Broken Souls (Souls #1)

Chapter 29 - Matthews

"Mom?"

That one word has me spinning around to look at Destiny who is standing behind me with a confused and wary look etched on her face. Slowly she steps around me and walks closer to Lizzie.

"Mom?" She asks again with tremble in her voice.

I drag my gaze away from Destiny to look at Lizzie. She has a blank look on her face and is not saying anything or moving a muscle.

"Now, what is going on here?" My father bellows as his gaze cuts from his fiancé to my girlfriend. Enveloped in confusion and shock, I do not say anything and together my father and I watch the girls, waiting for an explanation.

Destiny finally opens her mouth to speak again.  "Mom!" Destiny says forcefully and her eyebrows turn down.

Lizzie finally speaks saying icily, "I do not know what you are talking about. I have no idea who you are."

Tears prick in the corner of Destiny's eyes as she looks at the woman. "You know who I am," she says as she stabs her chest with her finger.

"No. I have no idea."

"Mom!" Destiny says angrily. She walks straight up to Lizzie so that they are nose to nose. Both of them are the same height so Destiny stares into Lizzie's eyes hard. For the first time I notice that their eyes are the same shade of blue and that they both have the same face shape.

"Where have you been all these years?" Destiny cries out as she surveys Lizzie with a look from her head, to her toes and then back up again. "Partying and wasting your life?" She says with disgust. "Why did you leave? Why did you do it? Dad completely broke down after he found out you left." Tears are freely flowing out of her eyes now and she tries to mop them with her sleeve. "Did you know that he's dead now? Did you? No, I didn't think so. Well, he is. He's gone. He passed away two years ago. Passed away two years ago stupidly still loving your good for nothing-"

I run up to Destiny and pull her away from Lizzie before she attacks her or says something she may regret afterwards. I dump Destiny on my bed stare at her not knowing what to do. Then suddenly an idea comes to mind. I drag Destiny's right arm sleeve up to her elbow and look at her small, unusual heart shaped birthmark imprinted on her smooth skin right below her elbow. Then, I make my way over to Lizzie and do the same to her as I have done to Destiny even though she tries to twist out of my grasp and screams, "Pervert." Destiny mentioned once how she and her mother had a similar birthmark located on their right arms. If Lizzie has a heart shaped birthmark below her right elbow also then she and Destiny would no doubt be mother and daughter.

"Get your hands off me," Lizzie hisses.

As soon as the last word is out of her mouth I get her sleeve above her elbow and stare at the spot below it. I drop her arm and back away from the woman shaking my head. There, right below her elbow was unmistakably a small, heart shaped birthmark just like Destiny's - her daughter's.

Her eyes catch the birthmark on Destiny's arm and she is soon screaming and yelling - saying that she has never had children and that the birthmark proves nothing. My Father is taking turns screaming something at Lizzie and then Destiny, who is a blubbering mess and is rocking back and forth. I'm shaking as I make my way over to Destiny and collect her in my arms. 

Finally I find my voice and say, "Dad, I think you should leave now. You too Lizzie." I don't look up at them when I say this. I nestle my face into Destiny's hair and then pepper her face with kisses, trying to calm her down.

"Leave?" My father roars. "Why should I leave? I want answers. Now!"

"Well, you aren't going to get any answers out of Destiny at the moment. She's in shock. She can't speak. She needs time to take this all in and I cannot answer anything since I am as lost as you are."

Grumbling my Father walks away with Lizzie at his heels trying to explain herself.

"Destiny?" I whisper. She doesn't answer and I try again. "Destiny, baby?"

"All these years," Destiny murmurs. "All these years while my Dad mourned over the loss of her she was busy partying and getting engaged to other guys." Destiny turns around in my arms to look at me. Her eyes are glazed over and I realize that though her eyes are on me she is not really seeing me. "She left my Dad and I when I was just four years old. She didn't say goodbye, or leave a note behind. Just got up one morning and...left." Big fat tears are rolling down her cheeks and I catch them with my fingers.

"Oh, Destiny. I'm so sorry."

Destiny presses her face against my chest and cries into it, soaking my shirt, but I don't care about that. All I care about is making Destiny feel better.

"I understand," I whisper into her hair.

"No. You don't," she sobs.

"Maybe not entirely," I admit. "But, I lost my Mother when I was small too and lived a childhood without a mother figure." I stroke her hair calmingly and say, "I lost her in a car crash. I was in the back seat of that car when it happened. My mother was driving. It was only the two of us in the car. My brother and my father were not there. A drunk driver crashed into us, and the rest to me was a blur. But, I remember seeing the car after the flames were doused and the body they pulled out of it afterward. I made it out. She didn't."

Destiny raises her head and places a warm hand against my cheek. I lean into it an continue my story. "My brother used to blame me for not saving her. But, I tried to. I really tried to, Destiny. But I was just a little boy. I did all that I could. I tried my best to go into that car to save her. You have to believe me that I did."

"I know that you tried your hardest, Matthews. I believe you," she whispers as she looks into my eyes.

I let out a shuddered breath. "As soon as my brother turned eighteen he left the province. I haven't seen him since, and I doubt that he wants to see me. I bet he still blames me."

"Oh, Madison," Destiny breaths.

Together we sit on the bed for the rest of the afternoon holding each other and not saying a word, because sometimes silence is just a better form of comfort than words.