Gabriel - Jessie Cooke Page 0,11

had a right to know.” Her eyes landed back on Blackheart’s face and she said, “Especially because I did still have a biological parent out there.”

“So what else did they tell you?” Blackheart asked.

“My father got this big box out of the safe. It was like Pandora’s box. They said that it was everything Grandmother had told them to get rid of. Inside this box was my mother’s diary...the one the police found in the room the day she died... her ID and some jewelry, and my real birth certificate. The one I’ve been using all of these years list my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ron as my parents. I’m not sure how they pulled it off, or if they ever really adopted me...I didn’t get around to asking any of that yet. But the birth certificate in that box had my real mother’s name on it, Kasey Cormier. My name was Patrice Cormier; all this time I thought my last name was Leboux. Mom didn’t name you as my father,” she said, to Blackheart. “She listed him as ‘unknown.’ It was only in her diary that she talked about you, and that’s how my aunt knew your name, and about the club. But anyway, I was born in Portland, Maine and they told me that while they all thought my mother was in medical school, in Maine, she had taken a sabbatical, because she was pregnant with me. She had dropped the bomb on them about going to medical school in Maine at the last minute and then for a solid year she made excuses about why she couldn’t come home for holidays and things. Then my grandfather died, and she came home for the funeral. Needless to say, they were all shocked when she showed up with a baby. My grandmother was furious and wouldn’t even talk to her and told her she wasn’t welcome at the funeral. My mother died just a week later, and my grandmother and the people I thought were my parents all this time, did everything she could to make sure the memories of her died that day with her.”

The tears had begun to sneak out of her eyes and roll down her face. Gabe couldn’t stand to see her cry. He slid his arm around her, unsure if she wanted him to touch her or not, but she didn’t pull away. She leaned into him and reached up with one hand and wiped the tears off her face. It was several minutes before anyone said anything else, but Blackheart was the one who broke the silence. He stood up and said:

“Gabe you make sure she gets home okay. Patrice, I didn’t kill your mother, but if you want help finding out what really happened to her, call me. The only thing I’ll ask in return is that you don’t go around spreading rumors about me throwing women off balconies. I got a reputation to uphold.” Gabriel smiled at that and Blackheart’s lips twitched. Patrice didn’t say anything, but Gabe saw her watching Blackheart as he got on his Harley and drove away.

4

“I should go,” Patrice said as soon as Blackheart was out of sight.

“Okay. Are you alright?”

She nodded. “I’m fine. A little embarrassed, I guess.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, but...do you really think Blackheart killed your mom?”

She shook her head, slowly. “No. He’s right...too much time had passed; it wouldn’t make any sense at all. I’m just...I’m in shock over all of this. I read her diary, Gabe, every page of it. She wasn’t depressed, not even unhappy.” She smiled and her face lit up when she said, “She loved me. She was working at a medical office in Maine. She hadn’t had a chance to go back to school, but she planned to. She was so young...” The smile faded again and fresh tears filled her pretty eyes. She took a shaky breath and said, “Even the day she got back to New Orleans, and my grandmother told her she wasn’t welcome at the funeral, she barely wrote a paragraph about it. She was sad, but it seemed like she was at peace and ready to just go back to her new home and get on with her life.” She smiled again and said, “The next whole page was about what a good time she’d had that day, ‘showing me around’ New Orleans. She said she’d wanted to show me everything in the place she loved, and missed. It was