Page 14 of His Obsession

“Partially,” he says. “But I don’t want to say anything without all of the answers to the questions that you’ll ask. It’s easier if I help you find the answers on your own.”

“Is that code for saying you don’t want me to know?” I ask. He stops and turns to me, and I suddenly feel bad for implying he has malicious intentions.

“Elise, I lost my mother to a car wreck when I was three. I would give anything to find the answers to my questions about her. If I can help you find the answers to things I also questioned, I want to do it. There are no strings attached to that offer, despite what you are making yourself think,” he says. “I know I overwhelm you sometimes, but I do have your best interests at heart.”

“I appreciate that,” I say. He turns back and pulls a box out and brings it over to set it on the table.

“This should be it,” he says.

“What exactly am I looking for here?” I ask.

“Find Jennifer and look at her family information. I’ll find the box for the year Jennifer was born,” he says.

“How do you…”

“Because Jennifer and Carol grew up together,” he says. “They were best friends.”

Now I feel bad for being a cunt to Carol… She lost her husband, and then her friend. Why can’t people just tell me the answers?I guess it’s my fault because I haven’t actually asked anyone anything about her. I cannot expect people to just tell me. Not everyone wants people to just throw information out at them like that.

I search through the names until I find Jennifer Hart. I read the paper repeatedly, growing more confused by the second. It says that she had no relatives alive the year I was born. If she didn’t have any family, then either I am not actually her family, and we just happen to have the same last name or…

“Oh my God,” I whisper.

Lucian sets another box down before taking the paper out of my hand. “Keep looking,” he says softly.

I go to the next box and go through the same process. I find Jennifer Diane Hart. She was born January 15th, 1973. She has Phillip and Diane listed as her parents, but they both died the same year. She had no siblings listed at the time of her birth. I lay that down and find Diane Hart. She died at twenty-three. Her cause of death is listed as murder and had one child at the time of her death. I go to Phillip Hart and he is listed as deceased at the age of thirty of suicide, also with only one child.

“This… No,” I say as tears well. “No, this can’t be right.”

“Explain what you found,” Lucian says.

“Aunt Jennifer… Her parents died when she was six months old. Her mom of murder and her dad of suicide on the same day. Shehas no siblings,” I say. “If she didn’t have a sister… Then Aunt Jennifer is my mother.”

“Jennifer is your mother,” he says. He puts his hands on my shoulders, and I close my eyes to try to calm myself down.

“Why didn’t she just tell me that?” I ask, trying not to openly cry. “Why did she lie?”

“I’m sure she had her reasons,” he says. “Jennifer was a kind woman. If she lied, which she did, then she had to have a reason.”

“Did you know about me?” I ask, with venom sneaking into my voice as I open my eyes.

“No one did,” he says. “When Jennifer died, no one was expecting you to show up. We didn’t know she had a niece or a daughter.”

“Did no one know she was pregnant?” I ask.

“You’ll have to ask Carol if she remembers, but not that I’ve heard,” he says. “I’ve been trying to figure out why no one knew about you, but she obviously kept you a secret for a reason.”

“Why bring me back here, though? I knew when she passed I was getting her home, but she never went into detail. After all of this time, why did she even reach out?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I will look through Dad’s notes and see if I can’t find something.”

“All of her stuff is still at the house, so I can go through that to see if maybe there is anything that can give me an idea of who my biological father is,” I say. “I guess I will have to talk to Carol, but I doubt she will give me anything.”

“She will. Especially when she finds out that you’re Jennifer’s daughter,” Lucian says confidently.

“Pretty sure she hates me,” I say. “Actually, I am pretty sure most everyone hates me.”

“No one hates you. They are just reluctant to trust people. Carol is protective of Jennifer’s memory, so with no one knowing that you existed, Carol was afraid that you had lied or tricked her somehow into getting everything when she died.”