Previously On Triplets Apart:
Jada gets dressed up and flys to Illinois where she meets her biological mother for the very first time. Before leaving L.A, she calls Tariq and settles her vendetta against him, claiming that it's not her place to be upset.
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Her caramel laced, supple skin, her nose, even the bored expression she wears unknowingly on her face.. she's everything that I am.
"Young lady." She tilts her head to the side as I blink a few times back to life.
"Heh.. hello." I stutter, lost for speech so I extend an arm..
She looks at my hand before shaking it uncomfortably. A warm feeling travels beneath my skin, feeling her flesh for the first time. All my life, I should've been often wrapped in her arms and secured with her warm comfort.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Her brows crinkle.. just like mine would.
"Susan Grey?" I ask.
"Yes?" She says hesitantly.
"I need to.. speak to you.. about something." I ramble.
"Why?"
"Trust me, it's very important." I plea to let her realize that I'm serious.. that this is serious. She searches my eyes for a few seconds in consideration and I hope she found her answers.
"I don't know you from anywhere. What's this about? Speak here." Her eyes narrows at me.
"You don't know me and you have no reason to trust me.. but believe me, it's very important, I swear to God. You can search me if you like and I came alone." I plea with clasped hands, letting her see that I'm desperate, as much as how hard it is to seem vulnerable. She scans me curiously with her eyes from head to toe.
"Follow me." She tells me hesitantly as she walks pass me. Her steps comes to a halt then she looks at me with knitted brows as if she's thinking something. She then retreats into the house.
I enter after her, realizing it's nice and simple inside and there's vases filled with flowers almost everywhere. She does loves flowers. She heads around the back area as I stay rooted to my spot, nervously trying to find a loose strand on my leather pants to play with which I actually think is impossible. She returns without her bags.
"Uhm, so I haven't cooked yet.. would you like a slice of banana bread and some lemonade? Or something.."
I wouldn't say she's being polite, at least this is her version of that term. You cannot sense her generosity by her face expression, hell, you'd think she's mean.. instead, its visible in her eyes and in her voice. She doesn't want to come off as too nice but she certainly is if you should look closer behind the mental walls she'd built. But why? She is scared, she doesn't trust and I want to know why. She is totally my mother. I almost choke on my own breath at the thought but not in a bad way.
I'm so happy for my dad, well, my adopted dad. I can observe people without asking even one question.
"Yes, thank you."
She turns away and returns with the banana bread on a small plate and a tall glass of ice cold lemonade. As I taste the banana bread, it is one of the most divine thing I've ever eaten.
"God damn, this is amazing." My speech comes off muffled from my stuffed mouth.
"You shouldn't talk with a mouth filled with food." She scolds me with a half smile. I swallow and take a sip of her refreshing lemonade then brush my hands together.
"Could you.. remind me of who you are?" She asks.
"My name is... Jada White, I attend St. Alejandro's College." I say and she nods attentively, urging me to continue. "It's a private school." I add awkwardly, not knowing what else she wants to know.
I can tell that my name doesn't even ring a bell to her.
Okay.
"Do you have any children?"
"I.. I have a daughter. She's 5, in pre school. What is this about?" She was reluctant to answer, the question definitely tickled a nerve but she sticks to her composure.
I stare at her for a few seconds in deep thought that I actually have a little sibling.
"Can you uhh.. think a little further back? Like uhm.. 18 years back?" Desperation is obviously in my voice and she knows that now.
Her eyes widens before she glares at me, stiffening her body. The small percent of walla that went down are back up and stronger than before. Maybe I shouldn't have said that so quickly.
"Who sent.. who sent you here? Who are you?" Fear fills her eyes, her eyes constantly dart between me and the door behind me. Does she think I was being tailed? Why is she so scared?
"It's okay."
"You have to go." She paces towards the door. She opens the door and sticks her head out to look left and right, then out on the street. She now turns to me and gestures for me to leave.
What?
"Please leave my house." her voice and her body fidgets. She is immensely uneasy next to shaking.
"I'm not here to cause trouble, Susan. Or should I say, Cameron?" My dumb and impulsive self earns a death glare from her. I really have a death wish, I should've never said that. Well not that way. What is wrong with me?
"Get out of my house!" She screams in panic. Her eyes shooting deadly daggers at me and I can almost physically feel them.
"Miss Fernandez, I promise you that I'm here off my own will and no one knows about this. I came alone too. You are scared of something, but I can assure you, you are not in any danger, I swear on my life!" I plea in sincerity as I stretch my palms forward to her to calm her.
"Who are you?" She whispers with her eyebrows knitted. Her voice is strained with a pained expression eating her up.
I stare into her eyes, wild emotions and anxiety flashes through me, making the depths of my stomach turn.
"I'm yours, Cameron. Your daughter." I say softly, the air in the room suddenly gets thicker.
Her eyes doesn't widen this time. Instead, there's a painful and immobilized look in them. She's so consumed with shock that I'm afraid she might faint especially because she has deflated and seeming physically weak. She stares at me with intense emotions flashing across her face. Closing the door slowly without losing eye contact from me. After a while, she's hesitantly taking steps closer to me. We stand face to face just intensely gazing in each other's eyes.
Her brows unknits in somewhat realization and I can tell her questions have somewhat been answered. Very tenderly, she cups my cheek gently, very gently with one palm then using the other hand, glazing her fingers over my face, scanning it in deep focus as her eyes search mine. Shivers running up and down my spine the entire time at her touch once again. The fire right now is about to burn us both alive.
She cups both my cheeks in her soft, heavenly palms, staring at me as if she's searching for something and she's desperately hoping that the answer is there. I'm desperately hoping that the answer is there. Tears form in the back of my eyes as I exhale a breath that's been trapped in my throat way too long now.
"It's really you." She finally says softly, allowing a single tear travels down her face. It's like a pain that she's been enduring, darkly clouding her life for a long time is finally making its way away from her.
She embraces me in a tender hug. I slowly place my hands around her waist.. a tear finally leaves my own eye, I scowl as I bite my lower lip.
The moment suddenly feels magical, she's like an angel without wings and an invisible halo floats above her head. This is it. It's finally happening. My heart threatens to jump right through my chest any moment now and I've never felt so emotional in all my life.
A few moments later, we sit together in a couch with one of her arms around me, my knees are up against my chest as my arms wrapped around them.
"Tell me everything that happened." I say.
She looks at me, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips. "I can't do that." She's hiding something but she thinks she's protecting me.
"Mother.. all my life I've lived inside of a lie. I came all this way, all by myself not to be lied to again, the least you can do is tell me the truth. I want to know where I come from, I want to know who I am." I plea, she glances at me again then looks away in thought.
"18 years ago, it all happened. I made a big mistake." She starts and the thought that I'm about to hear the story of my history makes my heart leaps. Am I even ready for this? "I had an affair with a very powerful man. I worked as a maid in his mansion and I fell in love with him. I got pregnant for him. His wife was also pregnant at the same time of my pregnancy." She swallows and I hug myself tighter, biting on my lower lip.
A maid? An affair with a powerful man? His wife? In the same house? Both pregnant?
Okay.
"Before I could tell him that I was pregnant, his wife found out about us and discovered that he was responsible for my pregnancy. She gave me 2 choices, she would have me killed or she would've given away my child the minute it's born. If I died, then most likely you would too, so I chose life.. so you could live." She takes my palm in hers and lets out a sigh.
"When I gave birth, I only had you in my arms for a week, only because I was still in the hospital. The day I got home, I saw three men dressed in black, seated in my living room as if they owned the place and they were untouchable, awaiting my arrival." She knits her brows, squeezing her eyes shut as a tear still manages to slip through her long lashes.
"They.. they took you away and I never saw you again.. until now. I cried day and night, wondering where you are, if you were safe, if you were healthy. Every night I went to sleep, I saw your father's beautiful brown eyes. All I wanted to do was touch your little face." She whispers with a smile as tears continue to run down slowly.
I can't even imagine that kind of pain.
I cover my lips, Maybe I wasn't ready to hear this story at all.
"But.. why did she really have to do that to you? I understand that she loves her husband but to give away the child at birth? To threaten to kill you? That's just ruthless and inhumanly!" I exclaim.
She chuckles. "She didn't do it because she loved him, dear. She did it because of power, greed and status for herself. Something huge was about to happen in their lives and they would've lost it by having the world find out that her husband had an affair with the maid and got her pregnant. You see, your father and his wife were growing apart, most of the relationship wasn't even real to begin with but when he found out that she was pregnant, that was the only reason he stuck around. For his name and for his family." She relaxes her posture just a little bit.
"He loved me, he truly did and that's why she changed my identity after sending me away when I was 1 month pregnant. She knew that he would come looking for me and she wouldn't risk him finding me pregnant. She knew he would find me anywhere in the world I was, and the only way to prevent that was to destroy my old identity.. without even my consent. She made me into Susan Grey and erased Cameron Fernandez forever." She finishes and I feel my heart stopped for a split second.
I feel like I've just died and came back as a zombie.
I sit here frozen in shock and disbelief, trying to process what I'm hearing, trying to hold back the tears that are already running down.
"How can one person be so heartless? What kind of.. sick person separates a child from its parents like that? Why couldn't she just send you away with me? Why did she have to split us up?" I ask.
"Because she knew that one day you'd grow up and you'd want to know who your father is. And she also was worried that if he found me one day with a child, he'd do the math, years difference and resemblance and know you're his. She worked hard to hide every trace. But apparently she didn't hide it well enough." She searches my eyes and smile.
"Mom?" I say softly.
"Yes sweetheart?"
"Who is my father?"
Her neck snaps towards me.. it's something she doesn't want to say but the look in her eyes tells me that she doesn't want me to suffer any more secrets. Then the words escapes her lips..
"Your father's name is David Dé'Neilio. President of the United States."
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