CHAPTER 31

Three Days Later…

(ELLIOT)

"ELLIOT, PHONE!"

I turn from my rather precarious position on the edge of a roof that I am laying roof tiles on and curse the fact that my cellphone is in the makeshift site office charging. I carefully climb down off the roof and make my way over to the small portacabin which is a few feet away.

By the time I get there my phone has stopped ringing and I have a notification of a new voicemail message. I sigh as I pick up my phone and retrieve the message.

"Hello this is Miranda Bennett from Finding Family, if you could return my call at your earliest convenience on…"I stop listening and quickly return the call.

It rings out for a couple of moments and then the voice I have just heard on my voicemail reaches me. "Miranda Bennett speaking" the woman says politely.

"Erm… yeah, this is Elliot Grey returning your call" I say slightly nervously.

"Oh Mr Grey thank you for getting back to me so quickly" Miranda says.

"Yeah, sorry about that I'm on a construction site at the moment, my phone was charging in the office while I was up on a roof!" I say with a short laugh.

"Oh my goodness" Miranda says.

"It's fine, so what do you have to tell me?" I ask eagerly.

There is a pause and I sit down as I am guessing that the fact that there is a pause means that this isn't good news she is bringing me.

"We managed to get in touch with your birth mother and she did indeed confirm who she was and that she did indeed give birth to you when she was sixteen years old. She was quite surprised that you have made contact after all these years…" she pauses and I brace myself for what is to come as I can tell that this is not going to end well by the tone of Miranda's voice.

"Your birth mother has said that she is going to write a letter to you, explaining everything that happened surrounding your birth and give you the relevant medical information regarding your maternal family that you were interested in and the name of your birth father. She asked me to tell you that she hopes that you have had a good life and hopes you were adopted by a kind and loving family… but she doesn't want to meet you" Miranda pauses again as I take in that information.

"Why?" I ask after a moment, slightly stunned that she has effectively rejected me again.

"She said that she will explain everything in the letter that she is going to write to you and that hopefully you will understand and accept her reasons, she didn't go into detail with me other than to say that her family know nothing about you". Miranda pauses again, "Are you alright?" she asks gently.

I nod although I know she can't see me. "I'm fine" I say quietly.

"Alright, well I'm sorry that I couldn't bring you any better news but if it's any consolation this does happen quite often, where one side does not want a reunion… if you feel you need some counselling or help to come to terms with this, please don't hesitate to contact me and I can put you in contact with one of our therapists".

"Thank you" I say numbly.

"Also, when we receive the letter from your birth mother we will forward it to you immediately and if you want help tracing your birth father once you have his name we will be only too happy to help".

"Thank you" I repeat, unable to say anything more.

"Alright then, are you sure you are ok as this obviously wasn't a very pleasant thing to hear?" Miranda asks with obvious concern.

I quickly pull myself together, "No, I'm fine honestly… and thank you for your help" I say politely.

"Alright well I'll pass on the letter as soon as it reaches us" Miranda repeats, "and please don't hesitate to call if you need any support or further assistance from us" she adds.

"Thank you" I say and cringe at my inability to come up with anything else. "I need to get back to work now" I add.

"Of course, I'll say goodbye for now Mr Grey" Miranda says gently.

"Thank you" I repeat and I end the call.

I don't know how long I sit there just staring at my phone but suddenly I need to get away. I want to talk to someone… who? My mom? No, she will be at work busy at the hospital… Dad? No, he's in court today, Christian? He will also be working. Everyone will be at work, but someone stands out for me as the perfect person to speak to about this. Ana, she was effectively dumped by her own mother so although her circumstances were very different to mine, she would have a degree of empathy with my situation. Before I can talk myself out of it, I call Ana.

It rings out and a moment later the softly spoken voice of my sister in law reaches me, "Hello Elliot, what can I do for you?" she says.

That greeting is nearly my undoing but I quickly pull it together and swallow deeply, "Ana, I'm sorry to bother you at work… I was wondering if we could have lunch?" I say.

There is a brief pause before she speaks again and when she does it is with obvious concern, "Of course we can, are you alright? What's happened, you don't sound very good?" she asks.

"I'm not" I admit but don't say anything more.

"Where are you?" she asks now with an air of confident authority.

"I'm at the site, listen… can I come over now? It's nearly lunchtime and… I…" I stop and pinch the top of my nose with my fingers.

"Are you ok to drive as you really sound distressed El?" Ana asks.

I smile at her concern and I know that she will be sending someone to fetch me if I don't reassure her.

"No, I'm fine honestly… I've just received some news and I need to talk about it and you seemed to be the obvious person… you don't mind, do you?" I ask.

I hear a small snort, "Don't talk stupid, of course I don't mind, come over now. I'm free until 2pm when I have one of my authors coming in so you will have plenty of time to talk about what you need to" she replies.

"Thanks Ana, I'm coming now" I say as I stand up.

oooOOOooo

When I arrive at Grey Publishing, I park up next to one of Christian's SUV's and climb out of my truck. I look at myself checking I don't have any dirt on me as Christian has complained many times about me leaving construction site dirt all over Grey House. I smile as I think about that and how I tended to do it on purpose at times as I know how it winds him up so much.

I walk in through the main entrance and come face to face with Claire the receptionist who smiles brightly at me.

"Good morning Mr Grey" she says politely.

"Hi, Claire is Ana in her office?" I ask as I point in the general direction of where it is.

"She is and she is expecting you, go straight through" Claire replies.

I make my way towards Ana's office. I haven't been here many times, and most of the times I have I have been with Christian and not alone.

I see Luke Sawyer sitting outside Ana's office and give him a smile "Hey Luke" I say and he smiles back and nods.

"Good morning Mr Grey" he replies politely which makes me roll my eyes.

"For fucks sake Luke, Mr Grey is my dad - or my rod up his ass brother so please call me Elliot". I see an amused smile fill his face and he nods at me but doesn't say anything. I knock and then push open the door and as I do so, Ana looks up and grins at me.

"If I can't get Luke or Jason to call me Ana then you have no hope!" She says by way of greeting and I know she heard what I said, which makes me slightly embarrassed. She stands and walks towards me, and I can see she is looking at me carefully, almost as if she is assessing me. I move towards her and wrap her in a hug and it immediately makes me feel better.

"What's happened? What's wrong El?" she asks and I swallow hard.

It was Kate who started that, she was the first person who started calling me El and slowly over time everyone else followed suit and copied her. A term of endearment which on her part at least was completely fake. But when my brother, Ana or Mia say it I know they are saying it out of true affection for me.

"It's not Kate is it?" Ana asks and I look up in surprise.

"No, good god no" I say. "Miranda Bennett called me" I begin and Ana's eyes widen in surprise but then she quickly recovers and immediately pulls me towards a large comfortable looking sofa and sits down beside me. She reaches for my hand and she is looking at me with obvious concern.

"I take it, it wasn't good news?" she says gently.

I shake my head, but a huge lump in my throat makes it impossible for me to speak.

"Oh El" she says and she wraps her arm around me and pulls me close to her.

"I'm ok" I mutter and she pulls away slightly.

"Do you want a drink while you tell me what was said?" she asks and I nod.

"A coffee would be nice" I say gratefully.

She nods and standing up she goes to her desk and asks her assistant to bring in two mugs of coffee. Almost immediately the door opens and her assistant Hannah appears with a tray, with two mugs of steaming coffee, and a small jug of milk and some sugar.

"Thank you" I say as she places it on the small table in front of me.

"You are very welcome" she replies and she looks at Ana, "Anything else?" she asks and Ana shakes her head.

"No, thank you Hannah. I'll be out of the office for lunch but I'll let you know when we leave but I'll be back for my 2pm appointment with Boyce" she says.

Hannah nods and retreats from the office without another word.

I reach for one of the mugs of black coffee and help myself to sugar, spooning in two generous spoonfuls. Ana watches me and proceeds to just add milk to hers.

As she picks up the mug and takes a sip she looks at me questioningly, "So?" she asks as she puts down the mug beside her.

"So…" I begin. I pause and look down at the mug in my hand as if it's the most interesting thing in the world and my finger starts circling the top.

I sigh and I put down my mug and I reach for Ana's hand and she doesn't hesitate, she shuffles closer and slips her small soft hand into my big rough one.

"They got in touch with Sadie… my birth mother, and she doesn't want to meet me. She doesn't want to know me" I say and I rub my chest as I realise how much it hurts to acknowledge that.

"Oh El" Ana says and she pulls me close for a hug which I willingly accept.

This gesture makes the floodgates open and I spill my guts as to everything that was said.

"Miranda said, that she told her that her family know nothing about me. She said she is going to write a letter to me to explain everything and tell me the name of my birth father. But she doesn't want to meet me" I say.

Ana nods, "I'm her dirty secret and she doesn't want her family finding out about me" I add slightly bitterly.

Ana shakes her head and squeezes my hand, "No, don't think that El. This is not your fault, don't ever think that. You didn't ask to be born, you are the innocent in all this… and from what you have said, I have a feeling that Sadie probably was as well" she says carefully.

My head whips up and I look at Ana carefully and I see an uncomfortable look on her face, almost as if she is regretting saying that.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Ana shakes her head, "Nothing… I shouldn't have said that… I don't know, and I don't want to speculate. I could be totally wrong about this and if I say anything it could only make you feel even worse about yourself and I don't want that" she says.

I immediately catch on to what she is trying to say, "You mean… you mean I could be a product of a sexual assault" I ask as I feel the bile rising into my throat as I say it. I have had more than my fair share of women who I have just used for sex but I never forced any of them. Everything I did was totally consensual.

Ana shuffles uncomfortably and doesn't say anything. But her silence speaks volumes. I had never considered that possibility and it has shaken me to the core. Of course, she would give me up as soon as I was born in that instance… I wonder why she didn't just abort me if that is the case. It also explains why she never told her family about me, why would she?

Ana squeezes my arm and I look at her my expression bleak, and she smiles reassuringly at me, "El don't start jumping to conclusions until you have received her letter. Look what happened when Christian made up his own version of how he came to be, he was proved totally wrong".

I nod but this possibility is now firmly intrenched in my head and I can't move past it.

"Why did you come to me?" Ana asks after a moment.

I look up at her and smile, "Because I figured after the way your mom effectively abandoned you, you would have a degree of empathy for what I was feeling at this moment. Your mom didn't care about you and you were raised by Ray, and it seems my mom doesn't want me either" I say with a shrug.

"Stop it" Ana says firmly and I look at her in surprise.

"What?" I ask.

"Stop it, you are making assumptions again. You have no idea of the circumstances of your birth. Your birth mom is going to write to you and tell you, which tells me she does care and she wants you to have the full facts so until you get them, stop making up your own set of events. I'm sorry for what I said, it wasn't helpful and probably incorrect".

I nod, I know she is right but I am still feeling very hurt that my biological mother doesn't want to meet me.

"When I became old enough to realise my mom… wasn't really a mom it was like a release for me. My situation was totally different for me, than what it is for you as my mom was in my life… in a fashion and she was around… more or less. When Ray applied for full custody of me and she didn't contest it and just gave me up without a fight it didn't hurt as much as it should have, as I was painfully aware that my mom didn't have a maternal bone in her body… so in her own way she did what was best as she didn't know how to be a mom so giving me to Ray was the best thing she could've done. Yes, she makes appearances now and again when she thinks the situation can be of some advantage to her but, in the big scheme of things I don't have a mom and never have… she didn't care, she didn't love me. You on the other hand had a mom who cared about you enough to do what was best for you. She gave you up at birth to a family who could give you a life which she couldn't. She is obviously shocked at you making overtures towards her now 34 years after you were born. She moved on with her life and I'm sure you have to understand that she has to consider her family. She is going to write to you, and she is going to tell you what you want to know which tells me she does care, as she doesn't have to do that. She could've just told Miranda to go away. It's not the end of the world that she doesn't want to meet you El. She gave up any right to be your mom when she signed the adoption papers, so it could be that she doesn't want to get attached to you, she could be afraid of confronting your rejection and anger at the fact she gave you up…" I quickly interrupt her.

"But I'm not angry with her, I hold no ill will towards her" I protest.

Ana smiles patiently at me, "But she doesn't know that. Look at this from her perspective, the child she gave up when she was 16 suddenly reappears and wants to make contact. She doesn't know how you feel towards her. For all she knows you could've had a terrible life and are feeling nothing but anger and resentment towards her and are only looking for a confrontation. Naturally she doesn't want that and she doesn't want her family involved in that. I suggest you wait until you receive her letter and hopefully everything will become clear for you then".

I nod, Ana is making a lot of sense and I am slowly realising how this must be for my biological mom. I need to put this out of my mind until I get her letter and find out the facts.

"Thanks Ana" I say.

She smiles at me kindly and pats my arm. "No problem, now shall we go and get some lunch?" she asks and I nod as I stand up.

"My treat" I say with a grin and that grin gets wider as I see her roll her eyes.

oooOOOooo

(ANA)

As we walk into the small restaurant, heads turn and whispering starts. I hear Christian's name mentioned numerous times and also the words, 'his brother' and 'his wife'. It's not only the fact I am with Elliot which is causing a great deal of interest, I wasn't too blind to notice that we had been photographed numerous times and I'm sure salacious stories will be appearing on the bottom feeder internet sites suggesting that Elliot and I are having an affair very soon.

"You are causing quite a stir" Elliot whispers to me and I shake my head.

"I think it's probably you and the way you are dressed" I say with a grin.

Elliot glances down at his work clothes and shrugs, "I'm a working man and I have to eat too" he replies.

I let out a small laugh and shake my head. That is one of the advantages of having the surname Grey, there is no way he would be denied entry anywhere even though he really isn't appropriately dressed.

We take our seats at the table and a waiter comes over and hands us the menu's.

"Thank you" I say politely as I give him a smile, then I turn to Elliot, "I'm just going to have something small and light… maybe a salad of some description" I say.

Elliot nods as he looks at the menu. "I on the other hand am leaning towards a steak" he replies.

I stare at him in surprise, if I had a steak in the middle of the day I would never move for the rest of the afternoon.

"I'll work it off this afternoon" he adds almost as if he can read my thoughts on the matter.

The waiter returns and we place our orders, we both opt for soft drinks as we are both working and as we wait for our meals to arrive we start talking again, this time about Kate.

"So, do you really think she has given up?" I ask.

Elliot shrugs, "I hope so, to be honest I was surprised… no shocked when Eamon called me and told me she had signed the papers".

I nod, "It's not like Kate to capitulate so easily" I say.

"I agree with you, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop as this is really out of character for her".

I shrug, "Unless of course she has realised that she is wrong and she is only making herself look stupid by carrying on fighting us" I say.

Elliot shakes his head, "I don't know. That doesn't sound like Kate either, when did she ever admit to being wrong?" he says.

I go to reply but as I look up I see a familiar figure striding towards us and a massive smile fills my face. Elliot sees my reaction and turns to see what I am looking at.

He immediately stands up as he spots Christian walking towards us, "Bro!" he says affectionately and I watch as they shake hands and Elliot pulls Christian in for a hug.

When Christian pulls away, he leans down and presses a kiss to my lips before sitting down with us.

"Taylor told me my wife was having lunch with another man" he begins with clear amusement as he looks at Elliot.

Elliot snorts with laughter and glances at Taylor who is hovering nearby, "Well, I suggest you get some security who tells you the whole story and not just the pap version" he says dryly.

I see Taylor supressing an amused grin at that and Christian looks at Elliot in shock as if he can't believe what he just said. I giggle loudly at his words and join in with my own remark.

"That's not fair El, the amount of people who have photographed us since we arrived here, there are bound to be some interesting stories appearing on the internet shortly, Jason was clearly only going on the information as he had it".

I glance at Taylor who just shakes his head.

"Are you joining us?" I ask and Christian shakes his head.

"No, I'm on my way to a business lunch meeting nearby and I thought I'd just drop in as I was passing and say hello" he says. He looks up and stands as he sees the waiter appearing with our food. He leans down and kisses me once more. "I'll leave you in peace to have your lunch and I'll see you later baby" he says.

"Laters Bro! Elliot says with a cheeky grin and I see Christian shake his head but he too has an amused smile on his face.

"Goodbye Elliot" he replies completely properly and politely which makes me giggle once more. Christian turns towards me his eyebrows raised in question and I just blow him a kiss.

"I'll pick you up at five" he says and I nod in agreement at that and he leans down and kisses me one more time, "…and don't make me wait" he adds.

We are finishing our lunch and as I wipe my mouth with my napkin I look at Elliot. The earlier sombre conversation was replaced with more light hearted talk after Christian left and I am reluctant to take things back to how they were but it is something I need to ask.

"You do know Christian will ask me why I was having lunch with you?" I say carefully.

Elliot pauses and shrugs, "So, tell him" he says and then he gulps down the last bit of his drink before sighing loudly and contentedly. "It saves me from doing so" he adds after a moment.

I reach across the table and pat his hand, "Ok, but don't be surprised if he calls you once he knows" I say and Elliot grins.

"I know he will" he replies simply.