The Mystery of Chad Harris: Fate Delivers Us, Chapter 38
 
 

Chad got out of the limo, where he was met by Julian’s secretary. They went into a private office, where Julian was standing.

" Thank you, Janine. You can attend to that other matter."

" Of course, Mr. Crane."

Janine left them alone, and Julian finally broke the silence.

" Thank you for coming down here."

" I didn’t have a choice."

" I…I just wanted to make sure that the legalities of this was settled as soon as possible."

" Yeah, whatever."

" Chad, I know that we will have to work on our relationship."

Chad puts up his hand. " Man, what the hell gives you ANY idea that I want a relationship with you."

" I’m your father."

" You gave the sperm. You’re still the rat bastard who ran out on my mother when she needed you."

" Guilty as charged. "

" I want nothing to do with you. We’ll do this test, and them I’m gone."

" I need for you to know that I had nothing to do with what Alistair did."

" I believe that. It’s all the other mess that I’ve seen you do since I arrived in town that I won’t soon forget. You and me? I don’t see where we have anything in common. I don’t want nothing to do with you, or your family. "

" Does that hold true for your mother?"

Chad paused for a few moments. " I know now that my mother ALWAYS wanted me. That she didn’t stand a chance in hell. I’ve seen girls like her my whole life – alone, poor, abandoned. They have a tough enough time when the world is just leaving them the fuck alone. When someone is out to REALLY get them..she never had a prayer. So, to answer your question, the answer is NO. It’s gonna take some work, but, I’m gonna try and have a relationship with…..Doctor Russell."

" That’s good. Eve has shed too many tears about you. I don’t want her to shed anymore."

" It’s not her that I’m worried about."

" You must mean TC. Don’t worry about him. Despite you being my son, he’ll accept you."

Chad looked at him. " Why do you think that?"

" Because he loves your mother even more desperately than I did."

Chad was stunned my Julian’s comment, but just then, a man came into the room.

" Mr. Harris. I’m Doctor Norris. I will be withdrawing 3 tubes of blood from you both."

" Three?", Chad asked.

" I’m sending them to the top three DNA labs in the country. More legal stuff."

Chad shrugged his shoulder and rolled up his sleeves, and that was the end of the conversation between him and Julian.
 

Simone was holding one of her favorite stuffed animals from childhood as she carefully walked down the stairs into the living room, where she found her grandmother.

" Grandmere, is it safe?"

" Of course it is, Child. Come here.", Madelaine said, outstretching her hand.  Simone went and sat on the couch next to her grandmother. Madelaine kissed her granddaughter.

" You must be a bit scared."

" More than a bit, Grandmere. I feel as if my entire world is falling down around me and I have no way of stopping it."

" I disagree. Simone, I believe that you are going to be a big part of why this family doesn’t fail."

" Why? How?"

" Simone, look at these." Madelaine brought up one of the photo albums that she had been viewing. She and Simone looked through one of them. " Look at these pictures, Simone. This is your family. This is who you are. If you let this fail, Simone, there is nothing left. After family, there is little else that matters. Haven’t I taught you that?"

" You’ve tried."

" Family isn’t family in the good times. It’s the bad times that truly define a family. A family that can only survive during the good times isn’t a family at all. Because, it’s adversity that forms the bonds that bind us to one another. The unbreakable bonds. The bonds where you look someone in the eye and tell them, ‘ we are kin, and I will ALWAYS be there for you.’ THAT is what I had taught you and Whitney."

" Grandmere, everything is imploding. You saw everyone. Things are a mess."

" Things are not a mess. You have a new truth before you, and you either will accept it, and learn how to deal with it, or watch your family crumble."

" WHY did she lie, Grandmere? Why? She’s taught us all our lives about telling the truth. How can she teach us, when she’s done nothing but lie!", Simone said with bitterness.

" You need to look at some hard facts, Simone. Your mother loves you. She loves you, Whitney and your father more than most people EVER get in their lives. YOU were there today. How can you sit in judgment of your mother, when YOU were there today as the truth was revealed. Maybe your hearing was off, so I want YOU to tell me what was revealed today."

" Grandmere…"

" No! You tell me. What happened?"

" My…my mother had a baby."

" How old was she, Simone?"

" No older than Whitney."

" Was she married?"

" No."

" Was she supported by parents?"

" No."

" So, she had someone, a lover, who totally supported her decision."

" No.."

" NO?"

" No. She was all alone."

" So, your mother was rich when this happened?"

" No. She was poor."

" So, you’re telling me that your mother was no older than Whitney is now. Pregnant. Abandoned and poor?"

" Yes, Grandmere."

" So, she wanted to give her baby up for adoption?"

" No."

" No? Then why didn’t she have a baby when she met your father?"

" Because…" Simone started crying. " Alistair Crane paid someone to kill her baby. A sweet, innocent baby. But, they couldn’t do it."

" So, your mother got her baby after all."

" No. This person made her believe that her son was dead."

" Dead. Now that you’ve told me this story, Simone. Tell me why you don’t think your mother told your father."

" So much pain, Grandmere. She must have been in so much pain."

Madelaine nods. " Yes, she was. And sometimes, when you have that much pain, you can’t share it with anyone else. You can’t. You have to pray for a way to live through it. Because, sometimes, you feel like you’re going to die if you’re allowed to really think about the pain. Your mother lied, Simone. But, she lied in order to survive. To make it through. To be able to put one step in front of the other. Your mother told me on her wedding day that your father got her to live again. Back then, I didn’t understand. But, now I do. If you die inside, and suddenly, someone comes along that makes you feel alive. That you can participate among the living, the selfish nature of man takes over, and you’ll do anything to keep that ‘living’ feeling going. Anything, including lying. It doesn’t make you a horrible person. Makes you.."

" Human. " Simone nods. " I understand, Grandmere."

" You can look at this negatively or positively, Simone. But, how you look at this situation is going to shape the future of your family. IF all you can see is negative this and that, THAT is what you’re going to get from this situation, and will be how you’ll see your family. But, if you see this as a positive, then.."

" Positive things can flow from it."

Madelaine nods. " Yes. Now, what do you see positively from this?"

" Chad. He’s my brother. I always wanted a brother, and I already know him."

" Yes."

" My mother won’t be missing her son anymore. She can share that pain with all of us, and for the first time, we’ll be able to help her."

" Yes, my child. You can help your mother with her pain. She needs that. Right now. She needs to know that you understand her love for her son."

" Grandmere, of course I know that she loves her son."

" Well, she’s doubting it right now."

" How can I help her?"

" Be with her, Simone. Go show her that you love her. You know, you look like my Theodore, but you have your mother’s heart. You have a deep capacity for love, Simone. And, though you’ve often felt like ‘the other one’, now is the time that the truth is told about you. You are the ‘chosen one’."

" ‘ Chosen one?’"

" Yes. Such is the case in a family, someone is the backbone of it. Sometimes, it’s obvious. Other times, it takes a crisis to reveal itself. This is the time. YOU will lead them all, Simone. You have to. Bring them together. Fight for your family."

" Grandmere, I can’t do that!"

" You won’t do it alone, but, you’ll lead it. Let your love guide you, Simone. It won’t let you down."

" That’s an awful lot of faith to be placing in a teeanged girl."

" I know I’m right. "

" Where do I start?"

" With your mother."

Simone kisses her grandmother. " Thank you, Grandmere."

Simone goes up the stairs and opens the door to her parent’s bedroom. Her mother is on the bed, asleep. Simone can tell that she cried herself to sleep. Simone pulls the quilt up on her mother to cover her, and then decides that she has to do something. She climbs into bed with her mother.

" TC?", Eve asks, not opening her eyes.

" No, Mom, it’s me."

" Oh, Simone. My baby." Eve kisses Simone on the top of her head. Simone moves herself into the same position that she used to do as a child, and sure enough, when she got there, Eve’s arms found their way around her. Simone smiled as she closed her eyes. She was back in the safest place in the world: her mother’s arms.