The Family Secret

CHAPTER 2

Katerina:

How had things gone so wrong? I found myself wondering why me, why my family? My family… I'm all that is left now. I still have the healing bruises and wounds to prove that I am a sole survivor of a horrific accident. But I’ve always been a survivor, a fighter. The problem now is that I was adopted and I have no traceable relatives. Not a single soul. That's not the shocker though, I’ve always known that I was adopted. My father - adoptive father - used to say that we made our own family. He said that not only because they adopted me, but because they had no family of their own. Turns out that wasn’t entirely true. When both my parents died in a crash that should have killed me too, I thought for weeks that I was going to end up in the system again considering that both my adoptive parents had no family. But upon some digging, it was found that my adoptive mother does. She has a sister willing to take over legal guardianship despite the fact that I am not blood and that I have never met her before. Apparently, when they said their families were dead, they must have meant figuratively. Or at least, my mother had because she had a very alive sister living on an island I've never heard of near Saint Lucia in North America. The last few days had been nothing but catching flights and waiting. I was on the last leg of the journey to my new home, countries and oceans away from where I’d grown up all my life, on a little plane about to land. When I had done research on the island, the internet had provided very little information except that it was mostly made up of mountains, volcanic beaches and lush rainforests. The sovereign island was strangely privately owned, governed by a royal family with a small population of about six hundred people. To say my nerves were through the roof as we landed was an understatement. I thanked the air hostess and grabbed my carry on and cat carrier. The airport was small but neat and oddly fancy although only three small airplanes were visible. It looked way too nice for such a small place but then again, one side of the island had four luxury hotels. That's how the island made its small fortune, by selling its beautiful beaches and scenic views. The summer sun was setting and yet the air was hot, making me silently curse myself for wearing a jacket. I should have just stuck with the yoga set but where I came from wasn’t this warm. There were only about fifteen people on the flight onto the beachy island and every one of them were tourists from the looks of things until I stepped onto the runaway and a man approached me from behind, calling me by name.

“Miss Collins?” He addressed me and I spun around to see a large man in chinos and a dress shirt coming down the steps. “This way please.” He said and indicated two black suvs parked nearby.

I followed in silence with only unhappy meows sounding from the carrier I held tightly to. He opened the door for me and I hesitated.

“Miss Collins, I work for the Caspian family, you do not need to worry. They sent me to ensure your travels were safe and to see you to the family estate once we landed.”

“Alright.” I said, still feeling uneasy as I climbed in as he took the other back seat across from me.

I relaxed as we drove with the second suv trailing us. Henry had introduced himself. He also explained the island setup as we went through a vehicle patrol block.

“The south of the island is for the tourists. Most of your businesses are in that area too, like your shops, restaurants, hotels, that sort of thing. The north is for the residents of the island. The royals ensure that the residents aren’t disturbed by visitors so that's the reason for the block. We are very private people and we like it that way.”

There were three roads, two leaving the airport in opposite directions and one breaking off just after the block. I pointed to the road and asked curiously, “Where does that lead?”

“To the college, that is where you'll be going to school.” He said before continuing as he took note of my interest in the passing landscape, “We are also very connected to the land and nature. So we aggressively protect the natural world here on the island.”

About twenty minutes later, the first houses came into view. The first thing I noticed was that there were no walls outlining the border of the properties, the second thing was that they were all fancy, nestled amongst the neatly cleared nature and spaced out, even the smaller homes on the outskirts looked like the wealthiest in the neighborhood I’d come from. It looked like a rich suburb, made up of tuscany styled villas and luxury cars. An odd combination for a Caribbean island. We didn’t travel deep through the town but rather stayed on the road passing by until we reached a secluded mansion complete with a driveway that wrapped around a massive centre piece sprouting water. I climbed out before Henry reached my door and what I assume is the butler who offered to take my bag as a blonde lady in a silky flowing dress met me at the bottom of the steps leading up into the house.

“Katerina!” She exclaims, opening her arms and folding me into a hug. I hug her awkwardly back, still trying to hang on to the carrier that I refused to release to the butler. She stands back, holding me at arms length and smiling warmly, “I am so happy to finally meet you. I'm Esme, your aunt.”

“Hi, thank you so much for taking me in, you don't even understand how grateful I am.” I say quickly, my heart jumping around nervously. I had to be on my best behavior, I had to make sure she didn’t regret taking me in or worse, sending me back.

“Of course, you are family Kat. Can I call you that? I think they said that was what you preferred?” She asked, warmth radiating from her.

“Yes you may and I do, thank you.” I said, trying to turn her easy smiles and warm nature.

“I can’t wait for you to meet your uncle and your cousins. Two of our boys are also adopted so I guess it's a family trait.” I see the moment her smile turns sad and she touches the side of my face that is still bruised and healing, “I am so sorry about…” Her voice turns thick and she seems to wrestle for the right words. My throat seems to close up and I fight back tears I hadn’t thought were so close to spilling. She shakes her head, long blonde hair dancing around her face. She didn’t look her age, that's for sure, I thought, trying and failing to distract myself from the emotional trainwreck I’ve been going through. My mother looked so young to be a woman with a daughter my age too, perhaps youthfulness just ran in the family. A tear ran down my aunt's cheek and selfishly I thought, finally someone else feels my parents' loss like I do. Someone else’s heart is also broken by their deaths. I could see she cared and that made this place feel a whole lot safer. “I have no words to begin to try to comfort you. My sister and I disagreed often, a lot about you actually.”

“Me?” I interrupted.

Esme blinked back tears and smiled, “Yes, I knew all about you despite the fact that my sister never apparently mentioned me. We had a strange and difficult relationship for reasons I won’t drive into now but believe me when I say that I loved my sister and I will take care of her daughter, blood or not.”

Esme went to move a strand of dark hair from my face and my body reacted, jerking back violently as my eyes widened and my mouth popped open in surprise all at once. Esme looked startled and dropped her hands as I stepped back, stuttering over my weak apology, “I-I'm sorry, my face… it's, uhm, it's still sensitive, sorry.”

Esme smiled and nodded in understanding, “Please don’t apologize. Come, you must want to freshen up before dinner. The rest of the family will be arriving home soon and are eager to meet you.” She explained as we climbed the stairs and walked into the mansion's front doors. We passed a large courtyard with balconies and plants growing beautifully everywhere before finally moving inside. The elegance of the place was only outshone by the richness that was so obvious in the furniture and designs and obvious lifestyle of the people that lived here.

“You said you had adopted children too?” I asked as she led me upstairs.

“Yes, we have three sons. One is our own flesh and blood, but all are our children.” She said, “And they are all your age, funny enough.” She laughed lightly, “So at least you will have them to help you make friends and settle in. My boys are just lovely. Oh, here, this one is yours.”

She opened the double doors into a stunning room with a balcony overlooking a sandy beach and crashing waves. The sea was in their backyard, in my backyard. I was living in paradise and for a brief moment I wondered if maybe I died and this was heaven.

“Your belongings arrived this morning and I've had it unpacked for you. Please let me know if anything is missing.” Esme said as I gawked around the bedroom.

I saw Callie’s stuff along with a brand new massive cat tree that was extended by real branches up the wall. Quickly closing the doors to the room, I finally let her out of the cat carrier. The furball peaked out briefly before seeing Esme, hissing and driving under the bed. Guess Callie didn’t like the look of Esme.

I grinned at the display, “Thanks for letting me keep her. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to rehome her.” I smiled at Esme, “She was my sixteenth birthday present. She isn’t the friendliest cat, in fact, she really hated my mom. But she loves me and she is all I have left, all that really matters anyway.”

“Yes well I got her a few extra things to make her feel comfortable and of course you too. I hope you don’t mind that I took it upon myself to buy you a few additional items that are more common around here.” Esme beamed, “You know, I've always wanted a daughter, and now I have something just as precious, a piece of my sister.” Her eyes teared up again and she wiped at her eyes muttering her apologies, “Goodness I'm a mess, well let me leave you to settle in. I'll have someone call you when dinner is ready so take your time.”

“Thank you, truly.” I said again, meaning it with all my heart. I could never thank these people enough.

“It is our pleasure Kat. I just hope you’ll like it here.” And with that she left the room.