"Not just that, she wanted a double wedding with Ivera and John's brother Charles. Her father forbade both marriages. But Katalena wanted one of them to be happy. It would be years before I'd learn this truth. But she only agreed to marry me first because she feared her father but wouldn't fight over it, if he allowed Ivera and Charles to marry. He didn't like it but reluctantly agreed. You think you're possibly my son. I wish but no. You see, a month into our marriage I had to go visit my father in Chenufas. He moved there to set up another bank and he wanted me to come up there to train."

"So your father owns the bank?"

"If you tell your mother I'll deny it, but yes. He has banks in several countries with my brothers and cousins running them. He also heard about my wedding to Katalena and wanted to talk about wedding gifts. So I told Katalena but she refused to go. We'd been married a month and much to my disappointment barely did it once. That was on our wedding night. Where I discovered she wasn't a virgin. I returned home a little over 6 months later."

"Six months? Why didn't she go too?"

"This was her home town and she didn't want to leave. She wanted us to build a life here. So when I returned we'd be ready to start our life together."

"Why were you gone so long without coming back?"

"It's just under a month's train ride there. My father thought it pointless to spend another month going to spend a month with her and returning. So I just called often. Soon after I returned I found out she was pregnant. I was shocked our one time together had produced a child. However I panicked when she went into labor two months later. The doctor told me that the boys were fine, there wasn't a need to panic, they were full term. First I was relieved, they were fine. Second, I was shocked by twin boys. How would I keep them safe?"

"From who?"

"Your mother for one. Twins would feel unnatural to her. I feared she might hurt one or both of you."

Noah just shook his head, "Right I remember at a sideshow once they had 6 girls that had all been born from the same mother at the same time. Mother had to be thrown out as she kept screaming they were the devil's spawn."

Mr. Johnston chuckled, "Yes your grandfather on your mother's side was a devout minister and put the fear that the devil is everywhere into Ivera's head. I feared Katalena's too. But when I told her it was twins she was so happy. I reminded her of what her grandfather and sister would think. She made me promise not to tell."

"So what happened to them?"

"A day or two later as I was looking at the boy's I started doing the math and the timeline didn't match up. Then hearing whispers from the hospital staff. One even asked if I was a friend of the family or Katalena's brother. When I told them I was her husband they were surprised. They said that they thought the man that she'd been coming in with for the first six months was her husband the way they carried on. It was then I realized the math from the one and only time we did it, to when the boys were born was off. There was no way I could have been your father Noah or Elijah's.

"I was the twin?"

"Yes Noah you were the other twin. Of course your name wasn't Noah at the time. It was Ethan."

Noah frowned, "I was told that was my middle name. So who was the man at the hospital?"

"The man the hospital staff described was John. I was hurt and angry. She had betrayed me. I left and when she came home a week or so later with just you I was surprised, but not shocked. There was no way Katalena would have risked bringing you both home. She wouldn't want her family to know she had twins till she could convince them having twins wasn't the work of the devil, but a blessing. I assume she must have given Elijah to John for safe keeping. I never bothered to ask."

"How do you know it was me?"

"She told me at the hospital that she had given you a green hat and blanket and Elijah a white hat and blanket.

"I tried for three months to make our marriage work. But when she continued to see John, behind my back I couldn't take it anymore."

"How do you know she was?"

"Every other day, she'd pack you up and tell me she's going to the store or get baby clothes, just going for a long walk or to a friend's house. She was going to a friend's house alright, John's. I know because I followed her and when they saw each other they'd hug and then share a passionate kiss. That was the last straw. I went straight to her father and told him I was filing for divorce. He was shocked, he demanded to know why. I told him about my having to go away and train. Like you he questioned why she didn't go with me. I told him he would have to ask her the real reason. I told him what she told me, she wanted to remain and set up a home for the two of us to share. I also told him she almost refused me on our wedding night. I informed him that although I tried calling on numerous occasions I only got a hold of her a few times and she always made the conversations very brief and to the point before hanging up. I told her father the truth that my father had expected me to stay another couple of months. But when Katalena kept ignoring my phone calls or making it short like telling me, I'm fine. I'd tell her I miss her and wished she was here. At first she was like yeah me too. But what made me come home was after several calls ended with her sounding annoyed and yelling at me to stop calling. She was fine, there was nothing wrong, no reason to call every week. I should just stop calling and tieing up the phone."

"I bet her father wasn't happy about hearing that?"

"No he wasn't. I told him of my surprise at coming home and finding her pregnant. That she wasn't happy to see me and never mentioned or hinted that she was pregnant. I almost told him she'd had twins but in the end I couldn't do it. John, Katalena and the twins might have all been killed by her father and possibly other family members like your mother Ivera."

"You really think mother could have killed her own sister?"

"Honestly I don't know for sure, but maybe." Mr. Johnston told Noah. Although the truth was he did think if Ivera was told that her sister not only cheated on her husband and made no attempts to hide it but then turned around and had twins. She would say the devil got to her and had little trouble or conscience in beating her to rid her of the devil even if in the end she died. "I didn't want their possible deaths on my conscience. Not to mention they might have felt I had something to do with all this and killed me too."

"You really think they'd have killed you as well?"

"We're talking about your mother, what do you think? Your grandfather was even worse."

Noah sighed he knew he was right; she might have felt he put the devil in her sister or something. "What happened to Katalena and Elijah?"

"Her father wasn't a stupid man. He didn't just take my word for what happened. He had asked around and learned that while I was away she practically flaunted her affair for all to see. Parading around town arm in arm with John laughing. Then the hospital staff even confirmed this. He followed her and saw what I saw. I'm honestly shocked he didn't throw John's door open and drag her away. when he came to the house to talk to me and say he was going to talk to Katalena. He said it might be in my best interest to leave town. I asked what I should do about the divorce. He told me not to worry. I packed what little I had and hopped on a train back to Chenufas. My father was upset and disappointed that I couldn't make the marriage work. I didn't want to return to our home town of Canyon City. I came here to Draglor over a year later."

"Canyon City?"

"It's a small city outside Cascadia."

"Just tell me already! What happened to Katalena and Elijah?"

"I'm sorry Noah, I have no idea what became of Elijah in the end. If I had to guess John found someone to forge a new birth certificate for him and found a family to raise him. Katalena when she learned she had twins had to beg the staff not to make a birth certificate for Elijah. They disregarded that and did anyway. I had to beg them to turn it over to us and explain to them why. Although it was against policy they agreed."

"Do you think they kept a copy of Elijah's birth certificate?"

"I hope not, but I suppose it's possible."

"Why couldn't John just raise him?"

"Could have, but he'd have had to move far away to keep Katalena's family from finding out she'd had twins, which since he didn't makes me think he either killed him, which I'm not sure he could do, he died of some unknown cause or much like your disease only he was worse or my best bet is he found a family to take him and raise him. If he had chosen to try to raise him on his own, everyone who knew about his affair with Katalena would suspect he was seeing someone else behind her back when he came up with a child, rumors would circulate questioning who he had the other affair with. They'll then begin to wonder how many other women he knocked up, they would also question what happened to the mother of the child he was raising. Also as Elijah got older they would freak out seeing his resemblance to you. It wouldn't take long before they started thinking he was an evil doppelganger. If John tried to explain that it wasn't true that Katalena had had twins. it would have put both your lives in danger.

"Do you think there's the chance he's alive somewhere and that John knows where?"

"I can't say. Maybe. Although if he is still alive, and John was smart he'd have told the family he gave Elijah to, to run. To move as far from here as possible, disappear and promise to never tell Elijah the truth of his birth. John himself would need to stay away as well. Before you ask, it would be to make certain that no one in Katalena's family who knows you and knows of Katalena and John's affair spotted him somewhere hanging out with a child that looks like you. Risking both your lives."

"That's why mother would never tell me about how I was born. Why she avoided the question when it was brought up."

"Most likely yes. As for Katalena, I went back to demand a divorce but when I asked around I heard she'd died in childbirth. I thought that seemed strange. I didn't think she would have been able to get away from her father long enough to have another one. But when I checked her death certificate I was shocked when it said she died six months after you and Elijah were born. If I had to guess from what I discovered snooping around their parents place one summer in high school. I saw their basement was covered in religious symbols all around, a table, no chairs and chains on the floor. I'm guessing she was put there where their father wanted to beat the devil out of Katalena. Forsaking her husband for another man, flaunting the affair around town for all to see and worse offense of all. Having a child out of wedlock and with a man who was not her husband. Having a child out of wedlock he probably could have forgiven. But out of wedlock and with a man she had an affair with. For that he wouldn't have accepted any excuses from her. I don't believe she ever told anyone about Elijah or you wouldn't still be here."