Chasing Dylan

Chapter Thirty Four

"So.." I trailed off, staring at the girl in front of me. It wasn't even 45 minutes after Vanessa texted me before I was in the car on my way to meet her.

She took a sip of water and cleared her throat. "Uh so, do you remember my cousin Marcus from the party?"

I thought for a second and nodded.

"Anyway, so after we left the party, he drives to our grandma's house, and I'm like why the hell are we here right now. My grandma is shocked to see us obviously, because it's late as fuck, but then Marcus started rambling on and on about one of our aunts and how she disconnected from the family after she got married. Anyway, he asks my grandma where her photo albums are, and she gives them to him -and he just starts flipping through them, and finally pulls out a picture." She takes a deep breath before digging into her purse. She places it on the table and slides it towards me.

I pick up the picture and immediately have to blink back tears. It is a picture of my mother that I'd never seen before. She has her arms wrapped around a woman, while four other people smile at the camera.

"That is my mother." I finally say, looking up at Nessa.

She nodded and smiled sadly. "The second he showed me, I knew. You look exactly like her."

I quickly wiped away a stray tear.

"Vanessa Monroe." I said, finally connecting the dots. "My mother was Ava Monroe, before she got married."

"Yea," Nessa said softly. "I took my mom's last name."

I smiled up at her, my eyes leaving the photo. "Who are these other people in the picture?" I asked.

I handed her back the photograph.

"Well the woman your mom is hugging is my mom, Tanya." She grinned. "They're sisters."

My mind was going a million miles an hour. Vanessa really is my cousin.

"The guy with his arm around her waist is Marcus's dad, Uncle Allen. The other two men are our other uncles Darell and James, and the woman at the end is Auntie Jane."

"Wow, I didn't even know my mother had siblings. She died when I was so young, I never even got a chance to ask her."

"What about your dad? He knew about us." She said, her brows furrowed.

"When I was younger he just said that my mother wasn't close with her family but he never went into detail. My father and I aren't really close, I'm not even living at home right now."

She shrugged and grabbed my hand from across the table. "None of that matters, we're cousins! Can you believe that?!"

I grinned at her and squeezed her hand. "I really can't, this is amazing. I've never had a cousin before."

Her eyes widened. "Whaaatt? Not even on your dad's side?"

"Nope, he's an only child."

"Well welcome to the family, cuz. Now you have thirteen cousins."

"Thirteen? That's a lot." I said, stunned.

"Oh you have no idea, you've got a bunch of second cousins too, most of our cousins are married with their own kids. I can't wait until you meet everybody."

I shuttered at the thought of meeting that many people all at once.

"Where are you staying? If you don't mind me asking." Nessa said.

"Uh you remember the house where the Halloween party was? I'm living there."

"That rich girls mansion? You live there?" She asked, shocked.