A Brand New Twist, Chapter 28
by Luvin_Evian

“Absolutely.” Sheridan nodded, joining Eve on the couch. Shining eyes and upturned lips displayed her excitement. “I think it’s a perfect idea.”

Sheridan’s infectious happiness prompted Eve to smile in return. “Clearly,” she said. “But I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering. I want to do this for you and Julian.”

“You have a new baby, Sheridan. You have plenty to keep you busy.”

“I do, and it’s wonderful. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But it’s partly because of Martin that I want to do this.” Sheridan’s hands covered Eve’s and tightened around them. “For weeks, I wouldn’t let Martin out of my sight, but now I know when I leave him, he’ll be there with Pilar or Luis when I return. I was lucky enough to get my baby back, but I’ll never forget those hellish hours when I believed I’d never see him again. You’ve gone years without your son, Eve, and that’s because of my father. Julian needs to recover and you need to take it easy. I may never find the woman who held me prisoner and kidnapped my son, but to find your son will give you two one less thing to worry about, and it will make me very happy.”

Try as she might, Eve couldn’t help envisioning a reunion with her firstborn, and his meeting his father and baby sister for the first time. Maybe Whitney and Simone would come around, too. She touched her flat abdomen as the thought took root in her heart and spread about her entire being. The offer was enticing and Julian did need to recover. Her gaze met Sheridan’s. The determination and hope radiating in the young woman’s eyes couldn’t be denied. “I won’t be able to talk you out of this, will I?” she said.

Sheridan shook her head. “Nope.”

“So, I won’t bother to try.”

“Great!”

“You should know this won’t be easy, Sheridan. Julian has been searching for almost a year and the only thing we’ve learned is our son definitely didn’t die, and I think that’s mostly because Alistair wanted us to find out. The man is an evil control freak, and his hand is in everything.”

“I’m not worried about Father, I can handle him. You just worry about taking care of yourself, this precious life you’re carrying, and Julian. I’ll take care of everything else.” Sheridan rummaged through her purse. Keys jangled and loose change jingled. She groaned. “My phone. Ugh. I must have left it in the car.”

Eve motioned to her desk. “You can use the one over there.”

“Thanks.” Sheridan walked over and picked up the phone. “I’m gonna give Luis a call and see if he knows the name of a good private investigator. Maybe someone with some law enforcement experience who can cut his way through red tape and not be influenced by my father.”

Eve stood from the couch. “I doubt such a person exists.”

“We’ll know soon enough. You go on and see Julian, I’ll be there in a few.”

“Thanks again, Sheridan.” Eve closed her hand over the woman’s shoulder. “I know I sound like a broken record, but you’ve been a lifesaver to me throughout this whole ordeal, and now offering to find my son… I can’t thank you enough.”

Sheridan covered Eve’s hand. “You can and you have,” she said. “Your son is my nephew, he’s family, and soon you will be, too. So, stop thanking me, this is what family is supposed to do for family.” She playfully shooed her off. “You go on to Julian. I’ll lock up when I’m done.”

Eve smiled. “Alright.” She picked up her purse and coat and proceeded out the door. She couldn’t wait to see Julian and tell him what Sheridan planned to do for them. Her smile widened as she headed down the hallway. He would be so thrilled about this.

In the ten minutes since Alistair left Julian’s room, three things happened. Julian put in a page for Dr. Harmon’s wife, Ellen, he learned Eve was spotted entering her office with her daughter, Simone, and the haunting image on the Polaroid his father left behind got seared to his brain.

An icy chill shook Julian’s body. His gaze dropped to the photo clutched in his had. This picture. Even with the minutest details tattooed to his brain, he couldn’t put it down. Eve and their two babies. Their still lost son and Sheridan. Sheridan. His daughter with the love of his life was the sister he tried to kill. How could he ever resign himself to that? Sadness tightened his chest. The threat of new tears burned his eyes. How would he tell Eve this? How could he?

The tick-tocking of the wall clock grew louder with every passing second. Time. Every lost moment drew him closer to a decision he had to make. Would he tell Eve this incredible truth, or would he keep quiet?

A knock on the door startled him from his thoughts. Perhaps, now, he would get answers to his questions. Julian slid the picture under the covers and cleared his throat. “Come in.”

An African-American lady eased her head in the door. “I got a page saying you wanted to see me, Mr. Crane,” she said.

“Dr. Harmon?”

She nodded as she entered the room. “Yes. I’m glad to see you looking so well. You had quite a day yesterday.”

“So did Eve.” Julian adjusted the bed to an upright angle. “That’s why I wanted to see you.”

A low groan came from the doctor. She brushed dark brown locks of hair off her shoulder. “Mr. Crane, I can’t discuss my patient with you.”

“I’m not asking you to discuss her, I just need to be sure she’s really okay. Eve told me she fainted yesterday, but all is well. Is that true? Is she and baby okay?”

Ellen sighed.

“Dr. Harmon, you can tell me. I love Eve, and the baby is mine.”

“I’m aware of that,” she answered.

“Well,” he said, his voice short, his patience slipping fast.

“That doesn’t make it okay for me to divulge patient information. Not without prior approval from Dr. Russell.”

“I don’t need specifics, I just need to know she’s okay.”

Ellen shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. Her full lips tightened to a thin line. Deep dimples dented her cheeks. She was a pretty lady, but like her husband, a real stickler for adhering to rules. Still, she seemed to be considering his inquiry.

Her heavy sigh suspended the momentary quiet of the room. “Fine,” she finally said. “Dr. Russell and her baby are doing well. If she continues to eat right, get her rest, take her vitamins, and most importantly, stay away from stress, everything should continue to go well.”

“Stress?”

“Yes. Her fear for your well-being is what brought about her episode. Stress during pregnancy is unwelcome in the best of circumstances, but with this being a late in life pregnancy, it’s even more problematic.”

“So, news that could be considering shocking or upsetting should be kept from her?”

“I wouldn’t recommend she be told anything that would give her undue stress. Whatever it might be.”

Julian glanced in the direction of the hidden picture. That settled it. He couldn’t tell Eve about this. It would be too much. Her knowledge of what he tried to do to Sheridan, combined with hearing that she gave birth to twins… Twins. His gaze shot to Ellen. He had come to terms with the truth of Alistair’s amazing story, but what could it hurt to have these facts corroborated by a medical source. Perhaps all was not lost.

Being cautious of his tender ribs, Julian sat more upright on the bed. “Dr. Harmon, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure, but you might want to talk to Matt if it’s—”

“It’s not about me.”

“Mr. Crane, I’ve told you as much as…”

“And it’s not about Eve. It’s just a medical question,” he assured her. Julian motioned to the empty chair at his bedside. “Please, sit.”

“What is it, Mr. Crane?” Ellen asked, settling into the chair.

He couldn’t think of a way to gently ease into this, so he just asked. “If a white man got a black woman pregnant with fraternal twins, could one of the babies look white and the other black?”

Ellen’s eyes widened. She brushed an invisible speck off her dark blue slacks before crossing her right leg over her left. She cleared her throat. “May I ask why you’re asking such a question?”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” he replied. “I just need to know the answer.”

“Without getting into specifics, the short answer is yes.”

“Yes?”

Ellen nodded. “Fraternal twins are like single siblings except they are conceived roughly at the same time. Unlike identical twins that are one fertilized egg split into two, fraternal twins are two separate eggs fertilized by two sperm. They don’t look alike, they can be different sexes, and in some cases, different races. They are two different people with different genetic makeup.”

“May I ask another question?”

“Go ahead.”

“How easy was it to detect twins about twenty-five to thirty years ago?”

“Easy?” Ellen chuckled. “There was nothing easy about it. Ultrasound technology was around back then, but its use wasn’t a common practice like it is today, because there were so many questions about it. Suffice it to say, many a mother got surprises the day they gave birth up until the very late seventies and early eighties.”

“I see,” Julian mumbled. What little hope he had that Alistair’s confession was some elaborate scheme constructed for the sole purpose of hurting him had been obliterated. He couldn’t escape this. Eve gave birth to twins, and Sheridan was their daughter. He tried to kill his daughter.

“Is that it for your questions?”

Julian closed his eyes and nodded. “Yes, thank you, Doctor,” he said through the knot threatening to close his throat.

Ellen stood and approached the bed. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, just a little tired,” he lied, lowering the bed to a reclining position. “Dr. Harmon, I would appreciate it if you kept this conversation we shared to yourself.”

“Why?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’d just prefer it that way.”

Ellen eyed him for a long moment before shrugging her shoulders. “Whatever you say, Mr. Crane.” She gave his shoulder a little pat. “You take it easy.”

When the doctor left, Julian retrieved the photo from under the covers. Take it easy? It was a little too late for that. He considered his choices. If he told Eve the truth, the shock of it all could cause her to lose the baby. Then, not only would she hate him for almost killing one of their children, he’d be at fault for killing another. But if he kept it to himself, he’d spare her and himself that fate, but be forced to look at Eve every day with the knowledge of what he tried to do their child. A child she has no idea she brought into the world and believes is his sister. The mother of their only grandchild.

Whether he told her the truth or not, the results would be the same—endless hurt. Humorless laughter filled the room. His father managed to do the impossible. He made him a prisoner of his love for Eve. He slid the picture back under the covers and closed his eyes. Death was right. He’d rather be dead than face Eve now. He should have gone with him.

A soft rap on the door ended Julian’s descent into an abyss of self-loathing.

“Julian.”

His heart dropped to his stomach at the sound of Eve’s sweet voice. Clapping footsteps drew nearer as she made her approach. Julian steeled himself. How would he get through this? Chair legs scraped the floor as she pulled up close to his bedside. She slipped her warm, slender fingers around his hand and adorned it with a petal-soft kiss.

Julian opened his eyes to a smile like sunshine. The love in Eve’s beautiful brown pools, for so long the source of his strength, now a bitter reminder of everything his cowardice all those years ago caused him to lose. How could she love him when he hated himself so?

“Hello you,” she greeted. “You won’t believe the morning I had.”

Choking back his despair, “Neither will you,” Julian returned.