Clan of Redemption (11 page)

Sam sat next to the dog
and I sat on the other side of him. Sully remained standing leaning
on the dresser.

“So, what would you like
to talk to me about, I’m all ears,” Sam said as she stroked
Saska.

She didn't seem like a
mother grieving, but who am I to say how someone should feel in a
time like this. It just was a little too cavalier for
me.

“You and my mother were
friends right?” I asked.

“Yes we were friends?” She
stated.

“Well I was wondering if
she ever talked about her parents with you? My Grandparents,” I
asked.

“Well, why do you want to
know about your grandparents….now. Why after all this time do you
want to find them now?” She asked.

“Find them… so her
grandparents are still alive!” Sully jumped in and said.

“Well…yes they are still
alive. I’m not sure that your mother wanted you to know them, or
she would have brought you into their world,” Sam said.

Into their
world?

Strange.

“Do you know where they
are at….I really need to find them?” I asked.

“Jayden, I would stay away
from your grandparents….it’s something your mother would have
wanted you to do. Like you said, we were friends,” she said as she
stood. Obviously not interested in talking about this
anymore.

“Well my mother isn’t
alive anymore, and they are my family….so are you going to help me
or not?” I asked with anger in my voice and if my eyes could kill
they would. How dare she not tell me about my own family. She sat
for several moments staring at me, contemplating telling me. I
could see it working behind her eyes.

"I'll tell you. Your
grandmothers last name is McCormick, I’m sure that you could find
them by looking them up…or asking anyone in town once you get
there, I’m sure that everyone knows who they are. It's a small
town, Ocean Park. Now if you ladies will excuse me I have guests
that I need to see to.” She walked out.

I just sat there, I wasn’t
sure what to say.

“Well that's a start.”
Sully said.

I had so many questions,
but I guess they wouldn't come from Logan's Mom.

“
Well now we have what we
need, what do you want to do now?” Sully asked as she came and sat
next to me on the bed.

“Well I want to go talk to
my grandparents, I wonder why they never came to try and find me
after mom died. I know I’m sounded completely paranoid but did you
see they way that Sam was with Saska? They’ve never had pets in
this house, but she was so comfortable with a dog in her house,” I
said.

“She’s not telling us
something,” Sully said.

“I agree, she's hiding
something, but now is not a good time to confront her,” I said as I
got up off the bed.

“Are you going to open that
envelope?” Sully asked.

“Not right now, I want to
get out of here,” Jayden said.

We left Logan’s bedroom
and made our way downstairs to the front door with Blake leaning
against the wall like he was waiting for us.

“Are you ladies leaving so
soon?” Blake asked.

“Yes, we need to get ready
for a trip. I hope that all goes well with you Blake, and I’m sorry
that you had to lose your brother when you didn’t get a chance to
know him. He was a wonderful person and you would have loved to
know him,” I said as I opened the front door. I meant what I said.
Logan would have loved to get to know his brother.

“I’m sure your right
Jayden, but I’m glad that I get the chance to meet you at least,”
he said as he held the door for Sully and I.

We walked out the door
with Saska following. I felt bad for blowing him off, but all of
these things were really starting to make me paranoid and not want
to trust anyone.

We were almost to my car
when Sully grabbed me hard by my arm and stopped me.

“Don’t move Jayden,” Sully
said as she started to move closer to me.

There were three large
dogs moving towards us with their teeth bared and deep growls
coming from them that would scare the toughest person. They looked
more like wolves, like Saska. The front one was dark gray and the
two that flanked either side of him were gray and white
mix.

Saska jumped out in front
of us and got into the defense position. His hackles were tall and
spiky….clearly up. His growl was just as fierce, it made me feel
better that we had one of those on our side. I didn't know what a
dog bite felt like and I didn't want to start now.

“Sully, what do we do,
Saska can’t protect us from all of them,” I said as I couldn’t
think straight, the fear was so strong I just froze, not sure what
to do.

The car was about 15 feet
away, but it was behind where the dogs were gathered. I didn’t
think we could make it.

“I don’t know, but I’m not
getting bit by a dog….that would really suck. Don’t you have to get
like a tetanus shot or something?” Sully said as she held my arm
tighter.

The dogs were circling
us.

“Saska, you get over here,
I don’t want you getting hurt. Come here,” I said.

It didn’t do any good, he
just moved closer to the three dogs. Within a second the closest
dog took a leap that I would of sworn was not in the boundaries of
dog and landed on Saska. They rolled around on the ground for what
felt like an eternity, but then it just stopped and all three dogs
ran away.

“Are you guys ok?” Blake
asked as he came running up behind us.

“We’re ok, that was really
freaky,” I said still holding onto Sully.

“Ok scaredy cat, you can
let me go, your holding on so tight I think I’ve lost feeling in my
arm,” Sully said as she pulled free of my grasp.

“Why did they just leave
like that?” I asked my voice shaky with every word.

“I must have scared them
off, as soon as I opened the door and started running towards you
they just took off,” Blake said scanning the street.

Saska came walking up to
me, he looked ok, but it could have been a lot worse.

“Are you ok Saska, let me
look at you,” I said as I checked him out.

“It looks like you have a
little scratch or two, but you're ok….thank you so much, you are
the best dog anyone could have. So like are you my guardian angel
or what?” I asked him as I pulled him real close to give him a
hug.

“You seem to have the
worst luck lately Jayden,” Blake said.

“I guess lately I
do…….thank you for coming out. I wasn’t sure what Sully and I were
going to do. Saska couldn’t have taken all three of them,” I
said.

“Jayden are you sure it’s
a good idea that we go so far away from home right now, all of
these weird things is really starting to freak me out,” Sully
said.

“If you don’t mind me
asking, where are you guys going?” Blake asked.

“It really isn’t any of
your business. Plus I want to leave, they could come back,” I
said.

“Ok, I just thought I
could help you if you needed it, but if that’s the way you want to
be I’ll just leave,” Blake said as he turned to go back into the
house.

“Jayden,” Sully
whispered.

“Blake…wait….I’m sorry,
I’ve been on edge lately, I didn’t mean it like that,” I
said.

Blake turned around and I
ran up to him.

“I found out where my
grandparents live and I was going to go find them, I’ve never seen
them before,” I said as I put my hand on his arm.

“That’s exciting, where do
they live?” Blake asked.

“Somewhere outside of Long
Beach….I was going to go let my Dad know that we were going to take
a couple of weeks and head out there, but with these last two days,
things are getting very dangerous,” I said.

“I could go with you, if
you want. I don’t have anything going on right now,” Blake
said.

I looked at Sully and she
gave me the o.k. grin. She just flowed from one thing to other, not
much every ruffles her feathers. I admired her.

“That might be a good
idea…we’re going to go back to my house and get our stuff together
and talk to my Dad. Do you want us to pick you up on our way out of
town?” I asked him.

“Actually I’ll just meet
you at your house…I’ll see you in a while,” Blake said.

Sully, Saska and I got back
in my car and drove to my house. Sully and I didn’t talk much on
the way. Things were getting strange and scary and neither of us
knew why.

“Jayden, I just have to
run home and get my things, I’ll leave a note for my cousin. She
won’t mind since she’s still gone on her trip anyway,” Sully said
as she got out of the car.

“I hope my Dad is ok with
this, he’s so protective sometimes,” I said.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine
with it, just don’t mention the dog attack, which might make him
flip his lid,” Sully said as she walked away.

“Yeah, ok, I’ll see you in
a few Sully,” I waved by and went into the house and started to
pass dad who was in his study on his computer.

“Hi Dad,” I said as I
walked in to his study.

“Hi Jayden, how was Sam,
is she holding up ok?” he asked.

“Yes, she seems to be, she
doesn’t have time to think about Logan when she has all those
people in her house. Sam told me where Mom’s parents live. I need
to ask you if you mind if I go see them?” I asked my dad as I sat
down in the wing chair.

My Dad sat back in his
chair with his hands behind his head. “Honey, if you want to go and
find them…that's up to you. Just hope for the best but expect the
worst. Your Mother wrote her parents off a long time ago, so there
might be bitter feelings that have nothing to do with you, that
might be dropped right in your lap,” Dad said.

“I’m going with little
hope, but I really feel like I need to do this,” I said.

“Why are you so stuck on
finding them, did your mothers letter say something that you're not
telling me, Jayden,” Dad said.

“Dad, I really don’t want
to talk about it right now, maybe when I get back, ok,” I said
knowing that he wasn’t going to let it go. My dad doesn’t like
secrets, and this one just seems to want to come to the
surface.

“Just keep in mind that
their problems aren't your problems. Don't let them pull you into
old family history. Jayden, about that letter, I gave you that
letter and I respected your mother’s wishes not to open it, but
over the last few days, things just don’t seem right and I have a
feeling that your mother’s letter has something to do with it.” My
dad said as he stood up and came around his desk and sat on the
edge in front of me.

“Ok dad, but you're not
going to like it….Mom asked me in her letter not to show it to you.
She didn’t really say much, but that was one of her requests. I’m
sorry Dad, but I want to honor Mom and I have to do what she asks,”
I said as I stood up and went and wrapped my arms tight around him.
He felt stiff at first and then molded right in there and hugged me
back with a fierce hold. He pulled me slightly away and looked down
at me and asked, “Why would your Mother hide something from me,
that doesn’t make any sense? We were always so honest with each
other.”

He looked sad, I was
hoping that her letter wouldn’t come up, but I couldn’t keep lying
to him, it hurt me too much.

“Dad I know Mom didn’t
intend to hurt you, in her letter she wanted you to know how much
she misses you and loves you,” I said.

“Did she really say that?”
Dad asked.

“Come on Dad, you and Mom
were two love birds that made everyone sick with envy,” I
said.

“I know, it’s just hard
without her, I miss her every day. Sometimes my chest gets tight
and I think I’m not going to be able to breathe.” Dad
admitted.

“Dad, I miss her too,” I
said as I gave him a hug.

“You be careful Jayden, I
don’t know what I would do if I lost you too. You’re all I have
left in this world,” he said as he squeezed me tighter.

“I can’t breathe Dad,” I
gasped.

“Oh sorry, ok well, go get
ready, so it’s just you and Sully going?” He asked.

“Umm no, it’s me Sully,
Saska and Blake,” I said as I started to leave the
study.

“Blake, who’s Blake?” He
growled.

Great, I knew this was
going to come up. How do I explain this, and how is Dad going to
feel about a guy going with us.

“Blake is Logan’s half
brother, I just found out at his funeral. He offered to go, and he
seems like a really nice guy,” I said.

“Jayden, I don’t think
that’s a good idea. I’ve told you about boys and what they are
like. Plus you just met him, we know nothing about his family,” he
said.

“Dad, Sully’s going with
me and Saska too. Saska wouldn’t let anyone hurt me; he seems to be
my personal protector. It will be ok Dad,” I said.

I could tell by the look on
his face that he didn't like this, not one bit. It was there to try
and stop me but he was trying to let me go slowly.