My Soul to Keep (The Soul Keeper Series - Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (7 page)

“She, she just told me that my dad found me on the
back porch like some stray dog.”
 
I start
to sob again. Elijah brings me into his arms and holds me. He is always able to
calm me like this. “I don’t even know if it’s true or if she is just having
some sort of delusion.”

“Your dad never said anything to you about it?”

“No I’m sure I would have remembered that
conversation. “Hey Brennen by the way you were discarded like an old newspaper
left out in the weather.””

I tell Elijah word for word what my grandmother just
shared with me. He strokes my back as he listens.

“First, if this story is true, I don't want you to
dare think for one second that someone abandoned you like a stray dog or an old
newspaper. Whatever the story is, I know that you were loved, there is no way
that your mother didn't love you Brennen. Your father loved you too. Whether
you were his or not I know he loved you more than life itself. Do you hear me?”
Elijah's voice is concerned and serious. I nod. “And this necklace, have you
ever seen it?”

“No.” I have never even entertained the idea that I
was adopted. Elijah starts the car and turns towards home.

“Where are you going?” I ask through still ragged
breaths.

“I am taking you home Bren, we have a mystery to
solve. We are going to search the whole house for any proof that your
grandmother may be telling the truth.”
 
I
guess he’s right, if I do manage to stop crying long enough to go to school my
mind won’t be present. By the time we pull back into my driveway I’m all cried
out. I am really tired of crying in general, it’s bad enough I wake up teary
eyed every morning. Can’t I just have one good day? I can hear my dad now “You
want some cheese with that whine.” Enough with the poor me’s already. I promise
whatever I find I will accept it and move on. I know who I am and that’s all
that matters in the end. Who my parents are will not change that.

We start in the attic, Elijah carries the boxes down
to the game room and we start pouring through piles of paper work. I find a lot
of things I will need when it comes time to put things in my name and I set
those aside. I like how quiet Elijah is while he looks through things with me.
I don’t even notice when he leaves and comes back up with a tray of sandwiches
and lemonade. We sort one handed while we eat, too immersed to stop.
 

“I found your birth certificate,” Elijah announces.
I slide next to him. We each hold a corner and study the find.
 
Under father, my dad’s name reads William
Michael Hale; under mother the field is blank.

“Does it mean he’s my real dad?”
 

“Well in a conventional situation it would probably
be a safe bet, but with your dad’s ties with the government, he could have had
it fixed. But why go through all that trouble, and not put your mother’s name
on it too?”
 

“I don’t know, I guess I can get a DNA test with my grandmother
and see if we are related.”

He agrees and says he can call in a favor at work
and get the results rushed. Who knew being hunted could have such perks?

“Look, here is a box with photo albums.” I pull out
the first one. I find a picture of my dad holding me when I was a baby. He is
rocking me in his arms looking lovingly down at me.

“You were even a beautiful baby.” Elijah rubs my
cheek and I can tell he cares for me a great deal. Just seeing old photos of my
dad brings back so many good memories. Elijah and I lay on the bare carpet and
pour through the photo’s laughing at all of the blackmail worthy naked baby
pictures and pointing out the ones where my mom is actually in the scene. I
look to be about two when she and my father got married, which I never knew and
I thought we were so close. How did I never know this? They were divorced by
the time I was five. I wonder if I was the reason why they didn’t make it.
Maybe my mom couldn’t raise another woman’s child as her own. We were always
distant with each other. I assumed it was because we only saw each other once a
year for a couple of months. My dad and I never talked about my mom or the
divorce that much. It was all starting to make sense now. I know she loved me
and I think that is why she wanted to see me every summer. I point to a picture
of her spinning me around in front of a Christmas tree.

“I remember that! I had just gotten a pink bicycle
from Santa, and I was so excited.”

“Cute pigtails.”
Elijah bumps my elbow with his. I push back and he rolls over laughing. He is
adorable when he is being playful. I caress his chest and his breath hitches.
Oh please, just one kiss from those lips could turn my whole day around. He
searches my eyes, he knows what I want and he answers with a new resolve in his
eye. He takes my hand and helps me up.
 
I
realize we have spent the entire day together without one flirty gesture or
even one stolen kiss.

 
Elijah
insists on putting away all of the boxes and soon after, he emerges from the
attic carrying a large wicker basket. My eyes round out as I realize what it
is. I meet him and examine it. Inside is a clear plastic bag that holds a pink
blanket. I open it and pull out the blanket. It is made of pink silk velvet
with my name sewn in silver thread on one corner.

“So it’s all true.” I rub the soft pink blanket
against my cheek. “What if my mother is out there somewhere, still alive?”
 
Elijah hugs me and I bask in his embrace. I
lay my head on his chest and match his relaxed breathing.

“Then we’ll find her.”

The doorbell rings snapping me back to reality.
Elijah has already dashed down the stairs like he’s on high alert. Who could
that be? I trot down the stairs and Elijah waits behind the door.
“Do you ever carry a gun or anything?” Isn’t that protocol? I wonder about him.
Maybe he only needs his bare hands to subdue a would-be assassin. Not that an
assassin would ring the door-bell.
 
I
open the door and find Emily with Starbucks in both hands.
           
“Bren, you don’t show up for
school, and you don’t answer your phone, I had to make sure you were still kicking!”
She walks right past me before I can say a word. Elijah closes the door as I
trail after her. I look back at him with raised shoulders and an open mouth. I
guess I deserved to be worried about when she puts it that way.

“Nice house.” Emily sets the cups on the kitchen
counter.

“Thank you Emily, for checking on me and for the
coffee.”

“So you two shacked up all day in lover’s lair or
what?” She looks at the both of us like we had just eloped to Vegas or
something.

“No, it’s a long story,” I sigh out. Emily plops on
a bar stool and takes a swig of her coffee.

“Well by all means, do tell.” A mischievous grin
plays on her lips.

“I’m going to go make some calls Bren. I’ll be by
later, love,” Elijah calls out and gives a wry grin before slipping out the
glass door. I shake my head wishing he meant that last word. I take a seat next
to Emily and sip the coffee she brought me it’s good, a caramel macchiato I
think. It’s all the more worthy of some truth telling on my part.

“I went to visit Grandma this morning. She was put
into a nursing home this summer because her Alzheimer’s had gotten
progressively worse. We were both afraid for her safety and this house just
isn’t set up for even round the clock care. The home specializes in Alzheimer
and dementia care.”

“Oh Brennen, I am so sorry I didn’t know, so what
time does your mom get home?” Okay I want to trust her with the truth but
should I? I glance around the home as if to take account of what I may have to
give up if she bleeds any of this to anyone. I take a deep breath in and
out.
 

“Um, my mom died when I was younger,” I say after
contemplating my alternatives for a while. Emily’s deep set eyes sink further
into her skull as if she didn’t know one person could have such a pitiful life.

“Oh my God Brennen, I am so sorry. I had no idea, so
you are living here all by yourself?”

“Yes and Emily you can’t tell anyone or they will
put me in a foster home. I don’t have time to get a job with my course load
this year, which means I can’t get emancipation. I have to keep up the
appearance that my grandmother is still living with me as my guardian.”

“Of course Bren, I would never tell anyone. I mean
you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself here.” She glances around taking
in the house.

“I am doing fine as long as no one finds out. I turn
eighteen in a few months and then I can relax.”

“Ooh when? You have to let me throw you a party,
this place is begging for a good party,” she says as she explores. She would
have a field day if she knew my birthday was on New Year’s
Eve,
at least that
is when I have always celebrated it.

“Here let me give you a tour.”
 
We walk around the whole house and settle out
by the pool.

“So why did you miss school today and what was up
with the hot guy you so rudely let slip away before introducing me?”

“That was Elijah he goes to our school and I just
found out he is my next door neighbor, he knows my grandmother and we went
together to visit her this morning.
 
Then
she started having some delusion that my dad gave me a necklace for my
eighteenth birthday and sort of told me all about how my dad found me on the
back porch when I was a newborn. So yeah, there’s that bombshell to deal with
but then she couldn’t tell me if my dad was my real dad or not. So Elijah took
me home, I was a flipping mess to say the least.”

“Holy
shit Brennen are
you
serious?”

“I know right and it’s only Tuesday.”

“So what are you going to do now? Did you find out
anything?”

“I am going to test my DNA with my grandmother’s and
see if we are related, it’s about all I can do, Elijah and I looked for
adoption papers all morning and found
diddly
squat.

“I’m sorry Bren, is there anything I can do? I’d
like to help.”

“Just keep my secret okay.”

“You don’t even have to ask. Hey, so is hot guy your
boyfriend?”

“Elijah wants to “just be friends.” I make air
quotes while rolling my eyes.

“Is he gay?” she balks.

“Probably, the way my day is going!”

“Yeah you were dealt a crappy hand, but you know
what they say? When life hands you lemons, make kamikazes. Where’s the liquor
cabinet?”

Two days have passed since Grandma's big revelation.
Elijah has been more distant lately. It has been just as long since he so much
as grazed my hand. I miss his touch. I have thrown all of my energy into
working on my speech for Government class. I am up next and I am a little
nervous, I hope that I do well. Brice Sanchez is using lots of humor in his
speech and the class is in roars. Great, how am I going to follow that? I turn
around and whisper to Elijah.

“Tell me something, anything I am freaking out.” He
looks at me dubiously.

“Brennen are you kidding me, you've got this. Don't
even sweat it. It's only second period government.” Right, um right. I hear my
name and take my position at the podium. I square my shoulders and take a deep
breath, willing my confidence to make an appearance. Here we go. Seventeen pair
of eyes blink back at me almost simultaneously, their stares needle through me,
deflating any delusion of confidence I may have gathered. Nevertheless, I start
my speech bolder than I ever expected to:
 

I
am not going to stand up here and make a speech full of vague promises and
idyllic half answers. I am just going to tell you my plan to save this country.
You see, this country is in a vicious spin cycle. We are undulating on the very
precipice of failure and if we don't change things now then our future holds a
bleak outcome.

As
seniors you are going to go to college next year and if you, like most of us,
are using a student loan to pay for your education you will be paying thousands
of dollars in interest fees. I want that to stop immediately, the US government
will no longer profit off of your education. It makes no sense to do so, does
it? I want you to get a higher education and get a well-paying career and then
I’ll tax your high pay accordingly.

The class laughs,
that's good.

Zero
percent interest rate on student loans will save you thousands of dollars. If
more students pursue a higher education, it will give our country a more
competitive edge to stay ahead of other countries in math and science research.

Our
unemployment rate is inexcusable, if our people are out of work it is because
companies can't afford to hire them or they lack the skills needed to move
forward. We can change that. With no interest loans, they can now afford to go
back to school and end the cycle.
 
I also
want to create jobs by extending tax breaks to companies who keep jobs and
revenue on American soil, but that's not enough.