Then There Was You (AMBW)

Meeting The Family pt 2

Dakota

  Two days had passed and now we were sitting in the health center. Since my father was a doctor, he was able to rush the results so the day we took the test would be the day we find out if I am their daughter or not. My legs were shaking, I was so nervous and scared to know. Shayne held one hand and Alice held the other. I was grateful for them being here to support me, but my anxiety kicked into overdrive when I saw the doctor walk in with a white folder.
  The doctor stood in front of us and we all stood to our feet; my parents, grandparents, siblings, Alice, Jace and Shayne. We were all nervous.
"In the case of 24 year old Dakota L. Lake. It has been determined that Angela Ashley and Clarence Dillons, you are her biological mother and father by 99.99%."
Screams of happiness and joy erupted throughout the waiting area. I grabbed the papers from the doctor and looked at them myself. When I saw that I was in fact their daughter I fell to my knees. I cried and cried some more.
  Alice helped me to my feet and pulled me into a hug. "I'm so happy for you!" She cried. Angela was next to hug me and then my father. I was so happy. I finally had a family.
Looking around the room, I noticed that Shayne had disappeared. Glancing at Alice, she motioned towards the door. Excusing myself, I walked out of the building and saw Shayne quickly wipe his face.
  "It's okay to cry." I smiled closing the distance between us. I pulled him into a hug and we stood like that for a moment, earning smiles from passersby.
"I'm so happy for you." He whispered. He pulled away but didn't let me go. His lips pressed against mine in a heated kiss, both of us so caught up in the moment we didn't even realize we were being watched.
"Baby number one is on the way." Alice sang.
Smiling against his lips, I pulled away and faced my best friend and my family.
Aside from Shayne's very accepting family and my crazy friend, it feels so good to finally have one of my own.

****

   The next morning I woke up and stared at the ceiling. The sunlight streaming through the window giving the room an ethereal feeling. Shayne's soft snoring finally capturing my attention. I turned towards him and smiled pushing his hair out of his face. Gently kissing his lips I crawled out of bed,. After yesterday's news, I didn't have to worry about taking off pajamas this morning thanks to a certain someone.

I took a quick shower, scrubbing myself with my vanilla body wash. Wrapping myself in a towel I walked out and rummaged through my suitcase until I found the perfect outfit. A navy blue asymmetrical drawstring blouse and a pair of black distressed jeans.
Black and white goes with anything. I thought. Opening the second compartment of my bag, I pulled out my black wedges and smile. My outfit was complete.
"My sister would say that's too many dark colors." I jumped out of my skin and Shayne smiled.
After I had recovered, Shayne suggested something different.
"What do you suggest?" I asked.
Getting out of bed in only boxers, I had to stop myself from drooling. He looked through my clothes, every now and then he would hold something up to me and then shake his head and search for something else. Finally, he settled on a baby pink short sleeve fold pleated blouse, a pair of white skinny jeans and my white wedge heels and a white lace bra and panty set. I wanted to hide just then.
Girl, the man has seen you naked. Why are you embarrassed. Get it together Dakota.
Standing to my feet, I let the towel fall and got dressed in my outfit. I applied some light makeup and wore my natural curls.
"So what do you have planned for today?" Shayne asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.
"I have to ask Clarence something. Something that's been bothering me since I found out they were my parents."
"Which is?" Shayne asked kissing my neck ever so gently.
"There's two parts to a story. I have one but I need the other." I breathed.

Shayne slowly kissed up my neck and bit my ear. Moaning, I turned in his arms and kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Before this could go any further, I pulled away and promised him that he could have me tonight. Kissing him one last time, I left out of the room so he could get ready for the day. Walking down the stairs and into the small space I saw Alice and Phoenix talking at the island. Alice sipping on coffee and Phoenix holding a cup of orange juice.
"What are you two talking about?" I asked. Phoenix sat her cup down and ran towards me and hugged me, nearly knocking me off my feet. Alice gushed a little bit and taking out her phone, she snapped a picture.
"That's going on a t-shirt." Alice smiled observing the picture. Smiling, I hugged her back and asked her where Clarence was.
"You mean dad." Phoenix smiled.
"Yes, dad." It was gonna take some getting used to before I start calling Angela and Clarence by their proper titles but I'll come around eventually.
"He's in the house in his office." I thanked her and made my way into the main house.

    Closing the slide door behind me, I walked through the kitchen but stopped when I saw a baby in high chair eating cereal. She was probably a year old with dark hair and hazel eyes. The baby smiled up at me and I lifted her up into my arms, holding her. She nuzzled into my chest, her hand resting against my heart before her eyes closed.
"Her name is Danika, but we all call her Dani." Turning around I saw Ava shaking a bottle of milk. I gave Danika to her mother and watched her feed her and rock her back to sleep.
"You thought about having kids one day." Ava asked with a smile.
"No." I answered.
"Do you want kids?" Ava asked sitting in a chair holding Danika closer.
Did I want children? Maybe, maybe not. I do want to experience motherhood one day but I wonder what kind of mother I would be. Maybe not having kids was the better option but it's not just me that I have to think about. I would gladly give Shayne a baby, but does he want kids?
"I don't know." I finally answered.
"Don't wait too long." Ava stood up and walked into the living room and turned on the tv.

  Turning away, I walked up the stairs and headed towards Clarence's office. I took a deep breath and knocked twice.
"Come in." Clarence called from the other side.
Here goes nothing. I thought as I opened the door and entered the huge office.
"Hi Dakota. What can I do for you?" Clarence asked as he closed his laptop.
"I need you to fill in some blanks for me." I said sitting in one of the chairs.
"Okay, like what?" Clarence asked.
"What really happened between you, Angela and Hillary? Did you really date her?"

Clarence sighed and shook his head. "Hillary and I never dated before. Hell we barely spoke in school. The only time I had a real conversation with Hillary is when our teacher assigned us as partners for a project we had to do."
I soaked all of this in. She lied to me again, that's no surprise.
"Explain." I said and Clarence sighed.
"Hillary and I were acquainted our sophomore year of high school but it never went beyond that. A few weeks into the project I had went over to her house because we had to work on the report for our project and it was then the I noticed just how insane the woman was. I was in her room staring at myself in her closet, there was a shrine of me in there. After that I had left trying to wrap my head around what I saw and it really messed me up for a few months. She had stalked me over the course of three months."

What the fuck! Not only was Hillary abusive but she was insane.

Clarence continued to talk. "I met your mother six months after the incident and I finally felt like things were going back to normal until after junior year, specifically after our football team's victory dance. The stalking got worse and I eventually ended up filing a restraining order and she had to switch schools. I thought it would get better now that the problem was gone but it didn't. Social media became a playground for her then. Fake accounts, mean messages, threats, I had had enough and the police got involved again and I deleted my accounts. Fast forward a year after graduation, I had proposed to your mother. Towards the middle of planning our wedding we found out Angela was pregnant with Andrew. She had crashed our baby shower and even attempted to kill your mother. Of course that didn't work and she was sent to jail for a few months."

I was living with a fucking psycho for sixteen years. She was very good at hiding her insanity especially in public. I think it was the times when she got too calm that scared me, because I never knew what would happen next or when it would happen.
Clarence continued.

"A year and a half passes and by then we had Andrew and Ava had just turned two months old and we were expecting you now. Three months later, after you were born you were taken from us and it hurt all of us because we figured out who took you a few hours too late. We searched for years but your name was changed and the only picture we had of you was when you were a baby."

I was shaking now. I calmed myself and glanced at my father. "Thank you for telling me that. I have my closure now."
Clarence nodded and I walked out of his office. Tomorrow we leave for home but for the next few hours I'm gonna try not to think about what I had just learned.