The Wrong Side Of The Tracks (Leighton) (15 page)

“
I think, well actually I’m positive my Mom had an affair.  Our doctor did some blood work and said Donavon and I have different fathers.”

Camryn nodded, “
So you were hoping there was something in this box that would tell you who your real father was?”

“
No.  I was hoping there was something in this box that would tell me what my Grandpa did with my Aunt’s baby before she died.”

She looked over at Camryn expecting her to jump up in shock, or say some
thing along the lines of “What baby! Fill me in!”  She was lying on her side resting her head on the armrest staring off into space.  Just when Alex assumed she must not have heard her or comprehended what she said, she spoke.  “You mean like a birth certificate or adoption papers signing her over?”

Alex nodded,
and then she froze.  “How did you know the baby was a “her”?” she demanded in a squeaky voice.

Camryn squirmed a little on the sofa, trying to get comfortable.  “
Because those papers are at my house,” she said nonchalantly. 

Alex felt the color drain from her
face; she stared at her drunken friend waiting for her to continue.  “Why would they be at your house?”

Camryn seemed to sober up for a moment, and she sat up and stared into Alex
’s eyes. 

“
I’ve had suspicions for a few years now that I wasn’t my Mom’s child.  Let’s be real we look nothing alike.  She slipped up a few times throughout my life mentioning that she couldn’t have children.  Which is strange considering she somehow had me?  The more I poked and prodded my parents about it, the weirder they got.  So, I went on my own mission about a year ago.  And I found the adoption papers.  Afterwards my parents came clean, they really had no choice.”

She paused and waited for Alex to say something
, but she just stared back at her in awe.  The idea that Sandra’s baby may still be in Leighton had never dawned on her.  She was too overwhelmed to speak.

“
Don’t be angry Alex I wanted to tell you when I found out, but I couldn’t.”

“
Why?  You didn’t think I had a right to know that a piece of my Aunt Sandra was still alive and well?  What about my Grandma, OUR Grandma?  And Omar?  Do you know what kind of hell he has gone through?  He thinks he lost the love of his life and his only daughter.”

Camryn rubbe
d her blood-shot eyes, and sunk back down.  “I know you’re mad right now because I didn’t tell you, but please don’t stay mad forever.  It’s really complicated.  I don’t hate you anymore,” she mumbled.

Alex jumped up and stood in front of the couch so she
could see Cam’s face.

“
You don’t hate me anymore! Are you kidding me?  Why would you hate me? I’m not the one that lied to your face!”

“
I never lied to you Alex, I just didn’t tell you.  And yeah I hated you.  I was so angry and bitter when I found out who I really was.  Do you know what it’s like to know your real family didn’t want you?  Then you have to hang out with the one they did want every day.”  The last sentence was more of a sob than words but she managed to make it out.  Cam closed her eyes and began breathing heavy indicating she was passing out.  Alex grabbed the bundle of her parents’ letters and stormed out of the room.  She knew in her heart Camryn was telling the truth.  The timing was right, she had those clear green eyes every member of the James family was blessed with, and this explained why her Mom was so weird about them hanging out together.   

Alex rubbed her eyes, looking around waiting for her surroundings to come into focus.  She saw the bundles of old letters on the night-stand
next to her and shook her head.  This wasn’t all a bad dream.  Her head pounded.  She had barely drunk any alcohol last night, but she was suffering from a drama hangover.  Your brain can only handle so much shocking information and emotions before it stops functioning properly and begins to throb. 

She jumped out of bed and rushed out of the guest-room and down the stairs to the den.  Her Grandma was sitting on the sofa where she had left Camryn passed out, reading the TV Guide.  Her Grandma raised an ey
ebrow at her in her underwear and tank top.

“
Where’s Cam?”

“
Her mother picked her up about an hour ago,” she answered as she turned back to her magazine.

“
Did she say anything to you before she left?” Alex asked cautiously.

“
No, just that she had to leave she had plans with her Mom today.”

Alex
let out a small sigh.  Her Grandma didn’t even know Sandra was pregnant.  The last thing she needed was Cam sitting on the sofa with her and mentioning she was her long-lost grand-daughter.  That would put her over the deep end.

Alex padded out to the kitchen in her bare feet and grabbed the
cordless phone and headed back upstairs.  She dialed Camryn’s number as she pulled the bedroom door shut behind her.

“
Hello?”

“
Hey, it’s Alex.”

“
I know.  What’s up bestie?”

Alex r
olled her eyes, “We’re not going to pretend last night didn’t happen.”

There was a long pause on the other end
.  Alex began to wonder if she had hung up on her. 

“
Look, I shouldn’t have said anything.  I’m sorry.  I was drunk and I slipped up.”

“
Well you did say something.  And I can’t pretend I didn’t hear you.  Don’t you want our Grandma to know who you really are?  Don’t you want to meet your father?”

“
I can’t tell anyone.  It’s complicated.”

“
How is it complicated?  Lying about it is complicated, telling the truth will make everything simple.  Your life may be perfect, but a lot of people I care about lives aren’t perfect because you’re keeping this secret.”

“
What about the people I care about Alex?  What about my Mom and Dad?  They may not be my blood family, but they’re MY family.  It would crush my Mom if I just ditched them because all of a sudden the Rakers want to acknowledge that I exist.”

“
That’s not fair Cam.  We weren’t not acknowledging you, we didn’t know.”

“
You’re Grandfather threatened my parents’ lives if they ever let out the truth.”

“
That’s ridiculous, my Grandfather is dead.  He was an asshole, not in the mafia.”

“
What about your Dad?”

“
My Dad doesn’t know.”

“
Your Mom does.  She was the witness on the adoption papers.”

Alex stopped, “
What?”

“
Hold on.”  Alex waited while she heard muffled noises, and then a door slam.  It sounded like Camryn was going outside so she could talk without whispering.

“
Alex, your Mom was there when the lawyer drew up the adoption papers.  Sandra was underage so your Grandpa had parental rights.  He signed the adoption papers as my legal guardian, and your Mom was the witness.”

“
Why was my Mom at the hospital when you were born?”

“
She wasn’t.  I was born in my house.  The night Sandra went into labor your Mom and Grandpa brought her to my parent’s house.  Part of the agreement they had with your Grandpa was to have the baby born in their house so word didn’t get out that Sandra was pregnant.  After I was born the midwife stitched Sandra up, a lawyer came and had them sign the papers, and the three of them left.”

“
Okay, so my Mom isn’t going to kill your parents either.”

“
Alex, this isn’t ‘The Bold and The Beautiful,’ this is real life.  Think about what your Grandpa has done.  He covered up a pregnancy, had my father thrown in jail, was blackmailing your parents, and sold a human baby and got away with it.  Then within twenty-four hours my birth-mom was sitting upside down in Lost Creek, that’s not a coincidence.  You have to be a pretty screwed up and powerful family to pull all that off.  I’m sorry but I’m not ready to jump into that inferno.”

Alex nodded, but no words came out.  She wanted so badly to march back into her Grandma
’s house and tell her that Sandra had a healthy baby girl, and she may be gone but a piece of her was still on Earth.  Her Grandma had never fully recovered from Sandra’s death, and this was exactly what she needed to pull her up out of her sadness.

“
Alex?  Please, just promise me you won’t say anything.”

“
I promise, for now.  I can’t keep this secret forever though.”

“
I know.  Just give me a little bit of time to deal with this.  I just found out too.”

“
Your secret is safe for now Cam, as long as you promise me eventually you will come clean to my Grandma and Omar.”

“
I promise.  I have to go, I’ll call you later.”

Alex went back into the kitchen and hung up the telephone.  She had about two seconds to collect her thoughts before her Grandma appeared in the doorway, with a scrunched up scowl painted across her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“
Your parents called this morning while you were asleep and said they were coming over this afternoon.  They told me not to tell you, but I just feel terrible keeping it a secret.”

“
Keeping what a secret Gram?”

“
The reason they let you come here this weekend was so they could look at a boarding school a few hours away in Syracuse.  They’re going to take you up there this evening.”

Tears stung Alex
’s eyes, and she felt her bottom lip begin to uncontrollably shake.  She shook her head no furiously, “You got to talk to them Grandma, tell them not to send me!  I can’t leave everyone.”

Her Grandma sunk down into one of the kitchen chairs, and ran her fingers through her thinning gray hair.

“Honey, I’ve tried to talk to them.  I’ve been talking to them about it for a few days now, I’m afraid it’s no use.  Maybe it’s for the best though; I know it sounds horrible right now.  But, it’ll be like a fresh start.  You can get away from all this stuff for a while.”

“
Whose side are you on!” screamed Alex.

Her Grandma stood and took
a step toward her.  She spoke sternly, which threw Alex off a little because she was usually so timid.  “I’m on your side.  I’m worried about you.  Every day you remind me more and more of Sandra.  You’re running around town all hours of the night, keeping secrets, hiding things, and switching moods faster than most people switch underwear.  I don’t want to lose you too Alex.”

Alex shook her head and ran past her Grandma up to the guest room.  Her chest heaved with sobs and she barely could see through her
blurry eyes to navigate up the stairs.  She wasn’t going away.  No way was she leaving Kenzie and Karter.  And she had to try to rebuild her relationship with her cousin.  She threw herself on the bed and sobbed uncontrollably, until there were no tears left.  Then she laid there quietly for minutes that felt like hours.  She couldn’t control anything in her life.  Her parents were treating her like a child, but in the last few weeks she had experienced more than most adults she knew.

Keri Raker was a piece
of work.  How could she send her away like she was some sort of delinquent, after everything she had done when she was a teenager?  She got pregnant before she graduated high-school, moved in with her boyfriend before they were married, and helped her father-in-law sell his first grand-child.  Then she had the audacity to talk badly about Sandra and how dramatic and wild she was.

Instinctively Alex reached for the bundle of letters her and Camryn had found yesterday.  She got so grossed out after reading t
he first one she had just set them aside and fell asleep.  She skipped to the last letter which was dated October 26th 1991, only a few days before Sandra’s death.  She rubbed her teary eyes and focused on the bubbly cursive scrawled down the paper.  After a few moments her hands began to shake uncontrollably, and her stomach churned. 

“
Oh my God.”

She sprung from the bed and grabbed her purse, cramming the letters inside it.  Her heart was racing out of her chest as she fumbled to pull a pair of sweatpan
ts on, and then her Uggs.  She grabbed her purse and raced downstairs, and past the bathroom where her Grandma was running her bathwater.  As she sprinted down the long driveway she heard her Grandma calling for her from the front-porch, begging her not to leave.  She must have heard the front door slam when she escaped.

Once again she frantically made her way through the woods and over Lost Creek to The Boxes.  This time was different though.  Even though everything she had known her whole life was crashin
g down around her, this time she knew what was crashing down.  A week ago when she ran through the woods she was chasing the truth, now she had crashed head first into the truth and was running away from it.  Her long black hair whipped in the cool wind as she emerged from the brush into The Boxes.  Karter was standing in front of his building talking to some boys Alex didn’t recognize.  He seen her coming and started walking towards her.  She threw herself into his arms and squeezed him tightly for a moment.