she cupped his jaw in her hands and turned his face to hers. Looking into his blue eyes nervous anticipation she answered him. "Yes, Philip is your father." She spoke softly as her voice wavered. "He's your natural father, your biological father."
"He is?" Jarod asked.
"Yes," Chloe responded before taking Jarod into her arms. "Yes, my sweet baby yes."