Sorry for taking so long to update! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and telling the tale of Janine's parents!
Enjoy and Review! :)
Previously on: Rose's Miracle
"What? What is it Abe?" I asked. My heart was thumping loudly; I had never seen Abe go so pale before in the time that I'd known him.
He still couldn't speak.
"Dad!" I yelled.
"I think we should call your mother, she could explain." Abe said standing up.
"What do you mean call my mother? What are you talking about?" I said
"That lady, she is your grandmother, and the little girl in her arms is your mother." Abe said walking away.
Chapter 17
"What...what do you mean that's my grandmother?" I said still shocked.
Abe had begun pacing the room and his eyebrows were knotted together in confusion; he kept muttering 'call Janine.' I walked in front of him and put my hand out and stopped him from pacing with my hands.
"Dad, talk to me." I said sternly.
"I don't know any more than you do, all I know is that's your grandmother and that man beside her is your grandfather." Abe said.
He walked over to his liquor cabinet and poured himself a generous glass of scotch, Dimitri stood off to the side and gave us some space.
"I'll call mum then, tell her to meet us here." I said. Clearly Abe wasn't going to take charge in this situation so I would.
I dialed her number and she answered straight away, I couldn't get into the full details of the situation just that we needed her at the mansion right away. She must have heard the urgency and stress in my voice so she agreed to take her vacation time and get on the next flight out.
Once I put the phone down I turned around to see Abe pouring himself another glass of scotch, I cradled my belly in nervous habit.
"Mum said she'll be on the next flight out." I said
He simply nodded and had a far off look on his face, I looked at Dimitri and he looked concerned and nodded his head towards the door. I shut the door behind me and just stood there in silence, I was more confused than anything.
"It'll be okay Rose; your mum will be here soon to explain everything." Dimitri said trying to reassure me. However I was never known to be patient, I couldn't possibly wait around for Janine to arrive and explain. But it seems I will have to since Abe will no doubt be consumed in alcohol until she arrives and explains this situation.
I nodded in response and he took me by the hand and we walked together to our room, he sat me down as my thoughts kept whirling inside my head.
Dimitri handed me a glass of water and asked me if I was okay.
I simply replied with a nod and took a big gulp of water; "I need to see Liss." I said
"She'll be packing; she's had to leave for a week or so to attend to some meetings." He replied
"Okay, I'll see you at dinner." I kissed him on the lips and walked down to Lissa's room.
I checked through our bond that she wasn't doing the nasty with fire boy and once I knew I was in the clear I knocked on her door.
"Rose, come in!" She said
"Hey Liss." I said while wondering over to sit on her bed and sighed.
"What's wrong? If this is about me leaving I'm really sorry but I can't abandon my duties and I'll try and return in a couple of weeks!" Lissa said getting herself worked up.
"Nah Liss I understand, I can't keep you all to myself." I said giving her a wink.
She giggled "Then what's wrong?" she asked.
I wanted to tell her about what I'd seen but somehow I couldn't form the words to explain, especially when I didn't understand myself.
"I'll just miss you is all" I said instead.
She came over and gave me a hug; "Now I'm going to leave you with this, and feel free to add and remove whatever you like. It is your wedding after all." Lissa said handing over a thick volume of what looked like a scrapbook.
The last time I'd seen her with it, it was only the size of a small file and now it looked like one of those massive encyclopedia books that you see in ancient libraries.
"Jesus Liss, no wonder your Queen duties are piling up look at this thing!" I said while laughing.
"Well, I may have gone a little overboard." She said while her cheeks going a deep crimson red in embarrassment.
"it's okay gives me plenty to look at. When does your flight leave?" I asked
"In a couple of hours, Christian is cooking up a feast for you before he goes."
I laughed
"Good ole sparky, I'll definitely miss his cooking." I said
"Is that all you'll miss about me? I'm insulted!" Christian said laughing as he walked in the room.
I punched his shoulder and laughed.
"The taxi is waiting downstairs and Abe has organized for several guardians to accompany us to the airport." Christian said.
I hugged Lissa and punched Christian in the arm.
"I'll see you in a couple of weeks okay?" Lissa said while hugging me again.
"Stay out of trouble Hathaway." Christian said.
I waved them off and returned into the house, I gazed at my surroundings and realized I was pretty much alone. The guardians were training and Abe was in his office doing god knows what; I decided to look at the monster book while I had the chance.
I sat on the couch in the entertainment room and got comfortable as I flipped the pages of the book over.
The first chapter included wedding dresses which were each cut out of wedding magazines with Lissa's elegant writing.
"Perfect for Rose's body shape, curvaceous and regal."
I smiled at her little notes and eventually I'd grown tired.
I must've fallen asleep because I awoke to darkness in the room and someone shaking my shoulder;
"Roza?" Dimitri asked
"Mmmm?" I was really enjoying that nap.
"Your mums here." He said
Those three little words was like a lightning bolt through my body, I sat up and waited to become fully alert.
"Where is she?" I asked
Before he had a chance to reply I heard some yelling.
I stood up and ran to where the yelling was coming from; Abe's office.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ALCHEMISTS HAD THIS ON RECORD ABE?" Janine was yelling.
Whoa, I'd never really seen my mother yell. She was usually picture calm and had her emotions in check, although this was personal.
"We asked Sydney to retrieve some information for us regarding Strigoi and gangs alike, we did not ask for this." He said waving around the disk.
Obviously he had shown it to her and she hadn't reacted well.
I cleared my throat and she whisked around only just noticing Dimitri and I's presence, she really must be upset.
"Rose, you're looking much better then when I last saw you." She said as her gaze drifted down to my belly a bit longer than required.
I'd never seen my mum look so haphazard, her hair wasn't neat and she looked as though she hadn't slept since I called her.
I walked over to her and told her to sit down; she looked dead on her feet.
She nodded and sat down, putting her head in her hands.
I sat down in the seat next to her and waited.
"I suppose I'd better explain." Janine said sighing.
I waved Dimitri to come and sit down beside me, he was a part of this family and he should listen to.
Janine sighed and began;
"The man and woman in that video are indeed my mum and dad, your grandparents Rose. You have to understand that I didn't know about the circumstances that I was born in until much later. My parents; your grandparents were considered very strange…to the alchemists. They couldn't leave them alone without getting answers, when I turned 16 they came knocking on our doorstep one day asking to run tests on me. To see if I was fertile since I had been bred between two dhampir's, they refused to let them in and take me away. The alchemists weren't going to take no for an answer. Once they'd grabbed me…my father… grabbed his shotgun and pointed it at the alchemist; yelling that if he ever touched his daughter again that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot, the alchemists shook off the threat and continued to drag me away. He shot him; he shot the alchemist in the leg. He grabbed me and my mum and told us to pack our bags, so we ran. We soon found out that it's impossible to run from alchemists and we were caught only a week later, dad was imprisoned for shooting the alchemist and mum never got over the grief of losing her husband to jail."
At this point of the story I was in tears, hearing all the emotion and heartbreak in my mums voice was too much to bear.
I wiped away the tears and sniffed.
"Where are they now?" I asked
"In heaven with each other, dad died in prison as his health wasn't always the best and mum died a week later. You were ten at the time." Janine said while pouring herself a glass of scotch.
"They checked on me a couple of times throughout my life and once they'd discovered I was pregnant with you they immediately wanted to know who the father was. Of course I had no reason for concern since your father is a moroi."
"I still don't quite understand, I thought the reason I could get pregnant with Dimitri was because I was shadow kissed or something. Now you're saying it's…hereditary? Some kind of freak gene in our family?" I said shaking my head.
"I couldn't say for sure, the alchemists didn't have the technology to run those sorts of tests back then. But it is a good possibility that the reason you were able to get pregnant with Dimitri is because…well…it runs in the family." Janine said taking another drink.
My mind was still reeling from the story; my heart was still torn about the tale of my grandparents. It all started to make sense, why my mum was so paranoid that I would get pregnant and even when she was angry that I got pregnant. She just wanted to protect me.
The alchemists hunted for Janine, to perform tests on her because she was born to two dhampir's and that's when my mind clicked.
"Does this mean if the alchemists find out…about my babies…they'll try and perform test on them too? Oh god, now we not only have to look out for vindictive Strigoi but alchemists as well?" I was yelling by the end of it and my god was I angry.
I was shaking with fear, grief and most of all anger.
What if Sydney told them?
I thought back to what she said when I answered the door;
"You…So it's true. Mr. Mazur told me and I couldn't believe him, the alchemists will have a field day if they find out you're pregnant Rose." Sydney said.
Oh god she was going to tell them. I could feel Dimitri's hand rest on my shoulder as he tried to tell me to calm down.
"No Dimitri! Sydney knows! She'll tell them and oh god then they'll hunt us down and take them away and try to perform tests like some kind of lab rats oh god we can't let that happen!" I yelled.
I was panicking and I couldn't stop shaking.
"Rose, its okay you need to calm down. You're stressing yourself out its not good for the babies." Dimitri said softly.
I collected all my emotions together and imagined tying it all together in a neat ball and locked it away with the key. Dimitri was right, I needed to be calm and discuss the situation.
"Kiz, no matter what we will never let alchemists take your kids or my grandchildren. We won't allow history to repeat itself." He said while giving Janine a concerned look.
In my outbreak I had failed to realize the impact it must have had on her to share that story, the heartbreak of losing her parents was clear on her face.
Abe walked around the table and knelt down to Janine's level; he wiped away the silent tears and said a few things in Turkish. He hugged her and she began to cry some more, this was definitely the time to give them some peace.
Dimitri escorted me out and had his arms around my shoulders in case I wasn't stable enough to walk down the stairs. I really needed some food, I had napped for longer than I intended.
The sound of the doorbell reverberated throughout the house and I jumped, who could it be?
I walked over to the door and nodded towards the guardians that it was okay to open the door,
What if it's alchemists? Would I constantly be scared of opening the door for the rest of my life? Would Rose Hathaway be constantly hiding behind guardians just like weak moroi?
With Dimitri standing behind me I opened the door and whom I saw standing there brought me to tears for the second time that night.
It was the Belikov's: Olena, Yeva, and Viktoria.
Once I'd gotten over the initial shock I wondered where the other sisters were.
Olena noticed me search for them and spoke up;
"They had to stay behind because of the kids, my dear you look drained and in need to put your feet up. Dimitri what have you been feeding the poor girl she's too skinny for her stage of pregnancy" Olena fussed.
She must have been over exaggerating because I felt like a balloon, I'd gained a lot of weight and my tummy was swelling at almost 5 months into my pregnancy.
Dimitri tsked at her and responded to her in Russian.
Viktoria hugged me as best she could and told me how much she missed me, I had missed her too.
Olena suggested we sit in the living room as it was uncomfortable for me to be standing too long, only when I went to take a step my legs gave way.
Dimitri grabbed me from behind and held me up.
"Sorry, just tired and hungry is all." I said.
They all gave me concerned faces and Olena offered to make some of her black bread and tea.
"Go and sit down dear you look tired." Olena said.
I felt bad, they'd just been on a flight and here they are fussing over me.
"I'm alright really; it's just been one hell of a night. You're all surely tired from your flight –"
I was hushed mid-sentence by Viktoria saying she wasn't tired at all and had plenty of things to tell me.
I laughed at her enthusiasm.
"There is no need to worry about us dear, I'll make you that tea and you can tell us everything that's happened." Olena suggested.
"Then you may need to make it a coffee since there is a lot of explaining to do." I replied
Dimitri softly placed me on the couch and sat beside me.
"That's okay, we have all night!" Viktoria said
Only the thought of Olena's black bread and tea gave me the strength to repeat the story and new threat that was now upon us…
Thanks for reading and please review!
xxSezaxx :)