Chapter 32: Eavesdropping

I whipped my head around to face my parents again, but they'd already vanished. I turned back to Paul and gave him a wide-eyed look, anxiety paralyzing me. I couldn't allow my sister to see me. She would definitely recognize me—when I disappeared she'd been fourteen years old; definitely old enough to have a clear memory of what I looked like.

"Go!" Paul said urgently.

His voice snapped me out of my sheer panic and I shot off in the opposite direction, hiding behind the line of trees surrounding the cemetery. Paul stayed where he was and I felt my stomach tighten anxiously—what was he about to do?

I watched as my sister and her family approached him and saw Paul furrow his brow slightly as he kept his attention trained on my headstone. As they got closer, I noticed that the young woman with my sister looked a lot like her; very similar facial features and the same pale blonde hair that my sister and I had gotten from our mother. She was holding the hand of the young man who was with them and I could only assume that she was my niece and he was her partner.

I wanted more than anything to peek into the stroller and to see the child who I could only assume was my great-niece or nephew.

"Can we help you?" Daniella asked Paul, confusion clouding her features.

Paul looked up at her, feigning surprise at her appearance. "Sorry—I was just here to visit my grandfather's grave and my eye caught these headstones. She…she was so young."

Daniella gave him a sad smile. "She was my sister."

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Paul said. I was impressed with him—he was being incredibly convincing in his charade as he spoke with my sister. "If you don't mind me asking—what happened to her?"

"We…we're not sure," Daniella said. "She just vanished one day and was never found." I felt guilt stab at me just as it had when I was talking to my parents. How could I have put my family through this pain? To vanish without a trace and never give them closure? "After a while…we just had to accept that she wasn't going to come home."

"That's horrible," Paul said. "I can't imagine going through something like that.

"It wasn't easy to get through," she said. "But I've never given up hope that I'd see her again."

It took every ounce of my self control to stop myself from running back to them and revealing myself to them.

Paul shifted slightly and glanced to where he knew I was standing—I was sure he knew that I could hear their whole conversation and could probably assume what I was thinking. He'd know that I'd want nothing more than to speak to my sister again—to tell her that I was okay, to get to meet her daughter and grandchild.

I knew I couldn't, though.

There were the obvious reasons why I couldn't—it'd be too difficult to explain what had happened to me and she probably wouldn't believe me either.

Plus, my current diet was a problem. I wasn't completely confident in my self-control if I stood close to them and I looked terrifying with my ruby red eyes.

"This is my daughter, Sasha, and her husband, John," Daniella said. "They've named their daughter after my sister."

At her words, it felt like my heart had dropped into my stomach. To know that my niece had named her daughter after me without ever having met me…

Paul smiled at them and shook their hands. I watched as he peeked into the stroller and his smile at Sasha and John grew. "She's beautiful. I'm sure your aunt would appreciate you naming her after her."

"I know she does," Daniella said quietly, looking back at my headstone.

"Well, it was nice to meet you," Paul said, smiling warmly at them. "Thank you for sharing your story with me."

Daniella smiled at him and shook his hand. They said their goodbyes and Paul walked away from them, towards the exit of the cemetery. From the cover of trees, I watched as Daniella and John retrieved a couple of cloths and spray bottles from the bottom of the stroller and began to wipe down the headstones.

I didn't watch what they were doing for long as I saw that Sasha had pulled baby Natalia out of the stroller and was bouncing her on her hip.

Another tearless sob nearly erupted from my chest as I watched my niece play with her beautiful daughter, who couldn't be any older than three months.

"You okay?"

I turned to see Paul approaching me and I took a deep breath. "I'm okay."

"That was…a lot for you, wasn't it?" he asked gently.

I nodded and turned my attention back to my family. "I almost revealed myself to them while you were talking to them."

"I felt that," he said. "It's part of the reason I left when I did—I knew if I kept talking to them for much longer, you wouldn't have been able to stop yourself."

"I'm glad she's been able to find some happiness," I said, watching as my sister wiped down our headstones. "That she was somewhat able to move on with her life."

"She seems happy," he noted.

"Yeah, as happy as you can be when your sister vanishes without a trace," I said, unable to keep the bitter edge out of my voice.

"You didn't have a choice," he said gently.

"I know I didn't," I said. "But I can't help but feel bad about it. I let them suffer while I went off and lived my life."

"Do you regret talking to your parents?" he asked. "And seeing your sister?"

I shook my head. "Speaking to my parents gave me some closure and I'm glad I got to see my sister and her family. Thank you for talking to them…it was nice to hear that they're okay."

"I was a little scared that you'd be mad at me for it," he said with a laugh.

I laughed. "I was a little wary of you staying there, but it would've looked suspicious if you'd run off as soon as you'd seen them."

He reached out and grasped my hand, squeezing it tightly. "Should we head out?"

I nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

I looked back at my family one last time before turning away from them and leading Paul out of the cemetery. We continued to walk through the streets of downtown Boston until Paul mentioned that he was feeling a bit hungry.

We stopped in a diner so he could get something to eat and while he ate, my mind wandered. I couldn't stop thinking about my family. Being able to talk to my parents again had gone so much better than I ever could have imagined.

Knowing that my father had been scouring the earth for me, never giving up hope that I was out here somewhere had lifted my spirits immensely. It meant more to me than I ever could've imagined and knowing that they were somewhat at peace with what had happened had eased my mind about the whole situation.

Paul smiled at me and reached across the table to squeeze my hand. He could clearly sense how much seeing my family had affected me, but I appreciated that he didn't try to talk about it with me. He seemed to sense that I wasn't ready to have a conversation about what had happened just yet but I was sure we'd talk about it more later.

For now, though, it was enough to just hold his hand as he ate his dinner and bask in the glow of conversing with my parents again.