Searching for my Identity

Chapter 28 Telling Nathalie

Thank you so much for your comments, and please leave a comment at the end of the chapter and of course I want you to leave critics too to know where I can develop to get a better writing stil. So thank you a lot to my lovely friends and beta readers  @amys99999 and @Elianne05 and please check out @amys99999 new original story it's so amazingly written. 

"Mom, could you please explain to me why we're flying to Vienna? Did something happen to dad?" Nathalie asked her mom with a little panic in her voice after Rory had parked the car in the parking lot.

Rory took a deep breath. "Honey, nothing happened to your dad. Don't worry. I will explain everything to you with grandma and grandpa Mitchum when we're on the plane okay?" Rory said in a shaky voice and tried to blink away the tears in her eyes.

Rory was trying to delay the inevitable conversation for as long as she could. She had no idea how she was going to tell Nathalie the news. 
The news that Logan had found Norah was a miracle for her, a miracle she and Logan had been waiting for nearly fourteen years to hear. In a few hours, she hopefully would finally see her daughter. But she wasn't certain how her other daughter would respond.

"Mom," the voice of her 14-year-old daughter brought Rory back to reality. Natalie grabbed her hand and looked at her anxiously.

"Come on we have to go. Nathalie, please never forget that I'm proud of you and love you so much," she smiled at her daughter in tears which made Nathalie quite worried.

What was going on? Could it be that it had something to do with Norah? Did her mom finally want to explain to her what happened to her twin sister?

It was time that her parents finally told her why they had never mentioned her sister towards her and her siblings. After all, her parents had been hiding for fourteen years that she had a sister.

Despite their omission of this critical fact, her conscience grew more guilty continuously because she had stolen the documents from her father's office without asking him.

However, in the end, the records, birth certificates, and medical reports had not helped her either. She still had no answers.

Rory watched her daughter with a distressed expression on her face. She would do anything to take the burden Nathalie had been carrying around with her for days off her shoulders. It surprised Rory that Nathalie hadn't said a word about Norah. 
Ordinarily, her eldest daughter was quite curious and inquisitive. But this news would turn her daughter's life upside down. Rory could only hope that she would be able to explain to her daughter the facts as best as she could with the help of her father-in-law Mitchum and her mom.

Meanwhile, she regretted that she and Logan made the decision to tell her children about Norah when they were old enough. What Rory thought was a good idea, now seemed like one of the most ridiculous ideas she and Logan ever had. 
And it was foolish of them to believe that Nathalie would never figure it out before her 18th birthday. Nat had a sixth sense when it came to digging for missing information.

"Oh Mom, I know that. We shouldn't keep grandpa Mitchum and grandma Lorelai waiting," Nat smiled at her mother and couldn't wait to get all the answers she wanted to know.

The talk had to be about Norah. And yet she wondered why her mom couldn't wait until her dad was back home to discuss it with her in detail?

"Yeah, you're right Nat.." Rory nodded absently and got out of the car.

About thirty minutes later they were all seated in the big, comfortable seats while the pilot navigated the plane to Vienna.

"Well, mom you wanted to tell me why we're flying to Vienna, but I think I know what the talk is about. It's about my twin sister Norah right?" she asked, looking at her mother with a severe facial expression.

"Yeah it is Nat.", Rory said, grabbing her hand and squeezed it.

"Then what are you waiting for mom? I think I have the right to know why you and dad didn't tell me anything about my twin sister. So shoot mom!" Nat demanded getting a little impatient.

"It was more than fourteen years ago when you and your twin sister Norah were born. Dad and I were so thrilled when we saw you and your sister Norah. 
I was in labor for almost sixteen hours, but when I held you both in my arms, all the pain was forgotten. But the happiness didn't last long.

After half a year Norah....", Rory was a loss of words while Lorelai put her arm around Rory's shoulders.

"Did she die, mom?" Nathalie asked her and was afraid of the answer. Her heart beat faster against her chest when she was looking with a frantic look at her mother.

"No, she didn't die, Honey. She... was kidnapped by strangers," Rory continued with a trembling voice and tears were already filling her eyes.

"What..but..who? I mean who would do such a cruel thing?", Nat stammered, shaking her head and couldn't believe what her mother just told her.

Nathalie couldn't grasp that her twin sister was kidnapped by strangers fourteen years ago.

Anger mixed with bewilderment, fear, and sadness began to spin in her head like a carousel.
How could these strangers dare to kidnap a helpless baby, her sister Norah from her parents and her familiar surroundings?

The question of who had kidnapped Norah had never disappeared in their minds and was always a constant reminder of how much Rory and Logan had failed. For months they thought about who had taken Norah from them.

Of course, there were also business partners in Rory's and Logan's lives with whom they had conflicts and arguments, but none of these people would have gone so far to kidnap a 6-month-old baby.

Mitchum already wanted to interrupt, but Lorelei shook her head which leads him not to intervene now. 
After all, it was Rory's task to explain it to Nathalie, but if she's in the verge of emotional drowning, they will jump in to help her.

"Mom?" Nat whispered and was really frightened when she looked in her mother's face.

A flood of tears had escaped from Rory's eyes and sobbed, "I'm so sorry Dolly we don't know it. We should have talked earlier with you about Norah, although we didn't want you to take the same emotional path of grief, anger and sadness like your dad and I went through. 
But your dad and I were so stupid and convinced to do the right thing with that foolish agreement to tell you and your siblings about Norah when you're turning eighteen. We should have known better."

After a few minutes of silence, Rory continued hesitantly, "There's more, Nathalie. Your dad found Norah. She's Liam's girlfriend.."

There was silence again until Nathalie sobbed and the first tears were running down her cheeks, "That's..I don't know what to say. I mean he told me about a girl called Emma about two weeks ago or so via facetime. 
How could he not recognize her, mom?" Nat stopped for a moment, still trying to avoid the mixed feeling in her mind and continued in the same breath, "he should have recognized her the first time, Mom. After all, we are ident..."

"Woah! Nathalie, stop. Let me show you a photo of her, then you'll know why he didn't recognize her immediately," Rory interrupted Nathalie and took her smartphone out of her Birkin bag.

The tension was in the air while Rory was looking for Norah's photo. Nobody said a word. "Mom please hurry up.," Nathalie complained while Mitchum couldn't resist smirking. She was definitely like his son when he was at her age. The same impatient behavior.

"One moment so here we have the photo..." Rory said and handed her daughter the iPhone.

Nathalie stared at the image in front of her on the screen. "Oh my god. It's really her Mom." she whispered unable to take her eyes from the picture. Finally, she felt a kind of connection to her twin sister. And she couldn't wait to meet her.