Unbreakable 2, The Mystery of Lilly (Cypress Grove Series) (10 page)

             
"I thought you were tired?" I say with my back still to him.  He moves my wet hair aside kissing my shoulder.

             
"You in the shower wins over sleep any day." His lips move up the back of my neck as his hands come around my waist, palms flat against my belly. 

             
"Oh yeah?" I turn in his arms and kiss his jaw.  His stubble tickles my lips as my arms go around his neck.  "I like you in the shower too." My words are swallowed by his kiss. 

Chapter 14

              It's still early and the sun is just starting to rise.  I look out the kitchen windows that face east at the pink sky as I sip my coffee.  Miss Finnegan left a note saying she went to her mother’s. No doubt she was up at 5 a.m.  I look out at the grounds as the sun starts to light them up.  From the kitchen you can just make out the shapes of the crypts in the James Family cemetery. 

             
I wonder if I'll ever know if I am related to any of them.  It's kind of spooky living so close to a small graveyard, but it's also kind of sweet that the family would bury their loved ones so close.

             
I hear Emma walk in, taking me away from my thoughts.  I swing around in the bar-height stool that is along the kitchen island.  She looks tired and upset. Jimmy is following behind her looking very grumpy.

             
"You know you didn't have to come over so early. I've waited this long, if there is some information in there it could have waited a little longer."  I tell them as she goes to pour her some coffee.  Jimmy sits next to me putting his head on the counter.

             
"That's what I told her, the woman is so anal."  He grumbles.

             
"Yeah, well, my father just skipped town again.  I don't know about you, but I want to see what he wrote to you," Emma says, pushing a cup of coffee over the counter in front of Jimmy.

             
"Where's Luke?" Jimmy asks, bringing his head up enough to take a sip.

             
"I think he went back to sleep." 

             
"No, I didn't.  Couldn't help the wheels turning," Luke says stepping into the kitchen in holey jeans and a tight t-shirt.  He had lain back down after he ravished me in the shower.  He steps behind me kissing the back of my head before sitting next to Jimmy, where they both grumble some stuff to each other I can't understand.

             
"So you said your mother doesn't know anything?" I ask Emma who is rolling her eyes at the boys.

             
"That's what she said, but I don't believe her.  She would be out of her mind crazy right now if she truly didn't know where he was."  She answers me while pulling an envelope out of her purse and pushing it toward me.

             
I take it and open it, not making eye contact with anyone.

Lilly,

             
I could never have imagined something as simple as a run in with Miss Jeanette would lead to all the clues you have uncovered.  I'm sorry, but I can't be the one to tell you what happened so long ago.  So many things changed the night you were born.  It is best that they stayed buried.  I had no idea about the safe Ted kept.  If I had I would have taken care of it a long time ago. 

             
I do think you deserve to know who your biological parents are, so I will afford you at least that.  Your mother, as you have already guessed, is Samantha James.  Your biological father is Ted Sumnor. I'm telling you this in the hopes that it will put your mind to ease.  Like I said, there are some things that need to remain in the past.

             
I'm resigning as your attorney, but am leaving you in the very capable hands of my team. They know what to do.  I swear to you that your name will stay out of the press. The DA is keeping my team informed of Matt's case.  His lawyers are going for an insanity plea.  The DA will be fighting this, wanting him in a maximum security prison.  No one will know that you are the one that got Matt to give up the Senator.  Because of that, your kidnapping will not be a part of his long list of charges.  This is the way it has to be to keep you safe.

                All of your files are backed up on a drive at the office.  Every property you own and copies of the deeds.  Your accounts are all still being taken care of. 

             
Please forgive me, but it is time for this old man to retire.  Ted was like a brother to me, which is another reason I wanted you to know he was your father.  You have a good life now with many people around you that love and care for you. So if you could, please let the past stay in the past.

Truly

Elliot Williams

              I read the letter twice before I look up at all the awaiting eyes.  I don't even know what to say.  Two of the most important questions were just answered for me, but I want to know more. 

             
"Give it to me," Emma says annoyed at my silence, ripping the letter out of my hands to read it.  Her mouth is open the whole time she reads it, before she reads it aloud to the boys. 

             
Luke comes up behind me again massaging my shoulders with his strong hands.  I think it's his way of comforting me because I still can't seem to find any words to say.

             
"This is a bunch of bull
shit!
"  Emma says slamming the letter down.  "It's as if he is just begging for us to keep digging." She points at the letter. "At least we now know why Jane hated you so much, having to raise her husband's love child." Emma scoffs, before looking up at me.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that in any bad way toward you."

             
"I know. It makes sense." I wave off her apology.  "The thing is, I'm not that shocked.  I somehow knew, I think. What I mean is, although I'm sad that both my parents are dead, I feel like I kind of already knew that.  The one thing I want to know is who the hell is Miss Jeanette?"

             
Emma looks down at the letter and back up at me.  She opens her mouth to say something, but shuts it before any words come out. 

             
"When I was a boy we had a maid named Miss Jeanette," Jimmy pipes up, "I haven't thought of her in years.  I doubt it is the same person."

             
"Well he says your run in with Miss Jeanette." Luke says still standing behind me.  "When did you first hear the name Samantha?"

             
"At Bon Dieu's, the lady that grabbed you," Emma says and gets an excited look in her eyes.  "I told Daddy about it, he told me to describe her.  I did, and now that I think about it..." she stops mid-sentence.

             
"What?" 

             
"He seemed annoyed, or mad.  I'm not sure, but there was something about his expression.  I'm trying to remember what he said.  I was still trying to remember the words she said so I could look them up, so I can't remember what he said."  She looks down at the paper again.  I can see she is trying to play it all back in her mind.

             
"The Miss Jeanette that worked for us was very superstitious. I remember her also being into all the Voodoo stuff and Mom asking her questions about it," Jimmy says.

             
"How old were you?" I ask Jimmy.

             
"God, I don't know, young, five or six maybe.  I walked in the kitchen one day to get something to drink.  They were discussing something serious. I could tell it was big because Mom was standing close to her.  She rarely got close to the help, you know, like standing so close they were almost touching. I remember that Mom got mad and sent me away.  She quit or got fired not long after that."  I can see he is trying to remember anything that could help us.

             
"Do you remember her last name?" Emma asks him.  Luke rests his chin on the top of my head and wraps his arms around me so they're resting below my chin. 

             
"Um, her son, umm. . ." He starts snapping his fingers and looks up at Luke for help. "He went to school with us, he was a couple of grades ahead of us. God, what was his name. . . ." He is looking at Luke for help. 

             
"I need more man, was he in sports?" Luke says still pressed against me, his voice vibrating my head.

             
"Roger!" He yells, pointing at Luke as he remembers the kid's name.

             
"Roger Thibeau?" Luke asks.

             
"Yeah, that was him.  I never spoke with him, but I remember seeing him with Miss Jeanette a couple of times when he was younger."

             
"So Jeanette Thibeau might be the woman who grabbed me at Bon Dieu's?" I feel as if we are actually getting somewhere. "How do we find out, do you think Roger is still around?"

             
"I don't know. I can make some calls.  He was on the football team so I'm sure we have some friends in common," Luke says. 

             
"I suppose you wouldn't want to ask your mother what she knows about my birth mother?" I turn to Jimmy with a wicked smile knowing full well he wouldn't.

             
"I would, Lilly, for you.  However, you know as well as I do that it would get me nowhere."  He gives me a wink.  I was just kidding because I know she would do nothing to help me.

             
"Didn't know we were having a party?" Jacob walks into the kitchen dressed for his morning run. 

             
"Read this." I scoot the letter toward him.  We all wait while he reads it. 

             
"Who's Miss Jeanette?" He asks and we all laugh.  It's so funny that out of everything in the letter he was most curious about the same thing I was.

             
"That is what we are trying to find out," Emma says still chuckling.

             
"Hey let me go change. I want to run with you and then we can hit the weights," Luke says kissing the top of my head before he starts walking out.  "Jimmy you want to come?"

             
He looks at Emma for approval. "What? You don't need my permission.  Go run, lift weights. I want you all buff anyway."  She giggles.  He comes around the counter giving her a loving kiss before he is out the door following Luke. 

             
"I'm sorry your dad left." I tell Emma when it is just the two of us in the kitchen. "Maybe I should just let it drop?"

             
"Fuck that, we are going to find out what happened.  My father didn't raise no quitter.  Besides, I think he wants us to keep looking.  He left all these little clues in the letter," she says before sipping her coffee.

             
"Yeah maybe, but why wouldn't he just tell us?  Why make us search for the answers?  Why would he leave?  Leave his wife, just to avoid telling us something only to give us clues to find out anyway?"  I shoot questions at her because it just doesn't make sense.

             
"Hell, I don't know. Maybe it's some kind of oath thing, like he promised Ted never to tell anyone.  He is honoring him that way?"  Emma shrugs, but I am pretty sure that is not the reason.

Chapter 15

             
After a week of Luke and Jimmy making phone calls to their high school classmates, they finally located Roger Thibeau.  He was living in Baton Rouge.  They were able to get a phone number, and when they called him they found out that his mother, Miss Jeanette Thibeau, had killed herself two days after the day Emma and I went to Bon Dieu's.

             
We looked up the obituary online. Staring at the picture of the woman, I knew for sure that the lady that grabbed me was Miss Jeanette.  Her picture was of a younger her, but it was definitely her. 

             
After speaking on the phone with Roger, he agreed to meet us to talk about what he knew.  We had set up a time for us to go to Baton Rouge the next weekend to meet with him.  It's chilling to think she had killed herself after her encounter with me.  I also couldn’t help to think I was the reason she did it.  She thought I was Samantha back from the dead.  The questions on all of our minds were how she knew her and why she had the reaction she did.  Luke, of course, was reassuring, telling me that her death had nothing to do with me, per se.  I couldn’t help that I was the spitting image of my mother.