Being Adalyne (Sequel)

Fool Me Twice

I dropped my hand and spun around. "Have you no shame, Moira?! I mean, really? Haven't you lied to me enough by now and to play the sympathy card? That's just pathetic and proves your brand of crazy is more unstable than the average nut out there. I was wrong, you don't belong in prison; you belong in the same place you stuck Grace in all those years!"

Moira let out a pained breath, then closed her eyes before reopening them. I watched her go to the desk and open the drawer, then pull out a thick file. She walked toward me and I backed myself into the door as she got closer, then held out the file.

I looked down at the file, then back up to her and said, "If this is another trick.."

"It's not."

I knew better, but curiosity won out and I put the file and envelope I was currently holding under my left arm to hold close to my body, then took the file from Moira. I gave her a warning look as I walked to the sofa and sat down, then placed my personal file and envelope under my leg before opening the file Moira gave me.

Inside, were pages upon pages of lab reports, doctors notes and recommendations that were hard to understand because I don't speak medical.

"What am I looking at?" I asked as I thumbed through the pages.

Moira moved toward me, then slowly sat down and reached over to turn over the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Biopsy result, and this one has the results of my last blood test. My body is shutting down... see these numbers? I have an estimated third of the function left in one kidney alone. The other is not functioning at all."

"What does that mean?"

"My blood will be filled with toxins without the kidneys functioning properly and that's not survivable. My liver enzymes aren't looking that great either and this one, my blood isn't clotting like it should."

I looked down at the normal ranges, then over to where Moira was pointing to show me what hers were and they were well beyond the high end past the normal range, except for her platelets - they were really low.

"How is this not fixable for you? You have enough money to buy new kidneys if you want, as immoral as that is, but still." I said, still looking at the bloodwork.

Moira chuckled, then said, "Money may be able to buy a lot of things, but it can't take back time and one poor decision to join my wife in her failed attempt at taking her life."

I closed the file, then asked, "What?!"

Moira sat back, then muttered, "I made a decision a long time ago, a bad one at that, but I was grieving and not thinking right when Grace tried to kill herself. I didn't think she was going to live and I wanted to join her, so I did something that made me very sick and the consequence of that has now caught up with me."

"How long have you known?" I asked.

"What? That I'm dying?"

I nodded and Moira said, "A few years now. I was resigned to it before I even properly met you."

"What's my role in all of this? You put all this work into me and I doubt it was selfless, so why?"

"Yours was the hardest and most strategic. Your instructor sent me a photo of the painting you were working on your first semester at uni. I was blown away and admittedly; I became obsessed. I had to know all about you and it broke my heart when I found out you were stuck in a situation where your talents would go to waste. The more I learned about you, the easier it was to decide you were the one. Not romantically at the time, but a protege to carry on my legacy. Falling in love with you was not part of the plan in the beginning and neither was sleeping with you that first night. I was just going to invite you to my event, introduce you to the right people, then build you up behind the scenes and set the tone for your career. I needed you to be well received in the art community and I had to make sure you would be able to withstand the stressful demands this life calls for. You exceeded my expectations."