Lies

Chapter 14:

"Mommy, whenever am I going to have another baby sister or brother?" I asked, looking at my mother who was sitting with her legs crossed outside by the pool. I had my own swimsuit on and it helped bring out the natural tan of my skin. I was five, Beckham three and it was a warm summer which we spent, my mother, Beckham and I out at the pool. I watched the ripples of the water from the pool lap up against the pool's edge sometimes spilling onto the dry pavement. I was close to the water and I put my hand on the water that spilled over the edge waiting for my mother to answer me.

I looked over at her, sitting in the pool chair with expensive sunglasses, shielding her eyes from the hot sun that was beating down on all of us. She took a deep breath and pushed the sunglasses on top of her blonde head. Her beautiful mascara eyelashes cast shadows upon her cheeks as she looked at me.

"Is Beckham not enough, darling?" She asked, trying to put on a smile.

"He is fine but I want a sister." I said, sitting up on my butt. I looked at Beckham that had fallen asleep in a chair near my mother. His chest rose and fell as he slept and the dark brown hair that was going to need a cut soon was plastered to his head with sweat.

"I know you do, Iris. But with daddy gone, I don't think I can take care of three children all by myself." My mother said, looking away and trying again to smile.

I smiled back because I was only a child then. I didn't see any of the signs. My father gone most of the time and my mother not wanting to ever talk about him. I should have known; I should've seen it. Now, that I had seen Lee everything was confirmed.

My father had an affair with his mother whoever she was. He was my half brother and it rocked me right to my core. There was a reason that seven years had passed between Beckham and Nia's birth. Something had happened in those seven years that prevented my parents from producing anymore children. It made sense.

But what didn't was that he kept the Mayflower's from us. He should've told us that we had another brother. But I guess that would have created more confusion and when you're little you don't understand things very well. So, was that why my father had been acting strangely?

That couldn't be it. This did not seem like the last piece of the puzzle. I could tell there was more, way more and that my father was in very deep. So deep that he would pay multiple people off to be silent. But where to start looking?

XXXX

The building was shaped like a house as most law firms were. It's exterior was built from brick and the top decorated by black shingles. The grass was cut in a most mannered way that spoke that the owners cared about upkeep and flowers were planted at the entrance to give the building a more vibrant touch. All I cared about was the name that was planted at the entrance of the law firm: Lee Mayflower.

Looking him up yesterday, suggested that he was a divorce lawyer in a town twenty five minutes from Ranglewood and came highly recommended. The picture that had struck me as a young picture of my father showed that the man I now knew as my brother had a goofy smile. His head was covered with a stylish brown mop of hair that all men seemed to be wearing that certain way. His blue suit had been crisp and his striking, blue eyes matched the blue of his tie.

I got out of the car and made my way inside of the building. The building was shaped almost like a doctor's office with a waiting area; with chairs the color of black and walls the color of marble and a secretary's desk with a woman sitting behind it, typing away, at the right of the entrance. A TV was playing the latest news and magazines sat for clients to enjoy while they waited.

I turned towards the woman who seemed not to have known that I had entered. Her eyes did not leave her computer as I walked towards her. I noticed that her eyes never left the computer as she typed, quickly and never having to use the backspace. I also noticed that her workspace was very unorganized and coffee cups littered it like a new fallen rain.