Sunday 29 June 2014

The Monroe Legacy - G.3. Chapter 14 - Home Truths

'I remember you. You smiled and sang, but Mama said you never wanted me.'

Eva stuck her chin out, defying him to believe she cared but pain shot through her eyes.



'Mama didn't much like me either but at least she didn't leave me.' With this she turned and rushed into the bar, her shoulders beginning to shake.

Milo followed her leaving Gray, horrified and shocked, outside with the owner who now put his gun away and introduced himself as Ty, Milo's uncle.

'I'm guessing by the look on your face that you didn't leave her?' Ty asked. Gray shook his head numbly.

'Aisha... Her mother. She used Eva to try and fix our relationship. I loved Eva, still love Eva, but when I told Aisha it was over she just vanished and took Eva with her. I've been searching for her for a decade.'

Ty looked at the man in front of him with sympathy, his expression was so desperate, his tone so broken that Ty knew he wasn't lying.

'Listen man, you have to tell Maia, I mean Eva, all of that. But she's gonna want proof and it won't be easy to make her believe you. She's not even fourteen but she's been hurt too often, she puts on a good front with the piercings and the attitude, but she's a mess. You want your daughter back, I get that, but it's going to take time and it's probably going to break you heart all over again.'


Gray nodded, he'd never really imagined what might happen if he found Eva, imagining her personality to be the same as she'd been as a child. He would do whatever it took.

'Ty, can you tell me what you know about her, so I have some idea what I'm dealing with before I go to her and try to persuade her to come home with me?'

The older man nodded grimly.

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'I met Eva when she moved to the neighbourhood a year ago. Milo found her sleeping in the bus station and brought her here for the night. It took a couple of months to get her to trust us. She's never told us much but here's what I figured out.

 Antonia brought Eva and her little sister Cara, short for Carmen I think, to town a year ago to hide. Seems she had been married to a guy who made his money importing and exporting certain high risk products. Antonia was a cold woman, One time she came in here drinking and told me she'd only brought Eva here because her husband, Jorge I think he was called, said what she was smuggling in would be best hidden on a kid, specially an adorable white kid.'



 Gray seethed, he'd believed many things of Aisha over the years and she was living up to most of them.

'Even then I think Eva knew her ma didn't much care for her, especially when she saw how she was with Carmen. Cara was a sweet child, a little slow, but Eva and Antonia both worshipped her. Her pa liked her just fine, as long as she stayed quiet when he had his associates over. They wanted for nothing, even Eva was taken care of, and Antonia would have done anything for that man. What she did do and know was the reason she was out here hiding.



Just before they moved, someone killed Jorge, don't know how, don't know why. The girls were away at the spa. Antonia knew that with what she knew and without his protection she was a dead woman. So she ran.

Soon after she got here she threw Eva out, I never found out why but I got the impression from overhearing her and Milo that Antonia believed Eva had leaked the info that lead to Jorge being killed. Eva's a smart girl and I don't believe that's true, but one way or the other she ended up living on the streets, creeping back in and sleeping when her ma was at work and caring for Cara.



After Milo brought her here she asked for a job. I gave it to her and offered her a place to stay. Two weeks ago she went back to see her sister and found the place shot up and her family dead. I can't imagine what that was like. We've been hiding her in case those guys are looking for her too.

Your daughter is a good girl, but she's scared and she's angry and she doesn't trust anyone. Not even Milo really. We only found out her real name because she was screaming in her sleep.'



Gray's head was in his hands. He'd wondered what kind of life Eva had had, imagining all sorts of horrors which now seemed less ridiculous than he'd convinced himself they were. Her childhood sounded alright but it was a far cry from the affection he would have showered her with. And the past year... he couldn't begin to make sense if it, his mind going back over and again the look of betrayal in his daughter's eyes when she'd accused him of leaving her.

Gray wasn't sure if he could ever make it all right for her, but he would try.

After talking with Ty, it was decided that Gray would get his proof together, ready to show that he hadn't ever given up and Ty would try and prepare Eva for the truth of her abduction. Gray called a cab back to the police station to collect his evidence and to see what paperwork would be involved in trying to get Eva back home.



After a brief conversation with the police it became clear that the issue of Eva's identity would be difficult to prove, especially if it was tied up with the Jorge Garcia murder investigation. The man had been a kingpin of a major drug trafficking organisation who were caught up in a deadly turf war with a rival. However she was an at-risk minor (it was believed that the killers of Aisha and Cara were still in the area) they might be able to issue a temporary Visa which would get Eva home and the formalities could be dealt with then. 

The catch? Eva would have to go willingly.

Whilst the wheels were set in motion Gray called Rachel who seemed genuinely thrilled that Eva had been found. Despite the demanding cries of their 12 hour old son, Rachel insisted Gray should stay in Mexico and try and orchestrate Eva's return, Casper would probably be in NCU for at least a week and she could manage.

Gray felt as if his heart was being pulled in two. Across the border a beautiful woman with a kind heart was caring for a demanding toddler and a newborn baby and here in Mexico, his long- lost daughter was hurting and alone.



It took three days to get the temporary Visa and five days to persuade Eva to come back to Lucky Palms. She had been less harsh with Gray once he had shown her the newspaper appeals he had made with Hallie's help, the stacks of research and the police reports. But she couldn't dispel the idea that she would once again become the odd one out in a family or forget the last ten years.

Eva's response to Gray's remarriage had been minimal, a single tear that she refused to acknowledge or wipe away running down her face as he told her about Rachel, Lillia and Casper, unable to keep the adoration from his voice. Gray begged and pleaded, promising to protect her, to treat her equally and to help her adjust, but Eva was stubborn in her refusal, she knew how to survive here, she had friends.



In the end it was Milo and Ty who convinced her; Milo with his impassioned pleas to get away from the area before whoever was out for her family found her and Ty by threatening to kick her out and fire her. In the end Eva agreed because she was out of options.

It was far from the loving reunion that Gray had always imagined but he didn't care as long as she was coming back.



As they pulled away from Ty and Milo in a cab headed to the airport, Gray tried to squeeze Eva's hand and then tried not to be hurt as she pulled away, staring out of the window. He knew that nothing but time and actions would truly convince his lonely daughter that she was wanted and safe.



After a quiet flight and a tense drive they arrived at their house, Gray fighting the urge to rush inside, kiss his wife and meet his new son, giving Eva time to adjust and prepare.

As she finally began to walk through the gate, tugging nervously on the hem of the only new dress she had let him buy her, Gray allowed himself a small smile.

Eva was home.       



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Saturday 28 June 2014

The Monroe Legacy - G.3 Chapter 13 - Degrees of Separation

'That can't be my daughter' Gray burst out.

The mortuary assistant looked at him sympathetically, 'I know it's hard to accept Sir.' But Gray interrupted him.

'No! I mean that that is not my daughter. I haven't seen Eva in almost eleven years but that girl isn't her.'



The cops and the lab techs exchanges confused glances.

'Are you sure sir? The neighbours seemed pretty certain that this was the lady's daughter.'

'I'm positive. This girl looks younger, but more importantly she's got a darker skin tone and black hair. Eva was blonder and fairer skinned. Did the neighbour say if there was more than one daughter or did you just assume that when you saw my missing person's file and it fit neatly?'

Even as he scolded the policeman for the fear he'd endured on the flight, a huge grin was beginning to spread across Gray's face. He barely saw the dead girl in front of him or Aisha's shrouded form. Eva might be alive!



'Could the hair have been dyed?' The policeman asked the lab tech.

'No, the notes say it's natural. Without a full post mortem it's more difficult to accurately estimate age and ethnicity, a DNA comparison could at least rule out this girl as Maia Garcia.'

'Eva Monroe' Gray interrupted. 'Her name is Eva Monroe and I'm going to find her.'

Hours later a DNA comparison confirmed what Gray had already known and a lot of paperwork was signed. A few simoleons persuaded a desk jockey to tell Gray where the crime scene had been and in minutes Gray was in a taxi and headed to Aisha's last known address.



The area was crappy but not desperately poor. Dust and litter blew between sad square little houses and dogs barked from chain fenced backyards. The only sign of violence from the outside was the police tape that Gray quietly removed from the door. Putting his shoulder to the cheap wood he felt the latch give and he was inside.

The Aisha he'd known would never have let anything but desperation force her to live somewhere like this. There was a small bedroom with a double bed, a poorly fitted bathroom and a few counters which passed as a kitchen area. All of these rooms were torn apart, bullet holes and a large stain marking the bedroom as the place where it had all ended. While there was no sign of Eva there was also a little girl's room, largely untouched, and here some effort had been taken to make the place a little brighter. On the wall was a picture of Aisha and the girl who'd lain on the table next to her.



Gray felt a lump form in his throat for that stolen life. Earlier he had been so happy it wasn't his daughter but now he couldn't get away from the horrid contrast of the bright smiles in the picture and the cold faces in the morgue. Rushing outside he emptied the contents of his stomach, water and trail mix, onto the dusty drive.

'What do you want with that place' a harsh whisper echoed from the house opposite and though nobody appeared, Gray saw a curtain twitch at the window facing him.

'I'm looking for a young girl, have you seen anyone else around.'

After a pause the voice came back, 'There's no girl there any more, her mama and her are gone where there's no returning, God rest their souls'.

Gray nodded, 'I know. I'm looking for another girl. A slightly older girl. Blonde.'

For several minutes the voice was silent and losing hope, Gray made to leave.

The voice returned. Quieter than before. 

'I haven't seen any blondes. But there was another girl. I saw her with Carmen sometimes when Antonia was working nights. She always left as soon as Antonia got back, went in the direction of uptown. Black hair, coloured ends.'

Gray waited, desperate for more information, but the voice was done and the curtain stilled. Gray called a quiet thank you and pulling the door shut he made his way uptown. He had no idea how long he walked for, asking anyone he passed of they'd seen anything. Most just ignored him, a few shook their heads and fewer still actually spoke to him, this was not an area where talking to strangers was a safe activity. As the sun began to rise he stopped, exhausted and checked in to the nearest hotel, a grey, peeling affair which smelt of must and sweat. Collapsing on the bed he fell in to a deep but restless sleep, dreaming of morgues and faceless teenagers.

He was woken by his phone ringing, the battery indicator flashing red even as he answered. A panting Rachel told him that the baby was coming more than a month early and that Saffron was taking her to the hospital. Over the crackling of the signal and her heavy breathing Gray tried to comfort her forgetting for a while everything he'd discovered before his phone cut out.



Pausing only to settle the bill he rushed out and found an Internet cafe, cursing himself leaving the police station without his luggage and his charger. Once again he had allowed his obsession with finding his eldest daughter to jeopardise everything else he valued.

The browser eventually loaded and Skype brought him crackly picture of Saffron who turned the phone to Rachel, she gave him a weak smile. Gray#s guilt intensified at her pale, worried face.

'Rachel, I'm so sorry I didn't call. I'm so sorry you're doing this alone, what do the doctors say?'

Gritting her teeth whenever a contraction hit Rachel managed, as always, to reason him out of his panic. 'Don't be silly Gray, we couldn't have guessed this would happen. I'm more worried about you, doctors think the baby will be fine, just little. What's happening there?

How was the... Was it- was it them?'

Even as his wife struggled to breathe through her contractions, clutching his sister's hand it was him she was worried about. Gray couldn't believe that after all his mistakes with Aisha life had granted him the love of somebody like Rachel.



Wishing more than ever to be by her side  Gray pressed his finger to her cheek on the screen.

'It wasn't Eva, Aisha is gone but Eva might still be out there. Don't think on it though, I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you so much.'

Rachel's smile at the good news was cut off by a cry of pain as another contraction hit, followed by a kerfuffle as the doctor came to check her and announced she was fully dilated. Saffron tried to follow as they pushed Rachel out and towards the delivery suite, the already blurry picture becoming illegible.

The forty minutes that followed were among the hardest of Gray's life. Saffron tried to tell him what was happening whilst helping Rachel, every scream torturing Gray with his absence. After a particularly harrowing yell the proprietor of the otherwise empty Internet cafe put a glass of rum by Gray's computer with a sympathetic look.



Casper Jude Monroe arrived shortly afterwards, his prematurity may have made him little but it certainly hadn't made him quiet. Gray watched the nurses hand the tiny, screaming bundle to Rachel to kiss before whisking their son off to be checked in the NCU. As Rachel began to doze Saffron kept him updated, Casper would be fine but would need to stay in the hospital until he was a little bigger than his current four pounds.

Gray signed off, booked a flight home and stepped outside, wondering how to get to back to the station it get his passport. As he emerged into the bright sunlight he almost ran in to a couple of teenagers who were loitering outside the door, barely acknowledging the odd stare one of them gave him.



As he looked around for a cab, something was niggling at his mind. He had missed so ruby, but what. He turned back to look at the cafe and the teenagers and it clicked.

The eyes of the girl who had looked at him so oddly, they were a clear bright green. They were eyes he had dreamed of for over a decade. And the hair was black, black with purple ends.

Starting towards them with a strangled yell of, 'EVA?!' his progress was blocked by the young man who had been with her.



'Who are you and who told you to call her that? Her name is Maia.' The teenager was surprisingly strong in his resistance to Gray's pushing.

With his eyes fixed on the girl sat stock still in the shadowy entrance, Gray responded.

'I'm Eva's dad, I've been looking for her!' Gray cried desperately, 'Eva it's me! Do you remember at all. Aisha must have told you something. Eva!'



As Gray's pushing gradually closed the gap between him and the girl he was sure was Eva, the proprietor of the cafe came out, responding to the ruckus in his yard with a gun. As Gray stepped back and raised his hands the boy stepped behind him and pulled Eva protectively close.

Speaking calmly but still aiming the gun the owner asked the pair,

'What's going on here? Milo, do you know this man?'



Milo shook his head,

'He says that he's Maia's father, and he knows her real name.'

The proprietor's eyes widened and he lowered his weapon.

'Milo, take Maia inside and close up the place. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.'

Before Milo could comply, Maia, Eva, whatever her name was, stepped out from his shadow and into the light. She was more beautiful than he'd imagined, her skin smooth and golden and her features a combination of his and her mother. Her hair was dyed black, blonde roots beginning to show through and she was dressed all in black and wearing heavy make-up. She looked so grown up but Gray could see hints of the little girl he'd read to sleep in her face.

She stared at Gray, her expression unreadable, hope, fear and anger seemed to chase through those unmistakeable eyes.

In a voice so different from those remembered baby words, a woman's voice with a definite Latina twang she spoke for the first time.

'I remember you.'

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Wednesday 25 June 2014

The Monroe Legacy - G.3. Chapter 12 - Heart of Darkness

This chapter is rated PG-13 as it refers to subjects that some readers may find upsetting.

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The first year was everything they had hoped it would be. Lillia was a placid baby, sleeping through almost from the start, as if to make up for the turbulent pregnancy. She cut her first tooth with barely a complaint and could bring a smile to her daddy's face even on his gloomiest days.



Rachel worshiped her baby daughter,  amazed and surprised by every little noise she made, every new thing she did. It did Gray good to see how happy their new arrival had made his wife, the days when he couldn't shake visions of Eva at the same age he would focus instead on the joy radiating for. The woman he loved and remind himself that Lillia was the product of what he felt for her, and in no way a replacement for Eva.



Every surprise Lillia had brought Rachel paled into comparison when she found herself pregnant again before their daughters first birthday. It was not planned or even discussed but once the pair got over the shock they could see the appeal of having two children close in age.



Shortly after their little girl's birthday party Gray and Rachel found out they would be giving her a little brother. Gray was secretly relieved, he wasn't sure he could have coped with another little blonde girl running about, Lillia looked more like her big sister every day.



This time around Rachel didn't suffer more than the normal sickness, glowing with happiness as she played with her little girl and imagined her son playing with them. Rachel had decided to quit the restaurant for the time being, content to spend every waking moment enjoying her family and Gray was pleased to support her in this. Working gave him structure and he lived to come home to a busy, smiling household and hear about all the day's little dramas.


It was one of these evenings when his phone went, an unknown number that he assumed was a supplier calling about a delivery. Flopping on the sofa and grinning at Rachel balancing a giggling Lillia on her rapidly expanding bump, he froze as he heard the automated voice tell him this was a call from the Acapulco police department.

His heart skipped a beat. Could this be it.

Rachel hadn't noticed Gray stiffen but she noticed when his face turned white. She waited, shushing Lillia and praying that whatever happened next wouldn't destroy the happiness they had salvaged from the wreckage of heir old lives.   

Gray hung up, his hands shaking, his voice shaking.



'They found Aisha' he managed, his voice a monotone and his eyes staring at nothing. 'She's in their morgue. They think a gang related shooting'

Rachel clutched Lillia closer! covering her ears though she was much too young to understand. She waited for Gray to continue, the next words forced and desperate.

'They also have the body of a young girl believed to be her daughter. Aged about 10. No ID.'

His voice barely raised above a whisper he choked out five more words before he broke down.

'I have to identify them.'

As Gray fell apart Rachel leaped into action. Whilst she wanted nothing more than to curl up with her husband and let him cry but she knew once he had got past this initial shock he wouldn't want to wait. Calling Saffron to take Lillia for the night she got onto the phone with a travel company, booking a seat on the first flight of the next day. She wished she could go with him, to be there when what they had feared but never said aloud was confirmed, but she was too far along to fly without the doctors permission, permission that she couldn't organise in time.



Once everything was settled she sat by Gray, holding him when he would let her and staying silent to avoid those meaningless words if comfort that she couldn't be sure were true.

It wouldn't all be okay and she couldn't promise it would get easier.

They drive to the airport in silence, his fierce hug at the gate the only sign Rachel had seen of Gray's fighting spirit since the phone call. She worried that the man who returned from Mexico might be changed beyond recognition.

Gray boarded the plane in a daze, stared at the wall through takeoff before finally turning his gaze to the brown of the desert as he passed it by.

He was dreading landing, dreading the taxi drive to the police station. Dreading seeing Aisha again, even like this. He'd always imagined he would at least get to look her in the eye and tell her what she had done to him, to see if there was remorse in her eyes. Would she be sorry? Now he would never know.

And then Eva.

He couldn't think of it. He wouldn't make it if he thought of it. But one thought circled his brain insistently, like a vulture around the broken mess of his heart.

He had imagined how she would look at this age, and now he would find out. But she wouldn't grow any more. Not in life or in his head. This was all she would ever get to be.

He mustn't think of it.



The numbness lasted him to the police station and through the paperwork. It stayed when they drew back the sheet on the bigger gurney. It was Aisha. Older and colder but unmistakable, the numbness even made him immune to the horrid grimace on her lifeless face.

As the attendant reached for the sheet that covered a smaller form Gray turned away. The numbness was fading and he could feel something, a scream or possibly vomit rising in his throat. A dull reflection showed the sheet rise and be folded back.



'Mr Monroe, is this your daughter?'

The voice sounded as if it were miles away. It was now or never.

Gray turned around.


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Monday 23 June 2014

The Monroe Legacy - G.3. Chapter 11 - Second Chance at First Love

A year passed uneventfully. Gray's nieces and nephews grew, he met Rachel's mother and the two of them fell harder for one another. There was no news of Eva until shortly after the six year anniversary of her disappearance, when a sighting of a woman who looked a lot like Aisha lead to another dead end.



 Gray sat quietly, musing on the last 24 hours, the panic, the hope and the disappointment. His one constant through it all had been Rachel, she had been calm, supportive and let him be a little bit crazy. Now she was tidying up the coffee cups and the papers and he could smell something delicious cooking in the kitchen.

Gray flicked the radio from the news channel they'd been watching to classical music and as Rachel came back through to collect more mess he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.



'Thank you' he said, feeling her smile into his chest at they began to sway to the music.

They danced for a while, the calming motion and the peaceful music soothing Gray's nerves. A new certainty in what he wanted from life hit Gray as they swayed and he made a decision as fast as their first kiss and as right as everything which had happened since.

'Rachel,' he hesitated, wanting the words to come out right, to properly represent everything he was feeling in this moment.



'Rachel, I want nothing more than to stay here, like this, with you forever. But we both know that perfect moments don't last forever.  The next best thing I can think of is knowing that I have you forever, knowing that wherever I go and whatever happens you are with me'

They had stopped moving, Rachel's eyes glittering with tears as she began to understand what he was asking her. Gray took her hand, drinking her in, unwashed hair, sweatpants and all. She was perfect.

'Rachel please marry me. I don't have a ring but I can't wait to know. I'm sure of this, but I have to know if you're in it with me.' He waited, breath held.



'Always Gray. I'm always in this with you and my answer is yes', Rachel .,choked out, as happy tears began to stain her cheeks.

He barely heard the end of her answer as he leaped to his feet and pulled her in to a bear hug, kissing her face and her hair and feeling the happiest he had since the day that Eva had been born.



That consuming happiness carried them through the three months it took to organise a backyard wedding, a simple service for friends and family. They didn't have any bridesmaids or too much fuss as it seemed wrong when their first choice for bridesmaid couldn't be there. Rachel also steeled herself and sat Gray down to talk about children.

Their circumstances had made this a topic of avoidance as long as they had known one another but Rachel knew she wanted to be a mother and she needed to know that Gray wasn't closed to the idea of having another child. It was a painful conversation, uncovering the dashed dreams of a father who never got to see his baby grow, who imagined how she might look and what she might be doing. But Gray was determined not to deny himself another chance, Eva would always have her place and he would never give up on finding her. Until then, when the time was right, he would love for her to have a sibling.




Gray and Rachel exchanged rings at sunset on a September evening, Saffron cheering them on and Violet in floods of tears. Jet arrived on his newest horse and Sienna flew in with her new boyfriend, an English photographer who took some beautiful pictures to commemorate the day.




Gray could feel his parents there with them. Though he was still missing Eva, they had made the place a family home once more, a place where happiness could be found.



After a joyful but uneventful first year of marriage with no news of Eva, it was Gray who reopened the baby debate. Gray and Rachel were now co-running The Lonely Cactus, they had the financial stability to support a child and it was a good time for Rachel to take time off with no risk to her career, Gray would cover her absence. Rachel's face lit up when Gray said he was ready, she had been trying to find a sensitive way to raise the issue, she had just had her thirtieth birthday and her body clock was starting to tick a little louder.



It took three months of reckless passion and a home pregnancy test to confirm that they were expecting. Rachel was ecstatic and Gray was thrilled though he secretly hoped it would be a boy, to ease the slight guilt he felt at starting again. Rachel wanted the gender to be a surprise and given how rough her first trimester was, Gray let her have her way.



Rachel had morning sickness, lunchtime sickness and even evening sickness any time she was around poultry. When this phase passed, their new little one proved to be incredibly active and have sharp elbows, regularly keeping its mother up with its energetic kicking. When the baby. wasn't keeping her up, Rachel worried herself out of sleep. She worried that her termination might have done something to her insides, that she wasn't eating right or taking the right supplements. She read every pregnancy book she could get her hands on and often woke Gray up to make sure she didn't have the latest rare condition she'd read about.



By her third trimester poor Rachel was enormous and exhausted, Gray did everything he could to make her comfortable, cooking for her weird cravings, watching endless Hell's Kitchen reruns at horror o'clock in the morning when she couldn't sleep and massaging her poor aching feet.

By the time the due date arrived, Gray's fear had been replaced by excitement. Their unknown bump had already wormed it's way into his heart, nestling up against the place he reserved for Eva. When Rachel's contractions started, Gray had a slight panic attack when he couldn't find the suitcase before rushing them all to the hospital.



Rachel delivered a healthy baby girl that night, just as the first stars appeared and they named her for their mothers.

Lillia Hallie Monroe was as beautiful as a flower, big clear eyes, blondish curls and a peachy complexion. Gray could see Eva in her, see his mom in her, but she was her own perfect self.



Gray stood back and watched as Rachel gave Lillia her first feed, marvelling that he had been blessed to have them both in his life. He prayed again that Eva would come home and complete the picture but mostly in that moment, he was thankful for his second chance.

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