Masquerade (Masquerade #1) (11 page)

Chapter Seventeen

I continue seeing Dr. Green in hopes of unlocking more information. She suggests that I go back to my childhood home to just look around, maybe even see who is living next door. I think about it and decide what could it hurt?

One Saturday afternoon, Lucy and I go over to Aunt Karen’s. She is going to entertain Lucy while I just take in everything. I plan to even go through my room, which hasn’t been changed since I left.

I rummage through my room first. I find the masquerade ball mask pinned to the wall. I pick it up and run my fingers over it remembering the time spent at the ball. It was elegant and exciting.

I look at the posters I have on my walls, ranging from the Venice Coast to Britney Spears. Yes, I was a Britney girl, and I am not ashamed to say that I still am.

Nothing in my room really jogs any memories besides one I already had. I decide maybe going to see who lives next door would help.

I walk over to the house and stand at the door, wondering if I was making the right decision. I don’t know if this is a good idea. Before I can determine if I want to stay or run, the door swings open.

“May I help you?” I look up to see a guy in his late twenties standing in front of me.

“Umm . . . Yes. This is going to sound crazy, but do you happen to know who lived here before you moved in?”

“It was an older lady. Her last name was Colton. I believe her first name began with a ‘V.’ That is all I really know besides the fact that she was moved to a nursing home where she passed away a couple of months ago.” He cocks his head and raises his eyebrow. “Is there a reason you are asking?”

“I’m sorry. I should have explained better. I grew up next door,” I say, pointing back towards the house. “And I was in a coma for a year and a half. I have been trying to get some of the memories back that I had lost, and I thought maybe seeing or even knowing the name of the woman who lived here would have helped.”

“I hate to hear that happened to you. I also hate that I can’t give you any more information.”

“I’m sorry for disturbing you. Thanks for your help.”

“You’re welcome. If I happen to find out anything else, I will let you know. Could I get your number maybe?”

Is he really trying to get my number?
“If you do hear of anything, my aunt lives next door, so you can tell her. She can get a hold of me.”

“Okay . . . I never got your name.”

“No, you didn’t,” I say, smirking. I walk back across the yard, not believing his audacity. Men are unbelievable.

Feeling deflated, I get Lucy, so we can go home. On the way home, I decided maybe I could do some research on the internet about Mrs. Colton. Who knows? Maybe I can find something out?

I pull into my normal parking space and look over to see Chris isn’t here. That’s odd. Getting out of the car, I start texting him to see where he is.

Julia:
Hey sweetie. Where are you?

I unlock the door and tell Lucy, “Why don’t you go and lie down for a little bit.”

She huffs. “Fine, but I’m not going to sleep.”

“I know you’re not but just do it to make me happy,” I say, grinning.

She walks off with a look of disgust on her face. I shake my head, chuckling because I know she will be out in about five minutes after laying down.

My phone vibrates.

Chris:
I had to go into work for a little bit. I’m sorry baby. I was hurrying to get here and forgot to call you.

Julia:
It’s okay. I am going to lie down for a bit.

Chris:
Okay baby. I should be home in a little bit. I love you.

Julia:
I love you too.

I set my phone down on my nightstand with intentions to lie down, but I just can’t get Mrs. Colton’s name out of my mind. I walk into the office to get my laptop. I go back into the bedroom to sit down and open it to turn it on.

Once it is powered up, I Google her name. Of course the first thing to pop up would be the Colton v. Colton case that happened in 1888. I scroll down, seeing news about a celebrity, hockey, and more cases.

I find this is not working out well, so I pull up the white pages. I do a reverse address search. Maybe it will turn something up. Finally, it pulls up a page telling me there are two different people that have that address.

I scroll down the page and see the name David Sheffield. I am assuming that may be the man I met this afternoon. I scroll further down to see the name Virginia Colton. That has to be her. I go back to Google to see if I can find something now that I have a first name.

I press the search glass after entering her name. Google pulls up several different sites with her name. I start with the first one at the top of the page.

I scroll through several pages, not finding anyone that could possibly be her. I’m getting frustrated and tired. I keep eyeing the clock too, not wanting Chris to come home, so I have to explain myself to him. He would think it’s crazy.

I see a web address for
The Spirit Newspaper,
and it has V. Colton listed in the description. I click on it to pull it up. When it is fully loaded, I notice it’s an obituary. I see a picture, and for some reason, it looks familiar. I begin to read on.

Georgetown, Chatham County GA. – Virginia Colton, longtime resident of Georgetown, passed away November 5, 2013 at Summer Breeze Senior Living. She was 82 years old. She was born and raised in Georgetown where she still lived in the same house in which she grew up. Her mother and father, Clayton and Josephine Montgomery, were socialites of their time. Clayton was a mogul in industry and manufacturing, while Josephine was a stay at home mother with their only son, Jason Locke Colton, Sr. They were married for 50 years until the passing of Clayton in 2008.

She is survived by her son, Jason Locke Colton, Sr. and his wife, Callie Colton. She is also survived by her grandson Jason Locke Colton, Jr.

Funeral Services will be held at Carter Funeral Home Bryan Chapel on Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 2:00 pm.

So her name is Virginia Colton. I reread the obituary several times before I finally turn off the computer. I hear Lucy running down the hallway. I get up, knowing I need to start supper before Chris gets home.

Getting Lucy situated, I start making patties out of hamburgers. I then begin peeling potatoes and cutting them into fries.

I have the last batch of French fries finished before Chris walks through the door.

He walks up behind me, kissing my ear. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey. How was work?”

“It was good, but I’m starving.”

I pull the last of the fries out and put them on the paper towels with the others. “Good because it’s time to eat.”

He smiles, grabbing the hamburgers and taking them to the table. He sets them down, turns to Lucy, and tells her to get to the table.

We eat, clean up, sit in front of the TV, and watch
Frozen
for the hundredth time. I’m not going to lie. I love Olaf, but that damn song “Let It Go” is getting on my nerves.

It finally goes off, so I bathe Lucy and get her ready for bed. Once she is asleep, I get my own self ready for bed. I haven’t been able to keep Virginia out of my mind all night.

I climb into bed beside Chris. He reaches over and starts kissing my shoulder. He makes love to me before we turn to go to sleep.

Sleep comes easily tonight. I am a lot more tired than I thought. I, of course, have dreams again, but this time, it is of Virginia. She is outside one day when I take off for a run. She stops me when I get back to talk.

“Sweetie, you look wonderful. Why do you run?”

“I am trying to keep in shape.”

“Oh, sweetie, back in my time, men loved some extra meat on them bones.”

“Mrs. Colton, you are too kind, but I beg to differ about the extra meat.”

“That is because you need a good Southern man to spoil you. In fact, I have a grandson that would be perfect for you. He is from Atlanta. His dad is sending him down here to watch me supposedly, but I know it because he doesn’t want to deal with him.”

“You are too much. I hope things work out with his dad. That’s sad. I don’t know what I would do without my parents.”

“See. I knew you were a good girl. He will be here in a couple of days. I hope you two can spend some time together this summer. He is such a good boy even though his dad puts him through hell. Anyways, his name is Jason. He is about your age, and he is easy on the eyes too.”

I laugh, and she continues. “Please tell me you will meet him. He needs a good girl in his life to make him forget about what he has at home.”

“I will keep an eye out.”

She seemed pleased with that response. “Good. I will see you later then, dear.”

“Bye, Mrs. Colton.”

I wake up feeling warmth from the dream. She was sweet and enduring, but why would she tell me about how her son seems to be an ass? And Jason sounds familiar too. Did I ever see him?

Chapter Eighteen

For days after mulling over what I found through the internet and the dream I had, I was determined to find out more. I had some vacation time, so I decided to use it this week in hopes of getting more answers.

The first day of my vacation wasn’t by any means successful. I was distracted most of the day with errands and things Chris needed done. Lucy didn’t help either. I had to take her out of school earlier due to the fact that she said she didn’t feel well. I didn’t buy it, but I took her to the doctor, and, as I figured, nothing was wrong.

The next day, I was able to get back on the computer. I opened the laptop and started it up to get ready to get to business. I began my search with Mrs. Colton’s son’s name first.

His name appeared on several websites, so I started scanning through some of them. They mostly talked about his upbringing, how he inherited the business from his family, and how he had made it even more successful.

He wasn’t living here anymore but in Atlanta. He also was involved in several things there. There was a picture of him on one of the sites, and I stared at it for what seemed like twenty minutes.

He looks familiar, but he seems like an ass too. He is perhaps in his early fifties and has black hair. There is a touch of gray on the sides of his head, and he has the prettiest ocean-blue eyes. He wouldn’t look so much like an asshole, but with the smirk he is sporting, you can tell he is.

I can’t find too much more on Virginia’s son besides the fact he is married with one child. I keep digging to find a picture of what seems to be her son supporting his wife who is crying. I pull up the article to start reading.

I scan through the top portion because it just mentions all Jason, Sr.’s accomplishments. I go down to the third paragraph to see where it says their son had been killed in a freak accident while he was in Brazil traveling the world.

I keep reading, but it doesn’t go into great detail of exactly how it happened. It just says they found a body, and it was so unrecognizable that they assumed it was him considering no one from the family had heard from him since the last conversation that had ended up sour, and the so called ‘friends’ said it was him.

According to friends’ interviews, Brazil was the last place they had seen him alive. They said they had been partying so hard with alcohol and local drugs from Brazil that he decided to try and paraglide off the side of the mountain that evening. Of course with them all being under the influence, no one tried to stop him. Instead, they egged him on.

He didn’t strap himself into the seat. He simply hooked the parachute to the glider and started the motor. Once he had everything in place, he took off running, pulling the parachute with him, and started the flight.

He had just gotten off the side of the mountain before he made his way towards the sky, and all of a sudden, the motor burst into flames. All they could see was a fireball, and all they could hear was screaming. They said he started falling back towards the earth.

The police and ambulance were called to the scene, but when they had gotten there, the body was so badly burnt they couldn’t find any trace of DNA to get a positive ID. They had his body sent back to Atlanta for the burial.

I sit back in my chair with tears in my eyes caused by my empathy for the loss of their son. I can’t imagine that ever happening. I lean back up and scroll down to see a slideshow of pictures of Jason. They range from his younger years to the most current ones they had of him.

He looks like his mom but has his dad’s eyes. He was a cute little boy. He looks mischievous in most of the pictures as if he is up to no good. I keep scrolling until I get to his teenage years, and that’s when I feel a pang of anxiety kicking in.

I look to see a picture of him with his grandmother. It’s in front of the house his grandmother lived in next door to mine. I keep searching through them and find another picture of him with someone cut out. Then the next picture is of his grandmother with my parents, Jason, and myself.

I jump up from the computer and start pacing the floor. My breath is becoming labored, and I know now I am having a full-blown anxiety attack. I make myself sit back down, breathing in deeply and exhaling.

I finally get ahold of myself and take the laptop back into the office to print the picture off and close the laptop for the day. I really need to get my mind focused.

I stare at the picture, getting myself worked up again when I decide I need to clean to help get my mind back where it needs to be. I walk into our bedroom, go to the closet, and pull out two boxes that still need be gone through since we moved in here.

I start taking things out, putting them in either the trash or a keep pile. Most of it is trash. Chris probably wanted to keep most of this junk, but he isn’t here, so I am getting rid of it. Finally done with that box, I take all the junk to the trash can.

I start on the second box, pulling little things out like old receipts and some pictures. I thumb my way through the pictures of us from college with Alan.

I grin as I realize that even then anyone could tell that Chris felt something more for me than just friendship. I set those down in the keep pile then turn back to the box to find a black shoe box sitting on the very bottom. I open it, seeing what looks like to be more pictures.

I pull them out, and that is when I find the same picture I had just printed. I also find the same one I had on the computer in which someone had cut one of the people out. But this one has the person in it. That person is me.

Looking at it, I see Chris, but this isn’t Chris I am staring at. This is Jason. How in the hell did I know Jason. This makes no sense.

Picking up the rest of the pictures, I look through them seeing more of me and Jason at my parents’ house, his grandmother’s house, and us at the beach. This can’t be right.

Anxiety starts to come back, but I push it down, so I can call my aunt to see if she can pick Lucy up from school. I need Chris home early. We need to talk.

I am able to get Lucy taken care of for the night. My aunt actually wanted her to spend the night, so that worked out well. The next step was to convince Chris to come home early.

I call his office, and his secretary answers the phone.

“Mr. Knowles’ office.”

“Hi, Suzanne. This is Julia. Is there any way I could speak to Chris. It’s urgent.”

“Of course, honey. He just got back from court. Hold on, and I will put you through.”

“Thank you.”

The line goes to that god-awful hold music.

“Hey, baby. You okay?”

“No. I really need you to come home now.”

“Julia, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“No, but I need you here now.”

“Give me five minutes, and I will be home. I love you.”

I hang up the phone. Chris is Jason. It is the only explanation I can come up with, and it plays over and over again in my mind.

I have all my evidence on the coffee table when I hear the door start to open. I turn my head towards the door seeing Chris walking in with a worried look on his face.

“Julia, what’s wrong?”

“A lot of things, but let’s start with you telling me who you really are?” I pick up a picture of us taken in my room at my parents’ house.

Confusion covers his face. “What are you talking about?”

“Like how your name is really Jason Locke Colton, Jr,” I say with a sigh.

As soon as it leaves my mouth, he falls back into the couch. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. Now I need answers and the fucking truth.”

He sits in complete shock. He can’t seem to form any kind of a response.

“Are you still here with me?”

He shakes his head like he is clearing his thoughts. “Yes. How did you find all of this stuff?”

“I have been doing research. You can’t hide the internet from me. I also remember the day you gave me your charm for the necklace. You told me how much you loved me, but then the next day you were fucking gone.”

He puts his head into his hands.

“Now are you going to tell me what I want to know and why you have lied all these years?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” I sit on the opposite couch facing him. “Now, Jason, tell me everything.”