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“I want you to know that Cecilia didn’t know about the baby until just recently,” Gwen informs her. “Even those of us who went to school with Chloe didn’t know.”
“Because when she had that little girl, she hid a note in her blanket when she had to hand her over to the couple who adopted her. That couple, they are the reason he was finally arrested. That couple helped find a good family for us to live with. But Chloe got scared, and she got us out of there to keep us safe.”
“Chloe raised herself and CeCe.”
“And she would have raised that little girl, even at just fifteen, if she could have safely, but she didn’t know if he’d ever get arrested.”
Gwen looks at me. “If he hadn’t, she’d have killed him to make sure he couldn’t hurt anyone ever again.” She looks at Cora, who has tears flowing down her face. “She went to every parole hearing to make sure he wasn’t released. He shouldn’t have been released. Someone should have killed his ass in prison. Everything she did was to protect CeCe, and that little girl.”
Cora holds her hand to her chest. “Me?”
I place my hand over hers. “If you want to know, we’ll do a DNA test.”
“Does she hate me?” Her voice squeaks as sobs rock through her.
I hold her tight. “No. No, she doesn’t. She was trying to find you. She hired Gwen and Marks to find you. She wanted to keep you safe, Cora.”
“Does she want to meet me or?—”
“Oh, definitely,” Gwen and I say at the same time, and then Gwen continues.
“CeCe wanted you to know first, let you sit with it for a while before I was contractually obligated to tell Chloe and Danny.”
“Can I see a picture?” she asks. “Does her husband know? Danny?”
“Danny knows. He knew long before any of us did, including CeCe,” Gwen says as I look through my phone for the album of Chloe and me when we were young, wanting her to understand just how young she was when she handed her to her adopted mother. “She was in a very bad relationship before Danny fell head over heels for her. She didn’t trust men. I wonder if it’s genetic since CeCe doesn’t, either.”
I roll my eyes.
Gwen continues, “She didn’t want kids and knew Danny did. She didn’t think she should have any more since she didn’t get to raise the little girl, who CeCe, Marks, and I believe is you. After they got married, they tried for years and eventually went to a fertility specialist. Aggie is their daughter, and Monday, they’re going back to the same doctor to finish another round in hopes to give Aggie siblings—that includes you. If you can forgive her?—”
“Forgive her? I was the product of her rape!” Cora says with such anger. “I’m a fucking rape baby. I wouldn’t ever expect her to want to see me.” She looks at me. “You should fire me.”
“With all due respect and love, fuck that.” I stand up and start pacing. “Fuck him for taking her innocence and her first child. Fuck him for taking her from me and trying to groom me to be the next one he fucked. Fuck him for making us live in a metal can in a field, pretending the asshole that shot our dog was our uncle. Fuck him for letting her believe she didn’t deserve a better man so she ended up with one who beat her and shot Danny. Fuck him, Cora. He doesn’t get to take you from her again. And, Cora, don’t you ever use that term again—it makes me sick.”
“Okay, this has escalated.” Gwen stands.
“Tell me he wouldn’t have raped Cora, or killed her, or both, Gwen!”
She looks down, which is confirmation enough.
I look at Cora, who is silently sobbing, Elle at her side.
I kneel down and take her hands. “I’m William’s blood, and she loves me. I’m William’s blood, and she has lived her life for me because, more than that, I’m Chloe’s sister. You, Cora, are her blood, her daughter, someone I know she has thought about every day of her life. You’re not a fucking rape baby. You’re?—”
“Your niece? Your sister? Both?” She shakes her head and laughs in disgust. “What am I, CeCe? What am I to you?”
“You’re family, and that means everything. And somehow, you came back into our lives, and for that, I’m grateful. And now I’m going to hug you because that’s what we sister slash niece and aunts do.”
As I hug her, she cries and laughs into my hair, then on my shoulder. Eventually, she passes out from exhaustion, head on the pillow on my lap, and she’s asleep and safe.
I love her so much already.
“You okay?” Gwen sniffs.
I look up as she’s wiping tears. “Are you?”
She nods.
