Chapter 94: Edie

All eyes turned to Melanie and then to the woman who was still standing by the door a mix of fear and anticipation on her face.

Cheryl went to the woman and took her hand. I, in turn, went to where Melanie knelt, still frozen. Gently I took her hand, guided her to her feet, and led her toward the new arrival. Both of their faces were showing a mix of emotions that was hard to quantify. Their auras were all over the place. I doubted either of them had any idea exactly what they were feeling right now.

“Melanie,” said Cheryl softly, “this is Edie, your mom.”

Suddenly Melanie’s hand was ripped from mine as she lunged forward, throwing herself at the woman standing beside Cheryl. It was as if someone had fired a starting pistol, Edie had, at almost the exact same time, lunged for Melanie. They came together like a couple of sumo wrestlers, but rather than trying to push each other away, they clung together, each talking, crying, grasping desperately at the other like they might once more be torn apart.

Cheryl gave them a few minutes, then, as the initial raw emotion seemed to be subsiding slightly, she put her hands on their shoulders.

“Come on inside,” she said gently. “You can talk there.”

Melanie, who’d looked at Cheryl when she’d felt her hand on her shoulder, nodded. They were reluctant to release their hold on each other though, so Melanie clutched onto Edie’s hand as Cheryl guided the pair toward the house. Just before she got out of reach, Melanie reached out and snatched my hand, pulling me after them. I didn’t resist. I managed to nod greetings to the others as I passed, but was unable to stop and chat since Melanie had a death grip on my hand.

I’d expected Cheryl to take us into the kitchen or even the living room. Instead, she led us into the den.

“I’m going to leave you guys to say hello,” she said. “We’re out here when you’re ready.”

I did make a slight effort to retreat and leave the mother and daughter to get acquainted, but Melanie wasn’t letting go of my hand, nor was she letting go of her mother.

Edie, who seemed to have a little more of her wits about her, looked at me.

“You’re Caleb?” she asked. I nodded.

“I’m so happy to meet you,” I said.

“Dean said that you were the one that found her,” she said.

“We found each other,” I told her.

“Thank you,” she said reaching out her other hand toward me. “I ... I can’t...” fresh tears started to stream from her eyes. I took her hand and squeezed it gently.

Then she looked at Melanie.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“No,” said Melanie, her tone hard. It surprised us both until she went on.

“Don’t you DARE apologize. I know what happened, Maggie told me. She told me how devastated you were when ... when I was taken. It wasn’t your fault. Will you just answer me one question, honestly, please?”

“Anything,” Edie said having let go of my hand. She was holding onto Melanie’s other hand with both of hers. Melanie still had my hand gripped in the hand that wasn’t holding her mothers. She was clutching so tight that my fingers had gone to sleep.

“Did you...” Melanie began, her voice much more nervous now. “Did you ... love me?”

“Oh my poor baby” said Edie moving to hug her daughter. “I did, and I do. I never stopped loving you. I never stopped missing you. Every night I prayed for this moment, prayed that you were okay, that the person who’d taken you was kind to you, was giving you a good life, and that one day you and I would meet again. So many times I’ve thought about this moment, of what you’d look like, what you’d say, and if ... if you’d ever forgive me for...”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” said Melanie. “She finally let go of my hand, and guided her mother to the seat. They both sat. I started to edge toward the door, to leave them to talk, but once again Melanie stopped me.

“Please,” she said. “Stay.”

“Don’t you want time with your mom?” I asked.

Melanie nodded. “I do. I so want time with my mom, I want the rest of my life with my mom, but I want her to know you too. I want her to know the best man I’ve ever known, my brother, my lover, my fiancé, my friend.”

I expected Edie to be shocked at that revelation, but either she was more conversant with powers than I thought, or she’d already been prepared. I wondered how long she’d been here. In fact, there were several questions running through my head, not least of which was why had she waited here for us and not come to Portland if she’d been so desperate to meet her daughter.

Edie looked at me, I was so tempted to look, to read her. Her aura spoke of excitement and love, tinged with fear and uncertainty.

“How did they find you?” asked Melanie. “Maggie said you got married and moved back east, Is your husband here? Did you...”

“I’ll tell you everything,” said Edie, still holding onto Melanie’s hands. “I also want to hear everything ... I want to know all about you. Dean and Cheryl have told me some, but I want to know all about you, and your fiancé, and your family.”

They looked at each other, neither knowing which of them would start.

“Why don’t you start?” I suggested gently to Edie. “All we knew was that Melanie had been taken from the hospital. John, as you might expect, was no use although he did claim that he hired private investigators.”

“I hated John,” Edie said. “He made so many promises and gave me so much hope. I was just eighteen, bright eyed and innocent, when we met. He was the boss, the big boss, of the company. I was a mere secretary just starting out. I’d never even laid eyes on him, but one day I was called into my manager’s office. I thought I was in trouble, but she told me that my work had been exemplary and I’d been promoted.”

“Let me guess,” I said, a sinking feeling in my stomach. “PA to the CEO?”

She nodded. “Yes,” she said.

“We worked together on things,” she said, “really important things, and big projects. I was really amazed at how much trust he put in someone as young as me, but he did, and as we worked together we became close. Until...”

I sighed. The slimeball had used the same technique on Melanie’s mother as he had on mine. I wondered how many more young and impressionable women had become grist for his sick mill.

“I was happy. I had an amazing job, and was with a man who loved me, that was until I told him that was until I told him that I was going to have a baby. Then he changed. He shouted at me, called me terrible names, told me I should ... I should...” her eyes overflowed.

“That you shouldn’t have the baby?” I ventured. She nodded.

“The next thing I knew, I was back in the secretarial pool, and back in my old small apartment. Alone and pregnant. Oh, he paid for things. All the medical bills were paid and he bought things for the baby, but even so I was alone.

“You decided,” she said turning to Melanie, “that you were happy where you were, you didn’t want to come out, and so I was nearly a week overdue when they finally lost patience and told me that they were going to induce labor. They took me into hospital, put a drip in my arm, and then the longest thirty-six hours of my life started.”

She actually gave a chuckle. “You were stubborn, I’ll give you that. You really didn’t want to leave your comfortable little world, until finally, after such a long time, the doctors placed you in my arms. I was the happiest woman alive at that moment. A minute before, I’d been cursing John, God, and you for putting me through the torment that you did, but the instant I held you, and saw your beautiful face, it was all worthwhile.

“I’d been told what it would feel like. But it was like nothing else I had ever experienced. I just wish I could show you.”

“You can,” I told her gently, “if you’d like. Just remember that moment. Think about it now, relive it. And Melanie and, if I may, I could see it?”

Melanie looked at me, a little uncertain.

“You wanted to know if she loved you?” I asked.

Melanie nodded.

I saw Edie’s smile as she replayed the memory of that moment in her head. She nodded to Melanie and then looked at me.

“Please. Look.”

Suddenly I was there, exhausted, sore, and sweaty. They’d just, finally, gotten the baby out and she was busy bawling over the other side of the room as they cleaned and wrapped her in a blanket.

I saw the midwife approaching holding a swaddled bundle, and fear and anticipation swelled inside. Then she was in my arms.

I was totally unprepared for upsurge of love that I suddenly felt as I gazed down at that little scrunched up ball of flesh. Melanie was crying as she was placed in my arms, but she quieted, her face still screwed up, her eyes tightly shut, but she was the most wonderful sight I’d ever seen. Suddenly all the pain, all the problems, all the heartache, was forgotten. I had my little baby and I was going to love her, protect her, care for her, for the rest of my life.

I held her for a few minutes, but the midwife said she had to be weighed and other stuff. She’d be brought back soon. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, just for a minute. Darkness took me.

“That was the last time,” said Edie, her eyes streaming with tears, “until today, that I saw you. They told me that they’d brought you into my room and that I was asleep. When the midwife came to check on me two hours later, you were gone.”

“John, to give him his due, did do everything he could to find you. He Compelled every single member of staff in the place to tell him exactly what they’d been doing in those two hours. He hired private investigators, and scoured the hospital, town and state, even neighboring states, but he couldn’t find you. There was nobody, nobody saw anything, nobody knew anything. It was like you’d literally evaporated.”

“Eventually he gave up, I begged him to continue to search, but by this time over a year had passed. I’d stopped working, but again to give him his due, he’d not stopped paying me. I wouldn’t have been any use at the company in any case. I was a zombie. I barely ate, slept only when exhaustion took me, and then repeated the process until I passed out again. Eventually John took me to Dianna and, for a few months, she helped me try to get over the loss.

“It worked, kind of. I never really got over it, but I could, eventually, after a fashion, function. I started back at work, made out that I was improving that I’d put the tragedy behind me, but inside there was an emptiness that I just couldn’t fill. Dianna told me that I should start dating, even going so far as to set me up with some guys. I hated it, but eventually I met Frank.

“Frank was a good guy, a nice guy. He was a gentleman, only a year older than me but much older in his manner. He was polite, courteous, and attentive. He was a hard worker and ambitious. We dated probably for a year or more, and then he asked me to marry him.

“It is to my eternal shame that I accepted. That was totally unfair to him. He was, is, a good man, he didn’t deserve for me to do to him what I did. I used him as a distraction. A way to divert myself for a few hours each day from the pain that I still felt.

“A few more years passed and the pain had dulled, almost into just empty numbness. We’d moved back east and I was a functioning adult again, apparently a loving wife, and working as a secretary again, even getting promoted into an office management position. I thought I’d survived and finally gotten over my loss. I would never forget my little angel but I’d finally been able to move on. Then one night Frank brought up the subject of us having kids.

“I couldn’t even entertain the idea. I screamed at him, called him all the bastards under the son for thinking he could replace my angel. I told him that I wanted nothing more to do with him. That night I packed my bags and left. That was the last I saw of him. I never knew what happened to him until I came here. He apparently divorced me after a year and is now married with a couple of kids of his own. I’m happy for him and I hope he’s happy.

“Since then, I’ve just been wandering. I moved from place to place, staying a year here, six months there. I joined secretarial agencies and just went from job to job, working for a while, and then moving on. If people asked, I just said that I was a ‘wandering spirit.’ I had no criminal record, and I wasn’t trying to hide anything, but I just couldn’t stay in one place too long. If I did, then some guy would eventually ask me out, I’d get involved again, and ruin someone else’s life.

“About a month ago, I got wind that someone was looking for me,” she said. “I arrived at work and a colleague told me that a private investigator had asked about me. I thought that Frank had finally found me, had tracked me down and wanted to force me to go back with him. It was totally illogical, I know, given that it had been almost ten years since I’d left, but fear has no logic.

“I packed my stuff up and left. Since I moved so much, I had nothing other than clothes and personal items, so I loaded it all up, dropped my keys off and left. I just got in my car and drove. It didn’t do any good. They found me again about a week later but this time they cornered me. I was sitting in a diner, when this huge man, came and sat in front of me. He told me that his name was Dean, and that he was the father-in-law of one of John’s sons. Then he showed me a picture.

“I knew immediately who I was looking at, but I didn’t dare believe it. For twenty years, I’d hoped, prayed for this moment, to find out if my little girl was still alive, how she was, where she was, and ... wondered if I’d ever see her again. Up to this point I’d have died happy having just seen that picture. You looked healthy and happy and I’d have been content to know that about you, but now I wanted more, I wanted to see you, to meet you, to explain, to beg your forgiveness.”

“I wanted to go straight to you, but they brought me here. They told me that you’d be arriving in just over a week, but in that time, there were things I needed to know, things I needed to be aware of. If I met you without knowing these things, I might react badly and that might ruin whatever relationship I might have had with you. They convinced me to wait until you arrived. I’d waited twenty years, what was another few days? I hated every minute, but they eventually passed, and I saw you getting out of the car, looking happy and healthy, and surrounded by so much love. I saw one of the girls say something to you as you got out and the look in her eye told me that she loved you. I saw Caleb take your hand and bring you to me, and the love in his eyes was profound. Dean tells me that they all love you, and I can believe it.

“What I’m still trying hard to believe is that this is real, and not just some wishful lonely dream. That you are really here, that I’ve finally found you. OW!!!”

She yelped as I pinched her arm.

“What??” she said looking at me.

“See – not a dream,” I said smiling at her.

Melanie laughed. “I love him, but he can be an ass sometimes.”

Edia chuckled. “Men...” she said.

“So,” she said finally. “That’s how I got here. What about you?”

It took another couple of hours for Melanie to tell her tale. Edie was mesmerized and horrified in equal measure. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she heard what Melanie had had to do to survive. Melanie told it, in a matter of fact way. It was as if she was talking about someone else. Up to the point where we’d first met.

“I arrived in Portland,” she said. “I’d gotten a ride with a trucker, and spent the night with him in his truck so I had a few dollars. I could afford to go to a shelter and get a bed for a few days. In those places you pay up front, otherwise they don’t let you in. I gave them all that I had, but the first night another girl tried to steal my shoes while I was sleeping. We fought, and were both thrown out of the shelter.

“It was cold and raining, but I managed to find a dry corner and get some sleep. I’d not eaten for two nights, the trucker had bought me a burger, so I decided to find a diner and see if anyone would be willing to spare me some change. Sometimes, people would even bring you out some food. It happened occasionally. Then this guy walks up to me. He looked at me for a second and told me that lunch was on him.

“I told him I wasn’t allowed in the diner. They’d already told me to stay out, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. When the waitress came over to kick me out, he gave her a hundred dollars and told her we’d be eating and then leaving. He asked her which booth we could use.

“I remember thinking that it would have been better if he’d given me the hundred. I’d have done anything he wanted for that much, actually for much less. I offered it to him too while we waited for our food. But then he went pale and just stared at me. I was starting to get nervous, but then I just got up and followed him. I didn’t want to, I had no choice. I couldn’t control my own body.

“For some reason I wasn’t scared though. He took me back to his house, and sent me to get a shower. When I came out of the shower, there was another, older, woman there, and after a while she told me who I was, and that the man who’d taken me from the diner was Caleb, my brother.”

“I’ve been with them ever since, and they are the most amazing, loving, wonderful people you could ever want to meet. I met John, he gave me some money, quite a lot in fact, and if you want a chuckle ask Caleb to show you what he did to John. I didn’t really like him. I met my other brother and sister, Sarah is with us. She’s a wonderful girl and engaged to an amazing boy. I got my GED, in a week – Caleb helped me so much — and now I’m at school. I want to be a doctor, so I’m in pre-med. I just started, but things are going really great.

“My life would have been perfect, if I could only find you. John didn’t know where you were. He didn’t even have any pictures of you. All he had was a memory of you, standing naked in his bedroom. Caleb got that from him and shared it with me.

Edie blushed, glancing in my direction.

That’s the only reason I knew what you looked like. I wished so hard that we could find you. Maggie said that she’d try but that you’d moved away, and they’d lost touch.

“Dean found me,” said Edie. “I don’t know how, but he did. I am so grateful to him and to you,” she said turning to me.

She stood up then, took my hand, and pulled me to my feet. Then she pulled me into a hug.

“I’ll never be able to repay you for what you’ve done for my little girl,” she said. “Or for me.”

“You’ll never need to,” I returned. “If it were only the fact that she’s my sister, that would be more than enough reason for me to do everything I’ve done for her, but she’s much more than that. She is such a beautiful, incredible, person and I, we, love her with all our hearts. I know that our arrangement may seem strange...”

“Hush,” Edie said. “I know about your arrangement. All I ask is that you love my daughter and make her happy. She deserves it.”

I nodded. “We fully intend to,” I said.

“Would you like to meet the rest of the family?” Melanie asked.

Edie smiled. “Yes,” she said. “I’d like that very much.”

It took a minute or two, but there was a soft knock on the door.

“This is Mary,” said Melanie. “And Amanda. Dianna’s granddaughters. They’re our fiancées and both empaths.”

“We’re very happy to meet you,” they said in perfect unison.

“And they like to freak people out with that,” said Jules who was next in line. Edie smiled, hugging each of the twins in turn.

“Jules,” said Melanie, “is Dean and Cheryl’s oldest daughter. “The most loving person I’ve ever met.”

Jules smiled at Melanie, then at her mother. “I’m so happy to meet you,” she said. Edie pulled her into a hug too.

“Ness, is Jules’ little sister.” Melanie went on. “She’s a brilliant chef and already building a name for herself in the best restaurant in Portland.”

Ness blushed. “I’m happy Daddy found you. She missed you terribly,” she said, another hug.

“Sarah, my sister, my baby sister. I never ever thought I’d be able to ever introduce someone in that way,”

Sarah beat Edie to the punch and pulled her into a hug. “Please,” she said. “Be good to her.”

“Arnie,” Melanie finished. “Sarah’s fiancé. One of the most amazing, loving, selfless men I know.”

Arnie blushed, but allowed himself to be hugged. “I can see where Melanie gets her beauty” he said gallantly. Edie laughed.

“Down boy,” said Sarah. The rest of the girls laughed. We took seats and spent time getting to know Edie, and let her get to know us. I’d shared the memory of Edie’s story with them all so they knew as much as we did, but Edie had questions for all of us.

“Dean says you’re joining the FBI,” she said to me.

“Hoping to,” I said. “I’ve been told that with my powers I shouldn’t have any trouble. With any luck I’m going to be starting my training in July next year.

“How about you?” Melanie asked Edie. “What are your plans?”

“I’m moving to Portland,” Edie said instantly. “You don’t think I’m letting you get away from me again, do you?”

Melanie’s face lit up with a radiant smile. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. “When?”

“Well,” Edie said. “Pretty much everything I own is packed in my car. I just need to find somewhere to stay, and a job, and I’ll be set. I’m kind of used to it.”

Melanie looked at me, and then at the girls.

“We have a spare room,” said Jules. “It’s yours until you are sick of living with idiots. If you can bear it for six months or so, and you like the place, the house will be free, and you can use that.”

“What ... I can’t impose on you like that, and why would the house be free?”

“It’s only a temporary home for us just now,” I told her, explaining about the fire and why we’d bought the second place. “I know that Melanie is not going to want to be away from you so having you stay with us for a while will be no chore.”

“Won’t my being there kind of cramp your style?” she asked, smiling a little coyly.

“No,” said Ness. “We’re all shameless. As long as you don’t mind Louise wandering around naked from time to time, although having said that Caleb, Arnie, Melanie, and Sarah have taken to doing that more recently too.

“Only when we’re wet from training,” said Melanie. She turned to her mom.

“We run in the mornings,” she explained. “When It’s raining, we get soaked, so we undress in the utility and drop our wet and dirty stuff in the wash ... save tracking muck through the house.”

“Ah,” said Edie, suppressing a smile. “Sounds perfectly reasonable. Is that why this Louise does it too?”

“No,” said Jules. “She’s just an exhibitionist.”

“Who is Louise?” asked Edie after a second.

“A lodger,” I said. “She and her boyfriend Josh live with us. They’re not part of our family but we’re still very close.”

Edie nodded. “Dean did mention there were others living with you,” she said. “Maybe we can talk about this more later? I guess I’ve been monopolizing you for a long time. We should probably go join the others.

She got up. Melanie, still holding her hand even now, followed. We all trailed out the door and into the living room where the others were sitting talking.

Janine stood and came over. Her husband Robin followed. Ethan, their son, watched but then at his mother’s beckon joined them.

“Caleb,” she said. “So good to see you again.” We hugged.

“You too. Hello, Robin,” I said, shaking hands with her husband. “How are things?”

“Things are good,” he said. “Janine is much happier, and making much more money I might add, since she took your advice.”

“I’m glad,” I said. “Ethan, right?” I asked looking at the boy. He nodded.

He put his hand out and I shook it. I noticed he still wore the amulet.

“Probably in another couple of months,” Janine said, noticing the direction of my gaze. “We’re just doing some pre-education about powers. Then it’s going to come off and we’ll see what he has.”

“Mom tells me you have loads,” said Ethan.

“Melanie, here, has even more,” I said. “She has all of them.”

“All?” he said. “Can I see? What can you do?”

Melanie held her hand out. A small flame danced into existence just above her palm.

“Wow!” he said. “Will I be able to do that?”

“We’ll have to wait and see,” I said. “When your amulet comes off, you’ll find out what powers you have.”

I introduced the rest of the family to Janine and her family. It took some time.

Finally, we were all seated. I was feeling kind of drained. An exceptionally tubby Terra waddled up to me and sat with a grunt in front of me. She rested her chin on my knee.

“Don’t come to me for sympathy,” I told her. “If you weren’t such a loose woman you wouldn’t be in this predicament.”

I heard several snorts from the various women around the room.

“And of course the guy had nothing to do with it,” said Ness.

“Point him out and I will challenge the cad to a duel.” I announced. “Pistols at dawn for so besmirching the honor of this fair maiden.”

At this point, Terra got up and wandered over to where Blue was sitting in front of Melanie. She bumped him with her shoulder.

Blue looked at me, his panting mouth laughing.

“I believe we’ve found the culprit,” I said. There was general laughter.

“When are the others coming up?” I asked Dean.

“Brian and Carrie are coming up on the twenty-third,” he said. “They’re bringing Edgar. Your parents are coming up at the same time, as is Dianna and Maggie. You’ll all be able to travel back together, on the second.

“Sounds good,” I said. “What’s the plans for while we’re up here.”

“The plan?” he said. “Work of course. The girls have shopping to do I have no doubt. I’m sure Melanie and Edie still have quite a bit of catching up to do. Ethan’s already showing promise, Jonah has taken him under his wing, and they’ve been working together, although I’ve given Jonah strict instructions about what they can and can’t do.”

“Cheryl wants to spend time with the girls, and weather permitting it would be good for you to take that horse of yours out. He’s getting restless.”

“Caleb?” Edie had stepped up beside me. I smiled at her.

“Melanie showed me the memory of John talking to the two of you when they first met,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

“He used the same technique on you as he did my mother,” I told her. “Given the differences in our ages, I’m guessing you were his next victim. I’ll bet if you ever found any ‘residue’ from a previous woman it would have been hers.”

She snorted with disgust. “I don’t know who to be angrier at,” she said. “Him for spinning that line, or me for falling for it.”

“You were young,” I said, “and, I’m guessing, innocent.”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

“I’m betting it’s his go to routine.” I told her. “He spots a pretty young girl, gets her transferred as his PA and then runs his scam. When he gets bored with them, he moves them on. Rinse and repeat. The only saving grace is, if he didn’t lie, he told me that he’d been made unable to have kids by the healers. At least there’s no other kids out there.”

She looked at me. “Are you like him?” Sarah, Melanie, and I all heard her thought.

“No,” said Sarah and Melanie together. “He’s not.”

“I’ve met both of John’s sons,” said Sarah. “My brothers. They are both decent, kind hearted, and good men.”

“You have another brother?” asked Edie.

“E.” said Melanie. “He’s a really nice guy. His girlfriend is really nice too. Caleb let John know how upset he was with him, just after he found out how he’d ‘played’ his mom. Would you like to see?”

“I would,” said Dean. “I’ve heard about this but not seen it.”

“Me too,” said Cheryl.

“Yeah,” came other voices. Even those who’d seen it before wanted to see it again.

I sighed. Melanie grinned at me.

I looked meaningfully at Ethan then at Janine. She turned to Ethan.

“If you are ever mean or nasty to a woman,” she said, “remember what your cousin Caleb does to men who are mean and nasty to women.”

“What?” asked Ethan.

“You’re about to find out,” she said. Then she nodded to me.

There were several gasps and four sets of male legs crossed. A couple of people’s eyes watered.

“That was a little extreme,” said Janine. “He really pissed you off?”

“I sent her, and only her, the memory of John telling Melanie what he’d done to my father.

“Asshole,” she hissed. “I knew he was always picking on him but, as the eldest, I was busy with my own things. I figured they’d grown out of it. I never knew about...

“If I ever meet up with that slime ball again, I might just finish what you started. Only I won’t heal him afterward.”

I looked across to Edie to see tears rolling down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking.

I was about to say something when Melanie grinned at me and I realized that Edie wasn’t crying.

Ness and I made dinner. I noticed immediately the difference in how things were done in the kitchen. She was far more bossy, but things just seemed to work even more seamlessly than they had before. It took almost no time at all to create an amazing meal for all those there.