Growing Love

26

I don't think my head can hurt anymore than it already does. I know she just explained all of this to us. But it is still too much to wrap my head around. "Mother. Is this for real?" We all looked to Val, who was calmly  sipping her tea. She placed the cup down, and smiled at Ethan.

"Yes son, it is." She pulled out her phone, and tapped away. When she turned it to face us, we saw ourselves looking at her phone. We instantly started searching the room. "I had cameras installed around the house to record evidence if you will."

"Oh god." Jenny and Izzy started blushing. Judging by the knowing look on Val's face, she knew why. It then hit the rest of us, and we all started bushing. Freddy even went as far as covering his chest and crossing his legs.

"Don't worry ladies, and Freddy. The reason I have them is solely for my objective. No private business was ever recorded." I think that did little to reassure us. I even had to clear my throat at the thought of her seeing the things I did to her precious son ,and I think Ethan felt the same way, because he hid his face behind his pillow. My poor naughty angel.

"Love. Why didn't you tell me?" Alastor looked at his wife with a sad expression.

"Come now Alastor. I love you to the stars and beyond, but you are the worst actor in the history of acting. Had you known the cameras were there, you would always be staring at them." She went back to sipping her tea.

"But why have them in the first place?" I need to know what's been happening in my own home. I need to insure that everyone here is safe and comfortable at all times. Even if the one I have to protect them from is one of our own.

"I think it's because of me." I turned to Katherina. It's the first thing she said since we started talking. She must have taken our silence as a way of saying for us to continue. "My parents were planning to say I was mentally instable when I gave the baby up. And that you were neglectful parents towards Nicholas." What the hell?! How the hell were they planning to do that?!

"They had one of their doctors fake documentation about her. They were planning to make it seem that Carter was the cause of it. It didn't help that she was actually going through a hard time during all of this." I noticed that she subconsciously touched her now short hair. "I contacted Val every now and then when I got any news."

"Why would you help her?" Leave it to Jenny to ask. Andrew held Katherina's hand, and gave it a small squeeze.

"She is my little sister, and Nicholas is my nephew. I love them both very much. I couldn't help her because I was too afraid to go against my parents. But I saw how much damage not doing anything did. I won't let them hurt her and Nick anymore. As much as I would love for Nick to be with us, I know he is better off and happy here." I subconsciously held Nick closer. My therapist said I suffer with abandonment and separation issues of some sort. My mother dying when I was so little, and my dad neglecting me too. I try and hold on tightly to anything that is precious to me. But I also separate myself too to avoid being hurt. I'm just a mess. But I guess, I'm not really the only one.

"I have done a lot of messed up things in my past. As much as it hurts to admit it. Even Nicholas' birth was part of that messed up past." I saw a tear glide down her cheek.

"K-k-Kate." All eyes turned to Mickey. He was staring at Katherina with so much confusion on his face. But what was confusing me is how he knew her, and why he was calling her Kate? She looked to him, and she looked like she was about to lose it. I have never seen so much fear, sadness, and regret in her eyes before. Was she scared of disappointing him?

"Kat, slow breaths. Come on." Andrew hugged her, and she started taking slower breaths. Mickey still seemed confused, and like he wanted answers. But he staid quiet. So I asked them for him.

"Katherina. Explain this to me. How do you know Mickey? Why is he calling you Kate?" She took a shaky breath, and turned to him. It's like above anything else, she wanted to confirm everything to him. What happened between these two?

"Michael? Do you know about how Nicholas came to this family?" He nodded his head. We told him Nick was the son or Richard, and a woman I was involved with. We didn't tell him exactly who that woman was. "Nicholas is mine and Richard Prize's biological son. He came to be Carter's when I tried using him against him." I saw her squeeze her fist. Saying it out loud lets her hear just how messed up it really sounded I guess. "I never wanted to bring a child into this world like that. To have them feel like their very existence was for the heartless benefit of someone else's gain. Especially because I know that pain all too well." I looked at Mickey. He was quiet for a while, but I noticed something in his eyes. He had the same look Freddy gets when he's thinking everything through. I still wonder just how smart these two brothers really are sometimes.

"W-w-what do-do-do you m-m-mean?" He was silently taking it all in.

"You want me to tell them?" Katherina put her head down, and started to shake violently. I have never seen this side of her. The confident and beautiful woman who used to take my stress away from me, even if only for a moment, was not here. Before us was a woman who seemed tired of life itself. And judging by her appearance, was beyond the point of snapping.

"I-i-i-i." She was stuttering just as bad as Mickey, but hers was from anxiety and fear. "Andrew." She looked to her brother for help. I was surprised when Jenny of all people handed her a tissue. Even Katherina was shocked, but she took it with a small nod. Andrew took a deep breath. I just noticed the tears stinging at his eyes, and the red on his nose and cheeks. He looked ready to break too.

"Carter." He looked directly to me. "I am about to ask you a serious and straight forward question. Can you answer it?" That took me by surprise. But the way he looked me in the eyes, I had no room to make a smart ass remark. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Yeah." I sat up even more, and handed Nick to My old man. He took him from me, and Ethan took my hand.

"Katherina took your virginity in high school. Right?" I scratched the back of my neck at the memory. Mainly from the memory of that night, but also from the stares I was getting from everyone. They knew, but hearing it again still makes it hard to take sometimes. "Do you know who her first was?" I thought about it for a moment, but no name came to mind.

"No. She never really told me about herself like that. But what does it have to do with any of this?" He took a deep shaky breath, and blinked away a few tears. Katherina on the other hand, was silently crying and shaking.

"My sister was born with a weak body. She lived in the hospital a few years of her childhood because of it. My parents never saw a use for her besides her looks. She couldn't play sports, or anything that required excess energy or too much pressure. They had all but given up on her, until, my father found a use for her." Something told me I knew where this was going, and apparently so did the others. Jenny and Izzy covered their mouths at the same time from the realization. "At the age of." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "At the age of ten. K-k-katherina became my father's deal closer."

"What does that mean?" James asked for Mickey. James already knew. But he wanted to let Mickey hear it for himself from them. We all wanted to actually. I think even hoping it wasn't what we all thought, but we knew better. Andrew was about to answer, but Katherina did herself. She looked Mickey straight in the eyes when she did too.

"It meant my father's clients would agree to his terms, in exchange for my body." Can her parents get anymore fucked up?! She told us how her father's client took her first time, and how many others followed after him. Andrew broke from the memory of having left his little sister in that state, and not doing anything. Marcus, Ethan, Freddy and James took him outside to calm down. The girls actually got up and hugged her. Mickey held her hand while she cried. Our parents walked out the room looking ready to take some heads. I held Nick in my arms again, completely lost. Looking at his sleeping face, and the face of his crying mother. I couldn't help but see the remarkable resemblance they shared. And even though she was crying, with short hair barley covering parts of her face, and no makeup hiding any little flaw she may have. For the first time since I first met her, I thought she looked the most beautiful she has ever looked. A porcelain doll, with a crack. That's how she looked like to me in that moment.