Page 14 of Witch's Dawn
Clutching my wine glass in my palms, I sat next to Diana on the couch with still a few feet of space between us. She didn't seem harmful but this whole situation made me extremely uneasy. I didn't fully trust her yet but was still eager to know what she had tosay.
"So you're my grandmother," Ibegan.
"I am," she said with a smile. "You were just a chubby little toddler when I last saw you. I've thought of you every day and missed you terribly,Deja."
She reached out to touch me again and I drew my hand back in response. I had no idea if she was truly filling my head with memories or hallucinations and wanted answersfirst.
"Why has it been so long?" I asked. "And why are you here now? How'd you findme?"
Diana chuckled as she took a hearty sip ofwine.
"So much information to cover in such little time." She arched an elegant white eyebrow at me. "Your parents never told you thetruth?"
"I don't even know what that means anymore," I cried with an exasperated sigh. "You're the third person in two days who's said the truth will be revealed or whatever and I still don't fucking getit."
Diana looked sympathetic to my frustration but otherwiseunfazed.
"Poor dear," she said, reaching for my hand again and this time I let her. No memories or feelings came over me,thankfully.
"We'll start at the very beginning, then." She set down her wine glass and turned to face me squarely. "Deja, you were adopted as aninfant."
"I… what?Adopted?"
The information hit me like a shock and yet I wasn't completely unsurprised. My parents and I were never close. There was always a disconnect between us that I couldn't place. I figured it was natural rebelling against their religious teaching at first, but I never grew out of it. I never felt completely comfortable in their world and that was essentially why I ended upleaving.
"I'm your biological grandmother," Diana continued, her voice shaking slightly. "Your adoptive parents allowed me to be in your life for a short time. Until they stopped me from seeing you, thatis."
A flash of anger surged throughme.
"Why did my birth parents give meup?"
"They didn't. Well, at least not your mother." Diana's eyes welled with tears. "Your birth mother, my beautiful Deirdre, died shortly after you wereborn."
I closed my eyes and remembered a dream I used to have when I was younger. It had been so many years, it was barely a memory at all at this point. But when I was around six or seven I saw flashes of a woman's smile in my dreams, and possibly amber eyes like mine andDiana's.
My own throat tightened with emotion now as I fought hard to recall anything about my birth mother atall.
"How?" Ichoked.
"I've never been able to prove it," Diana said in a low, threatening growl. "But I'm convinced that your birth father killedher."
"What?!"
The room spun around me in dizzying circles. All of this information was too much. Tooheavy.
"He was a young man of the local Christian church," she continued in a scathing tone. "He came to our front door one day and Deidre answered. She enjoyed debating religion with the Christians and especially enjoyed flirting with him. She thought she was bringing him away from the church and maybe he thought he could convert her, I don't know. But they became involved and she gotpregnant."
Diana gripped my hand so hard I nearly yelped from pain. Her eyes carried a far-away look as she continued herstory.
"Deidre saw the good in everyone. She wanted them to raise you and be a family. But he didn't care about you or her. His reputation would be tarnished forever if he had a child out of wedlock and with a filthy heathen? Well, that was just icing on the cake. He was desperate for her to end the pregnancy but she wouldn't. He tried bribes, threats, promises, but she wouldn't budge. As her belly got bigger, he got evenworse."
Diana's eyes returned to focus on me and she pressed a hand to mycheek.
"Aside from the stress he gave her, her pregnancy with you was extremely healthy and easy. Nothing at all was wrong until she reached thirty-three weeks. Then she got incredibly sick. She started losing weight. One day she passed out and was rushed to thehospital."
Two tears rolled down Diana's cheeks but she smiled joyously atme.
"You were born seven weeks premature but by all accounts, you looked full-term. The doctors had never seen such a strong, healthy preemie before. Deidre was so worried about you but you were the last pure source of happiness in herlife."
