Rabidity (Jane Loft-series #1)

Chapter 3

I stare at her. I know I'm supposed to say something, anything, but I can't bring myself to do it. Amelia's my mother. How?

"How is that possible?" I breathe, standing up from the bench, burying my hands in my hair and walking back and forth. "Why did you send me away? Why didn't you just keep me with you, like you did with Adam?"

The tears are streaming over her face and when she reaches for me, I take a step back. "The fight between your father and Liam became dangerous," she explains. "I didn't want you to be caught up in it. I had some connections in Zickenbridge and knew you'd be safer there."

"And Adam?"

"He was Liam's son. He wouldn't hurt his own child," she assures me. "But you, James' daughter, were in danger. Liam wasn't a bad person, but he was mad and hurt. He might've done something he'd regret later."

"Tell me, Amelia," I say, sitting back on the bench, but far enough from her. "Are you telling the truth?"

She nods through her tears. "Why would I lie about this?"

I shake my head and shrug. "Why didn't you come to visit me?"

She looks at the ground. "I couldn't bring myself to do it. My sources told me you were happy, so who was I to sabotage that?"

"Happy?" I gasp. "The people who I thought were my real parents died in a terrible accident, I ended up in a foster family where the man was horrible and the woman incredibly unhappy. I haven't had any friends my entire life! How could they say I was happy?"

Amelia's lower lip begins to tremble. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know that."

"I don't need your apologies," I say, waving them away. "It's too late for that. I want you to prove you care about me."

"I do," she sobs. "What do you want me to do?"

I look at her and blink the tears away. "Tell me the rest. Tell me all of it. Right now, right here."

Amelia nods frantically. "What do you want to know?"

"Who are Trevor's parents?" I ask.

She looks troubled. "Don't freak out, but Trevor's parents are Lily Fox and Henry."

WHAT? Trevor and Summer are brother and sister?

"They are actually twins," my biological mother continues. "But they never knew."

I think about their blonde hair and crazy green eyes. They're both approximately the same size and are both equally beautiful. How is it possible I never realized? "Why did you separate them?"

"We assumed it would be easier for them." She hesitates for a second. "And for us."

I don't understand. "Why?"

"If they were together, the chance was bigger they would have figured out the people they lived with weren't their real parents. We also gave them different surnames. Summer got hers mother's and Trevor got Henry's."

My eyes widen. "They dated! How is that easier for them now? They were a couple for a few months and now they find out they're related. They probably kissed and - and..." I can't bring myself to say it.

Amelia shakes her head. "We made sure nothing like that ever happened."

I don't want to know how they did that.

"Have you told them already?" I ask instead.

She nods. "They're both shocked."

Wow, imagine that, I think sarcastically. "Why did Lily and Henry abandoned them, too?"