Raspberries & Cream for Three (Boyxboy)

Chapter 17: Recollections.

Eileen Priestley.

Cameron's POV.

It was hard not to be affected by their show of emotion. I tried hard to keep a brave face on, but tears of sympathy flowed as soon as I saw Eileen and Margaret crying too.

John, bless him, tried to keep a stiff upper lip and constantly kept blowing his nose.

Eventually the tears on the twins' faces dried up as they turned to look at the other information they had been given.

Kaiden pulled out of the paperwork in front of him and his face burst into the biggest of smiles. "It says I was born at 01:18 am. It even has the address where we were born. I'm sure we were told we were born in Whipps Cross Hospital." He waved his birth certificate at Keegan, all excitedly.

"No Kaiden. It's right. You weren't born in hospital," Eileen told him. "You were born in your grandmother's house. Your grandmother delivered you both before an ambulance arrived. You were taken to Whipps Cross Hospital afterwards."

I saw Keegan's wry smile. "I remember Gran saying about that now. Do you remember Kaiden? It was when she said about me being the oldest by 9 minutes. I can't remember her saying anything about the time though. How do you know this Eileen."

"When you were taken into care your grandmother's friend, who she mentioned in her letter to you, had written what history she knew about you all. Things that your grandmother had said to her during their friendship."

I watched the pair of them as they talked excitedly about the contents of the envelope. The main focus of their excitement had been of them learning that their Asian origin was Thai.

It made me realise how fortunate I was to know all about who I was. I have always known the facts surrounding my birth. Where and when I was born. Although it was not written on my birth certificate, like it is with twins, I knew the time and what my weight was. It was because my parents had made a special book for me, complete with pictures and a lock of hair, containing all those precious details.

They had done the same for all my siblings. It was certainly my most treasured possession and I would think it was theirs.

I really couldn't comprehend the twins dealing with not ever having had any of this information. It saddened me that they had spent all this time not knowing who they were or what their heritage was. It must have been awful for them.

"It was only on reading your grandmother's letter," said Eileen in a break of the twins' almost constant chattering, "that I wondered if you really knew about your parentage. When I took over your case and went through your previous social workers case notes and information we had on file for you, it clearly said you knew everything there was to know about your family history prior to being taken into care. We have copies of your birth certificates and your grandmother's friends letter on file too. I'm so sorry boys. I took everything I was told as gospel. I should have checked with you. I really am so sorry."

Keegan looked at Kaiden before answering. It was a look of annoyance. "We've been told nothing about anything before you took over Eileen. I told you when I first met you how badly we were being treated. No one has ever given us a proper answer to any of the questions we've ever asked. It was always 'I will check and get back to you' or 'we have no information about this'. We gave up asking anything in the end as it was a waste of time. We assumed no one knew."

Eileen smiled meekly back. "I can't even think that I can repair the damage this has done, or justify the reasons any of this was kept from you. What I can promise you is that whatever questions you have still I will find answers for you. Even if it is to tell you that you have to be 18 before I do."