Page 89 of The Married Alpha And His Arrow: Vol 2

I asked, “Can you do that link thing with Eric? He could have Haley pop to us.” Seconds later Haley popped in. I smiled, “Thanks for the clothes. I haven’t even bought maternity stuff yet.” Haley smiled and looped her arm through mine. She said, “That’s why you have me, Lex.” Chase grabbed my hand and Haley popped us down to the meeting.

The first thing I noticed was there were a crap ton of people in here. James and Jasper came up first and gave me a hug. Heath was beside me in a second. Jordan came over and stretched out his hand. I surprised us both by hugging him.

We sat down. My dad’s father Donald spoke first, “Now that we’ve waited for you for an extra fifteen minutes….” My anger snapped and I interrupted him, “If we are keeping score Heath and I should make you wait twenty-five more years to see us. Right, big brother?” Heath answered, “That sounds about right.”

Jordan interjected, “Let’s keep this on task.” The woman beside him nudged him. Jordan smiled, “Right, let me introduce my family. This is my string, Scarlett. Two of our children you know already. We have Jasper, James, Jessie, and Charlotte.” Heath whispered in my ear, “A non-J name.” I whispered, “Scarlett?”

Jordan smiled, “Yes, your mom was good friends with her.” I looked at the woman my parents had honored and part named me for and felt a little robbed. Why didn’t they let Heath and I meet the two people they named us for? Jordan was his middle name and Scarlett was mine.

Jordan’s kids all said hello. Heath and I nodded to them too. A woman stepped forward, “I’m your Aunt Izzy, your mom’s sister. This is my string, Harrison. These are our children Ava and Don.” A man stepped forward, “I’m your Uncle Elijah, I’m your mother’s brother. This is my string, Liz. These are our children Carter, Tobias, Wilder, and Adair.”

Another woman stepped forward, “I’m your aunt too but on the other side of the family. You can call me Aunt Janelle.” Hard pass. She wasn’t my aunt in any way that mattered. She continued, “I’m your dad’s little sister. I have all the twins over there. So, we have Nicole and Neil, then Nancy and Nate, lastly Virginia and Scott.”

Virginia chimed in, “I go by Ginny.” Aunt Janelle sighed. She added, “My string couldn’t make it, but his name is Michael.” Why were we doing this? Another man stepped forward, “I’m your mother’s oldest brother, Brady. This is my string, Serena. These are my kids Ellen, and Paige.”

I looked at my cousins saying, “I apologize if I get your names wrong. There are a lot of you.” Jasper spoke, “It’s fine, we know.” Heath said, “You all seem very close for people who supposedly didn’t like our parents together.”

Serena spoke quietly, “I’m also your aunt on your father’s side. He was my younger brother.” I sighed because apparently we weren’t answering questions. Before I could speak my dad’s father came forward, “I’m grandpa Donald and this is your grandmother Sandy.”

Our other grandfather came forward, “I’m Detrick and this is Mary Beth.” I rolled my eyes saying, “Ok. So, I don’t actually know what you know Heath. Let me catch you up from what I know. It seems someone, I’m guessing Betty Newcome, told the group over there; well the adults anyway, we didn’t want anything to do with them.” Everyone tensed.

I snarked, “They all decided that they should listen to ONE person’s word that we didn’t want anything to do with them at eight and eleven years old. They left us as orphans to be raised by several different members of OUR Shroud. Shuffling from house to house until your house was built then we were checked in on by different families starting when I was ten and you were thirteen.”

I continued, “They thought I was AA; they had NO idea you had a moniker, and they essentially suck balls as family.” Donald spoke, “I will not tolerate…” He was flung backwards. Haley stood, “This is MY fucking home. YOU do not tolerate shit here, I do. You are free to leave if you’d like, but if you want to speak again I suggest you change your fucking tone.”

She pointed a finger at him, “YOU fucked up here, so you sit there and let the right Scott’s say their piece. Or throwing you into the wall will be the tip of the knife of what I do to you.” Allie squeezed my hand.

Serena asked her, “You know the saying iceberg, right? Tip of the iceberg.” I chuckled quietly. Haley shouted, “WHO THE FUCK CARES?!” She flopped down dramatically in her chair. I said, “Thank you Haley. Heath, what do you know?”

Heath said, “I know Jordan was framed for the murder of Izzy’s twin, Lizzy. It’s believed she was Hanson’s string.” I gaped. To murder your string? That’s harsh. I held up my hands, “Did anyone see her body?”

Izzy stood and clutched her hand to her chest. Detrick asked, “You don’t think she’s dead?” Haley scoffed, “Seriously? You didn’t see a fucking body? Who told you she was dead? Eric, don’t you just BET it was Betty Fucking Newcome. Someone bet me. These people are morons. Your own daughter, Jesus. Do you give a damn about ANYONE besides yourself?”

My jaw dropped. Heath said, “Don’t say it. Just don’t say you didn’t see her body.” Izzy started shaking and crying. Detrick was in shock while Mary Beth had gone deathly pale. Heath yelled, “Oh for god’s sake! I’m taking your silence as confirmation you didn’t see her body. Taking that logic a step further Haley is right, Betty Newcome told you Izzy was dead. How the HELL did anyone buy Jordan killed her? On the word of one person!” Jordan asked, “Dad? That’s not true, right? You saw the body.” No one answered him.

Chase chimed in, “It had to be magic. Neither family was there when it happened.” I cringed. Emmaline’s eyes filled with tears. I whispered to her, “That’s not your fault. This was well before you were born.” She nodded and looked away.

Donald said, “So, we are saying Lizzy is alive somewhere.” I pointed out, “Even if you don’t like your string killing them, especially if they didn’t reject you, is almost impossible.” Izzy gathered herself, “Lizzy was…I mean is so smart she wouldn’t reject him. Especially if it would keep her alive. Oh god.” She started to sob, but I didn’t have time for her.

I said, “So Heath, continue with what you know proving they should’ve come for us so much sooner. We are MUCH smarter than they are.” Heath sighed, “We now need to find our other aunt who is probably alive. I cannot believe you...” He trailed off then amended, “Actually, you know what? I can. I CAN believe you just accepted someone’s word over something so important. Whatever.”

Heath sighed, “Our parents likely had magic placed on them, spelling them not to believe Jordan or their families, and to cut them off. I know everyone believes this is some sick obsession with our mother, but it can’t be.” I jerked my head towards him in surprise.

Heath said, “Think about it, Lex. They were isolated from their family already. It was just them for years. Why wait until after she had kids? I was eleven and you were eight. Why wait that long? Something else is going on here. I’m sure Hanson is a crazy psycho obsessed with our mom, but…”

I agreed theorizing, “Something happened. Maybe they were fighting the magic. Maybe they couldn't be controlled anymore?” Heath questioned, “What would have been lost if Dad and Mom reconnected with family?” I was stumped.

So, I looked at Jordan. He admitted, “I don’t know. We had a few people go missing on missions. We might have found them together.” Heath said, “We can figure that out later, I guess. I also know that they didn’t know we saw mom and dad’s dead bodies.” I admitted, “I actually knew that too.”

Serena said, “We just wanted to honor their wishes.” Brady added, “We didn’t know they were under any sort of magic.” I snidely asked, “You knew how old we were though, right?” Brady nodded. I said, “You were angry with them, and you took it out on us.”

Everyone simultaneously yelled, “NO!” Heath argued, “You did. No one in their right mind thinks an eight- and eleven-year-old should make a decision like that based on one woman’s word. You should’ve at least demanded to meet us so we could tell you what we wanted and you know it.” They were all silent.

Tobias spoke, “You even kept us from them. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m so mad at all of you I can’t see straight.” He turned to us, “All of us cousins want to get to know you guys. We should’ve pushed harder when we became adults.”

I cut him off, “We were kids. The adults were supposed to be the ones who were always right. They were supposed to guide us. This isn’t any of your faults.” Heath said, “I agree. It’s not your fault. I want to know what Betty Newcome looks like.” Izzy handed him a photo.

I peeked over his shoulder. I didn’t know that woman. Heath admitted, “I don’t know her.” I said, “Me either. Is that what she still looks like? Don’t you have a recent photo? What about Hanson?” Izzy handed us another photo of the man in question. He was handsome when this was taken. His eyes seemed to shout I’m angry and crazy. I’d never seen either of these people though.

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