Chapter 21 ~ It's like Unwrapping a Parcel

Lorcan gazed over the heads of the girl's grandparents and smiled.

"My girls..." he said dreamily, moving around the elders to get a better look. He looked at Demeter,

"Deme, would you mind popping the kettle on? I've got a lot of explaining to do..."

Rumpleteazer's hand shook as she read the roughly written note, when she reached the conclusion, she looked at Mungojerrie,

"Is this true, 'Jerrie?" She asked in a small and wavering voice.

At first, Mungojerrie didn't say anything; he just turned his head to the side so he couldn't see her. Rumpleteazer grabbed his chin and pulled it so that he was facing her.

"Is it true?" She demanded, almost screaming. He gave a small nod, still not saying anything. Rumpleteazer broke down, she sobbed and wailed until he put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Even though, a few minutes ago, he had promised himself he would never inhale her sweet scent again, he couldn't help but long to mould in with her.

The quiet scared Sillabub, it scared her because it screamed the truth. So when the room turned silent, she said loudly,

"So! How about those... err... that..." Lorcan burst out laughing,

"Oh Silla, you are just like your Mother."

Sillabub blushed; she was just trying to start a conversation. She shut up and smiled sheepishly and took a quick sip of her tea.

Bombalurina, the most outgoing of the sisters, decided to break the silence completely.

"What did you want to tell us then, Lorcan?"

Lorcan took a while to respond; he took a long sip of his tea and then swallowed. He took a pause and then said,

"Okay, girls... Your parents... They weren't accidentally killed in a car crash like you've been told."

The girls all stared at him with wide eyes,

"They were murdered."

Skimbleshanks and Jennyanydots came into their house, just to see the twins embracing. Skimbleshanks clapped his hands together and the two jumped back from each other,

"What's going on 'ere 'en?" Skimble asked, raising his eyebrow. Mungojerrie took a deep breath and said,

"I'm in love with 'Teazer... So, I'm leaving. I'll write, bye." He said and tried to make a break for the door, Skimble cut him off, laughing.

"Okay twins, April fool's are a while yet," he said, still chuckling and shaking his head fondly.

"I'm serious, Dad."

Jennyanydots gave a small wail, "Oh my..." she said and burst into tears, Skimbles eyes widened, Rumpleteazer gave a hiccup and hugged Mungojerrie.

"Please don't go..." she whispered. Mungojerrie opened his mouth to intervene, but was quickly cut off,

"He doesn't have to," they all turned to look at Jennyanydots, "Mungojerrie... Was adopted."

The girls didn't respond straight away, their grandmother, however, hit Lorcan forcefully across the head with her walking stick,

"You imbecile! How dare you?" she shrieked,

"Get off, you old bit- bat!" he yelled, rubbing the back of his head and quickly covering up his urge to curse. Demeter shook her head, her hand covering her lips; Bombalurina quickly put her arms around her younger sisters.

Her lip trembling, Bombalurina asked, "Who?"

"We were walking around the town and there was a man who tried to take your Mother's purse... When your father intervened, he shot him and then shot your Mother for her purse... He tried to get me too, but missed and just had my foot."

Sylvani looked at him, her own eyes shining with tears, "How do we know you're not lying?"

Lorcan pulled the some papers out of his back pocket, "I have the court papers right here..."

This wasn't a lie. Their parents had definitely been murdered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Wait... What?" Mungojerrie said, his voice rising. Jenny broke down completely, Skimbleshanks wrapped his arms around her and tried to soothe her, but she continued to cry.

"My fault..." she whispered mournfully, clinging onto Skimbleshanks.

"It was a cot death, Jenny, it wasn't anyone's fault."

"What's going on?" Mungojerrie interjected, not caring how upset his Mother was at the time. He wanted to know the truth and he wanted to know it now.

"Rumpleteazer was born as a twin, but our beautiful little boy... He d-died, he was a frail little lamb, since birth. He had to stay in an incubator for a while because he was so underweight..." Jennyanydots' eyes stared into space for a little while, when she didn't continue, Skimble took over.

"Then I found you, Jerrie, you were dumped in a skip outside of the school... You looked just like him... So, I took you to the hospital, they kept you for a while to see if the Mother would come forward and when no one did, we adopted you."

"So, everything I thought I knew was some big lie? Did you all know? Was I the only one left out?" Mungojerrie exclaimed, angry now.

"Please Jerrie..."

"Drop it," he said; rubbing his temples, he stood still for a while, trying to make sense of the scenario. He shook his head and then thundered up to his room,

"Jerrie!" Rumpleteazer yelled after him, she went to run up after him, but Skimbleshanks stopped her with his arm.

"Let him rest for a while, love."

A/N: Oh for god sake, I can't finish a story in under a year, can I? Seriously, I'm really sorry I haven't gotten to this sooner. There are only a few chapters left now! I have to end it soon so I don't continue to keep you guys waiting.