didn’t agree. He was a soldier and therefore, her future with him wasn’t sure, but she pleaded with me for weeks and months. When that didn’t work, she got pregnant with him while she was a freshman to force my hand. They were only eighteen and nineteen when they got married.” His lips pull in a snarl. “Of course, Renee had an eye for him, too, and she eventually took him for herself.”
“My dad…?” My head spins.
Oh my God. Rachel is the same Rachel Mum talks to in her manic episodes. She was talking to her non-existent sister after she took away her husband.
I want to throw up.
“Did Mum become pregnant with me to take Dad away from her sister?”
“No. At least not in that order.” President Joe throws his weight on the chair like a dying old man who just wants life to be over with. “Rachel was pregnant ten years before you came to life. She and Jason had a beautiful boy and he promised to stop being deployed abroad once his tour at the time ended. After Jason’s blunt rejection of any advances from Renee, she should’ve given up. She didn’t. As soon as Jason was deployed, only months after the birth of Jason Jr., Renee never left Rachel’s side.”
I edge forward and this time, the guard doesn’t shove me down as harshly. “What… what happened?”
His gaze drifts to the window. “There was a fire in Rachel’s house. The police ruled it as carelessness. She was saved but her child… wasn’t.”
Tears stain my cheeks as I choke out. “Mum did that?”
“I’m certain she did.” He grits out.
“Rachel was never the same after Jason Jr.’s death. Even Jason couldn’t do anything to appease her depression. That’s exactly what Renee aimed for. She knew how much Jason Jr. meant to Rachel and she took him away so she could pave the path to take Jason, too.”
I let the load of information fall over me. Dad was married before Mum and had a son. I had an older brother that I never met and never will because like everything beautiful in my life, Mum took it all away.
“Did Dad leave Rachel?” I ask.
“Never. Jason took a whole year off to help Rachel cope with their loss. Maybe he wasn’t enough. Maybe Renee never stopped jabbing a finger in Rachel’s non-healed wound. Whatever it was, Rachel fell from the balcony murmuring Mummy is coming, baby.”
Bile and nausea rise to my throat and threaten to spill on the carpet. I mourn for Dad and his beautiful, pure soul. He lost his son and then his wife. It’s ironic that Rachel died out of missing her baby while Mum died trying to kill me.
President Joe’s face is stone cold, and he seems lost in his own, hand-picked hell. He brought Renee home and allowed her to destroy his family. He must regret that decision with everything in him.
“What happened then? How… how did Mum and Dad end up together?”
“After Rachel’s death, Jason focused on his endless tours. Africa. Asia. The Middle East. Anywhere. We never saw him for years. He should’ve not returned, but he did, and Renee latched on him like a parasite.” He laughs again. “He raped her, she said. The Devil. She raped him. Some witnesses even saw her slip something in his drink. Then, she came crying to me to save her honour. I did what I should’ve done when Rachel was alive and cut her off from the family registry. After a while, she fell pregnant and Jason married her. Worst mistake of his life.”
My head hangs. I can’t say I disagree. Marrying Mum had cost Dad his life — and mine in retrospect.
“You’re right. If I stopped Renee at first, maybe Rachel would’ve been alive.” He reaches into his pocket and retrieves a necklace with a very familiar stone. He caresses it as one would do a pet.
My eyes squint on the dainty chain dangling from his fat fingers. The blue and black heart pendant reflects the light.
No. It can’t be.
I stand, but the guard shoves me down. “Please, I just want to see.”
President Joe nods, and I run towards him. He’s not scared, knowing full well I’d risk my death if I hurt him. I inspect the necklace up close and there’s no mistaking that this is a replica.
“Was this by chance… Rachel’s?” My voice is so small, I’m surprised he hears it.
“It is.” President Joe appears puzzled. “I had it specifically made for her in