The following week I received a letter saying that the results of the test were in. I was most definitely Antony’s biological twin, which made me Anastazia Amelia Grace Walker. No longer was I Marie-Louise Aquilla the poor little adopted girl who couldn’t remember her past.
My next hurdle was to find out what, if any, information the Aquilla’s (For I felt I could no longer call them my parents) knew about my past. If Marie and Louis had known anything and didn’t tell me I would be heartbroken. But I needed to know.
So over the next couple of weeks I got to know my parents (my biological parents) and siblings. But at the same time it was fairly difficult as we felt it was not time to inform the public that I had been found. I was also keeping it from all of the Aquilla’s. The way I saw it if they knew that I had found out the truth about my parents it could taint the information I was given. This was (as far as I could see) the only way to find out if any of them were involved in any part of my kidnapping.
Unfortunately that decision was taken out of my hands. It was approximately three weeks after I had found out, Jake and I had just gotten back from looking into the “Your Child” Adoption Agency. As we pulled into the driveway about 20 reporters attacked the car. We pushed past the only muttering a quick “No Comment” when asked questions.
When we arrived at the apartment we found out why all the reporters were swarming. My second front page since all this had started. There was the picture from my last front page. Only this time it was a close-up of only me. Above it was the headline:
“Walker Mystery Woman Revealed”
Apparently a nurse from the clinic had leaked the details of why we had gone there. It also contained of my life after the kidnapping. Even Jakob was mentioned.
“This isn’t good Jake! What do we do now? I mean we can’t keep investigating the Aquilla’s now and we certainly won’t get the truth if we ask them outright!” I almost cried.
“It’ll be ok Mar. We’ll work it out. Figure out what happened.” Jake replied putting his arms around me. “Now come on let’s get inside before those reporters find a way into the building.
Once inside I just wanted to collapse and never leave again. That stupid nurse had ruined everything all so she could get a little extra money. Now I would never find out exactly what had happened to me.
Sitting on the couch I looked over and noticed that the little red light on the answering machine was blinking. There were about 50 messages. Most of them were friends wanting to know why I hadn’t told them. There were a couple of reporters wanting to do interviews. A few calls for Jake regarding his course. Only 3 were important at that point though. One was from Antony, Another from Rita and the last was Marie Aquilla.
Antony was just trying to warn me that the article had been released. He also said that if I needed him for anything to let him know.
Rita said that under the circumstances she thought it might be easier if I move in with them for a while (“Just until things settle down”). So that we could do damage control from one place instead of two. I liked the idea because it meant that I could spend more time with them (it also made a lot of sense). Okay it meant leaving Jake for a while but I knew we could both deal with that. I promised myself to ring her.
Mu….. Marie just said that they needed to talk to me. There were things I needed to know.
This worried me. Were they actually going to tell me the truth. Did I even want to know the truth?
Jake and I waited a couple of hours, because I wasn’t ready to face the Aquilla’s. I set up with Rita that I would move in with them the following week, to give me enough time to prepare for the move. We returned the calls that required it and eventually I got enough nerve to face my past. To return to the place I had once called home and see the people I had once called my parents.
When we arrived it was nerve-wracking. I couldn’t even get out of the car all I could do was stare at the two-storey suburban cottage I had grown up with. What was going to happen? Was I going to hear what I wanted to or what I needed to?
I eventually got out and knocked on the door (I was no longer comfortable just walking into the house). Hannah, the baby of the family, answered the door. When she saw it was me she ran into my arms and hugged the life out of me. Of the siblings I had grown up with only Hannah, Michael and Sean did not feel uncomfortable to be around. I was here when they were born, I saw them grow up. They had nothing to do with what happened. Brian, David and Joanna however were 13, 11 and 8 respectively at the time. Each of them could have known of their parents involvement.
We walked into the living room and waited with ‘Nah (as I called her) went to find Marie and Louis. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be uncomfortable in that house. But it was evident, even to ‘Nah who was only 6, that things had changed and would never be the same again.
As Louis walked into the room I knew it wasn’t going to go well, he appeared to be in a fairly bad mood. Possibly because of the revelations in the newspaper. Marie walked in shortly after that with a tray full of cookies and enough drinks for all. Everyone was now there and no-one wanted anything from the tray.
Jake and I were seated on the lounge in the middle of the room, along with cute little ‘Nah and her angelic face. Also seated with us was 7 year old Michael, the tough guy of the family. 9 year old Sean sat beside David on the two seater by the window. Sean was the smart guy (literally) he always had an answer for everything and he was usually right. David was the brooder he was always dark and mysterious, he was always angry or disgruntled about something. Joanna and Michael stood behind Marie and Louis who were seated across from us. Joanna was the healer in the family, studying to be a nurse. Michael the eldest was now partner in a car dealership with Louis. All of the Aquilla children looked like their mother with blonde hair and bright, expressive blue eyes. Louis was the exact opposite of all of them. Short, fat and balding with greying black hair that resembled a badly cared for wire brush.
I was avoiding talking to them though. Not even looking at their eyes as I scanned each of them. I was no longer sure I wanted to find out the truth. Not with everyone there. But Marie took that decision away from me.
“We do know more about your past than we let on Marie!” She started
“How much more?” I asked, squeezing Jake’s hand to make sure he was still there.
“Not all the details by any means. But one day 10 years ago four men arrived at our doorstep. One of them was carrying you. You seemed to be asleep or unconscious and they were in a rush to be rid of you. They begged me to take you. They would organise everything. Someone would be by to arrange your adoption. They also said that if you were to need anything that they were to be contacted through the agency and everything would be arranged. That’s why we were able to send you to the psychiatrist. But I was never to tell anyone how I had come across you.” Marie paused to take a drink.
“This didn’t seem strange to you?” I asked
“Of course it did.” Marie continued “But I was excited at the thought of another child. We had been having trouble having more children and you seemed like a perfect solution. So I agreed. I found out a few years later that the adoption had been bogus. Even the psychiatrist was a fake, all to keep you from finding out the truth. But I didn’t care, I had another child and if I came clean with everything I knew there was a very good possibility that I would lose you and I couldn’t bear that. There were inklings about your true identity but I ignored them in the hopes that no one else would notice!”
“ So you figure that it did not matter who I might have been. What my real family was going through because of my disappearance. As far as you were concerned I was yours!”
“Essentially yes. But I had no real proof of who you really were.”
“I knew” Louis cut in. “I knew from the beginning that you were the real Anastazia!”