A Love Child Sequel
Josie and Casey met when they were fourteen and immediately became best friends. Nobody could make Josie laugh like Casey could. Nobody understood her the way he did. They were both sure that their friendship was special and they...
"Wow," I exhaled as I struggled to process this information. Knowing his history, it shouldn't be shocking that this was happening. Senator Barkley was known, to a select few people, to have slept around on his wife for a really long time. He had two older kids with his wife, but he also had two kids with another woman that were now in their twenties and thirties. I hadn't spoken to Eleanor or Casey in so long, but I still felt for them when realizing that they had another long lost sibling.
"I know this is a big deal," Shiloh said to me, beginning to pull out a manila folder from her book bag. "I have proof and everything. Birth certificate, pictures, messages between them, I have witness statements from my aunt."
I started flipping through the documents in the folder.
"I want everything to be anonymous, like you said. I don't care about my name getting out there, but I don't want my mom to get all of that public scrutiny. She'd be like Monica Lewinsky, and I don't want her caught in this," she added.
"Can I take this with me?' I asked her.
"Yes, these are just copies of the real documents," she stated. Shiloh was clearly very prepared for this meeting, and I wondered how long she'd been putting all of this together.
"I'll need to go through everything, confirm some facts," I said. Although I was inclined to believe her, I was also aware that people made claims like this quite often in hopes of getting a pay day from a rich politician. Silas Barkley had been in the game for quite some time, probably close to retirement, so he had a lot of money and it would make sense to target somebody like that for money. This was a serious accusation, and I needed to make sure all the facts were proven and indisputable if I were to move forward with this.
"I figured that. You can take all the time you need, I just want this story out there," Shiloh told me. "I want to scream it from the rooftops, but I don't want to expose my mom. I know she shouldn't have been sleeping with a married man, she's not perfect, but she doesn't deserve to get raked through the coals, ya know?"
"Of course, I totally understand. I promise, I'll do whatever I can to keep everything anonymous. You have to be warned though, that if this gets out, people will start snooping. This folder is a trail of evidence leading to your mother. Even if it's anonymous, there's the risk that it'll come out."
"It's worth it," she assured me after taking a deep breath. "I know it's risky."
I was still struggling to process the information throughout the entire meeting. If it was anybody other than Silas Barkley, it would be a bombshell, but it wouldn't rock me nearly as much as this did. I knew I had to tell Eleanor about the conversation I just had, after I confirmed that it was all true.
My communication with Eleanor began deteriorating after high school at no fault of hers, but it was hard for me to stay close to her after what happened with her brother, Casey. We still followed each other on social media, I liked all the pictures of her baby girl and she liked all of my cat pictures. We commented back and forth occasionally, but I hadn't seen her in person in over a year, despite the fact that we still lived in the same city.
Showing up at her doorstep to tell her about a long lost sister from her slutty father would be a pretty awkward reunion, but I didn't really feel like I had a choice.
When Shiloh left the deli, it seemed like a ton of weight had been lifted from her shoulders. I could tell that she'd been dying to give somebody this information for a while, and I hoped that I could give her whatever closure she was looking for.
As I drove back to the office, I was excited to tell Kim that I'd grabbed a huge story. It would skyrocket my career and I could imagine myself beating out Boris for the headliner stories. He would be the one writing about bakery burglaries and I'd get the body in the Potomac.
But I stopped quickly in my stride toward my boss's office when a different timeline ran through my head. What if she didn't trust me with such a huge story? She could give the story to one of the political writers, or Boris. Shiloh specifically sought me out and I felt like it'd be wrong to ask her to allow somebody else to publish a story that will rock her entire world.
Not only that, but I obviously wanted credit for publishing this story. I wanted it for selfish reasons, like recognition and career advancement, but I also wanted it because I felt close to the story. At least, I used to be close to the story, and I'd like to have some control over what and how things get published to protect Eleanor, or at least warn her before things go nuclear.
"What do you want, Josie?" Kim noticed me standing still outside of her office, probably looking like an idiot. She didn't even glance up from her laptop as she motioned me into her office.
I cleared my throat and stepped forward. "Um, just wanted to say that the burglary story will be on your desk by end of the week."
"That's the deadline, so I would hope so," she responded, again not looking up from her laptop. Her no-nonsense attitude used to be so much more intimidating to me when I first started at the paper. The way her brown bun pulled at her scalp, and not a single hair moved out of place all day, and her expensive suits and dresses were scary. But despite her tough business-like appearance, and the fact that she underestimated me as a journalist, Kim didn't scare me anymore. If anything, I admired the way that she didn't take anybody's shit, stood up for herself and her team, and made a name for herself at the Kripke Journal.
Even her desk felt sterile, as it was a vast oak desk with only a computer monitor and a succulent perched on the corner. The only evidence that Kim even existed outside of work was a small crayon drawing made by her daughter that she had pinned on the wall behind her.
"So I was thinking, I'll have some free time next week. There's some leads I want to follow up on, don't know if they'll pan out to anything," I continued to explain to her, keeping things vague as a way to protect Shiloh's story.
"Sure, if nothing else pops up," she said, still uninterested. I smile to myself, as I remembered when I first started at the journal and if I wanted to follow through on leads, she'd ask many questions about what the leads were and if they were worth my time. Even if it was a small win, I could tell that I was slowly gaining her trust.
"Coolio," I said, and then cringed at how lame I sounded. Kim flicked one sharp eyebrow at me and then looked back at her computer.
"I'm very busy, Josie," she stated, hinting at the fact that I should scram.
"Right, got it," I responded as I slowly backed out of the office and returned to my desk by Clary, who was begrudgingly beginning her research into the exciting world of insider trading.
-------------
Song: It Hurts Until it Doesn't - Mothers
What do you think about this title/cover? (for another story I'm working on) Not sure how I feel about it yet, need some other opinions!
Bad Boys are Overrated
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
