ANIMA

19. Best for everyone

Kenzie

For several seconds we are all frozen, Serena especially looks like a deer caught in headlights. Then the very next second she is dragging me to the parking lot as I try to resist. 

Tom and his dad keep up with us easily.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Don’t you think you need to explain this?” Tom’s dad says.

Serena looks around at the crowd we are attracting.

“Fine but not here” she says sounding put out.

Tom and his dad get into their car and follow us as we drive back to the house. Neither of us utters a single word the whole drive back.

Once we enter the house, the questions begin.

“How is Mack alive and why do you have her, Serena?”

“Everyone take a seat. I will explain everything from the beginning for Kenzie’s benefit.” Serena says.

“Andrew and I were friends in college-”

“How did that happen? You are all about everyone staying firmly in their own social circles.” I can’t help but ask.

“Do not interrupt. You can ask questions when I am done”

She says she and Andrew had a drunken…encounter. An obvious mistake, they were both married to other people.

When Serena found out she was pregnant, she convinced herself it was her husband’s baby. But when I was born she realized there was no way she could pass me off as Mark’s baby. So she called Andrew who showed up at the hospital with an almost due Kendall, his wife. She told them the truth.

Kendall decided then and there, it would take time to forgive Andrew but she would not let me be raised in foster care. She went into early labor, giving birth to a baby boy, Tom. We were registered as twins, Tomas and Mackenzie Malachi.

Serena told Mark that their baby had not made it but they didn’t tell anyone else. A few days later a baby was left on their doorstep, they told everyone that was their baby, Cassandra King.

“Dad am I…am I adopted?” Cassie asks Mark, startling us all.

“Yes…I mean no. You are my biological daughter but not your mom's. The result of a one night stand I had with a waitress.” Mark says wincing at the last part.

Cassie looks gutted. She has always liked to flaunt how she is such a true blue blood. It must suck to find out it’s not true.

“You didn’t tell me Kenzie is your biological daughter. You said her parents died, Serena!” Mark shouts.

“Do not raise your voice at me. All this is your fault! We weren’t even married a year and you were already cheating with anything with a pulse. It’s finding out about your serial infidelity that led me to drinking and making a mistake I shouldn’t have. Besides I always assumed you knew, isn’t that why you treat Kenzie the way you do?” Serena says.

He doesn’t appear the least bit remorseful after being called out for the way he treats me. I am not surprised.

What manages to surprise me is Serena. She knew who I was to her, saw how he treated me and chose to say nothing.

“Why did you take me from a loving family and bring me to this place. A house where my so-called sister hates me, your husband barely tolerates me and you pretend I don’t exist. Except of course when you need to parade me around as evidence of your good deeds.” I ask.

“Don’t be so dramatic Mackenzie. After handing you over to Kendall that day in the hospital, we didn’t keep in touch. It was what we agreed on. When Mark and I saw you seven years later in the same hospital, I didn’t recognize you. We were told you were the sole survivor of a car accident that killed your entire family. At the time Mark thought it would be a good idea to add philanthropy to our brand so we decided to adopt you.” Serena says, having the decency to at least look away at the last part.

It’s one thing to know you are nothing but a prop, it’s a whole different thing having it confirmed. It is not an amazing feeling. Tomas lays a comforting hand on my shoulder, I return a grateful look.

“But when you saw me at the mall, you didn’t look like you just saw a ghost. You looked guilty, you knew we were alive didn’t you?” Andrew asks.

“In the process of adopting Kenzie, I hired a private investigator to find out more about her family. That’s when I found out she was your daughter. But it was only three years later that I learned her family had not died but moved away to cope with the loss of your daughter. At that point I thought it would be better to continue thinking that you had died in the crash. It was better for everyone.” Serena says.

“Better for everyone? How was that better for Mackenzie or the rest of our family?” Andrew says.

Looking at how Tomas turned out, I have no doubt I would have been happier as a Malachi than I am as a King.

As they continue their back and forth, I go to my room and grab a suitcase.

“Need any help?” Tomas asks.

“Sure”

I only take the things I can’t live without, most of my stuff is at the dorm anyways. The rest I leave behind.

When we get back downstairs, they are still going at it. I don’t think they even noticed our absence.

I clear my throat; “I want to see mom” I say addressing Andrew.

“Of course” he replies.

“What do you mean? I am right here” Serena says, looking confused so do Mark and Cassie.

“I meant my real mom”

“I am your real mom! Have you not been listening?” Serena says exasperated.

“I understand that you are my biological mother, Serena but you are not my mom. That title belongs to Kendall, she loved me when she didn’t have to. When she should have hated what I represented.”

Andrew carries my suitcase and we drive to go see the only mom I have ever truly known.
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A/N

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- Oli 💌