Born to Fight

Chapter 9

Jamie

I got up and walked out of Celeste's bedroom, quickly making my way downstairs to talk to Josh. Celeste didn't realize it, but she had seen her father at her mother's funeral, and it had obviously freaked her out. Granted she had no idea who the guy was to her, and given everything she had been through recently, it was only natural that she would be freaked out right now. It wasn't like Billy to be careless enough to get seen by someone he was hiding from. I couldn't wait to speak to him and find out what had happened. Had he slipped up once he had seen the daughter he had abandoned all those years ago?

I walked into the kitchen and saw Josh digging around in the freezer. I stood there and watched him in amusement as he sifted through the contents of the freezer before pulling out a package of rump steaks. He held them up and grinned as if he had just won the lottery. When he saw me standing there watching him he looked a little worried. I shook my head in amusement at his actions as I grinned at him.

"We need to talk," I told him, getting serious once more.

"About what?" he asked.

"Your dad was at the funeral," I told him.

"I doubt it. He wouldn't have been there. And if he was, who would know?" Josh replied shrugging.

“You don’t understand man, he was there, she saw him,” I insisted.

“You must be mistaken, there is no way he would be that sloppy. He just wouldn’t. He would know that Celeste would be on edge and he wouldn't want to upset her,” replied Josh.

“I’m telling you, she saw him” I repeated.

“I hear you man, I do, but I am telling you there has to be a mistake. Maybe it was somebody else,” said Josh sounding hopeful.

“I doubt it. Look, Josh, your family started this, now you need to do something to fix it. Poor Celeste can't take much more of this. She is up there in her room at the moment thinking she is going crazy. Between her mother’s death and you going all strong and silent type on her and now this sighting at the funeral. Man, the poor girl is almost at breaking point. Fix it. Now.” I stated with an air of finality.

Josh, seeing that I meant what I was saying, nodded at me, letting me know he had taken on board what I had just said to him. We made our way out of the kitchen and stopped when we saw Celeste sitting on the stairs.

“How long have you been sitting there?” I asked looking at her.

“I would have to say long enough,” she replied quietly, looking at me with a hint of hurt in her eyes.

“Look, Celeste whatever you heard, I promise you it is not what you think,” I told her as I walked towards her.

Celeste looked at Josh. “What do you have to do with all of this?” she suddenly asked him.

Josh looked at me, his face masked with a silent plea for help.

“Josh doesn’t have anything to do with it. Not really. Although he does need to sit down and talk to you about a few things,” I replied in answer to her question.

“I heard you”, she said looking at us both in disbelief, “You said, and I quote, 'you started this, now you need to do something to fix it.' Now you are trying to tell me he doesn’t have anything to do with this. I am not stupid. Now tell me what is going on,” Celeste said looking overwhelmed. I could tell she had finally hit the wall and everything was suddenly becoming too much for her. I wasn't surprised. She had been struggling to hold on and keep it together since the night her mother had died, and it was bound to all catch up to her at some point. It seemed like we had now reached that point.

“Look, Celeste, let’s all of us go and sit down in the kitchen and talk,” I told her stepping forward and putting my hand around her wrist and gently pulling her to her feet. When she was standing beside me I put my hand on the small of her back and gently directed her towards the kitchen. Celeste took a seat at the table and Josh and I followed suit. Josh was seated directly across the table from Celeste and I was seated at the head of the table. Loki was laying on the floor beside Celeste, totally at ease.

“So, tell me what’s going on...please,” Celeste said looking at us both. I looked over at Josh and met his eyes, imploring him to tell her the truth. She needed to know. She deserved to know.

Looking away from me and glancing back at Celeste, Josh suddenly stood up. “Excuse me for a moment, I will be right back,” he said, before walking out of the room.

Celeste looked at me as if she wanted to know what was going on. At a loss, I just shrugged. We both sat in silence waiting for Josh to come back. As if sensing Celeste's distress, Loki sat up and rested his head on her lap. Celeste ran her fingers through his long soft coat seeking the comfort the dog provided her with. She looked over and saw me watching her. “The eyes of loyalty,” I stated, motioning towards Loki.

Celeste looked down into Loki’s eyes. His beautiful brown eyes gazed back into hers, full of love and adoration.

“Those eyes tell me, he would follow you anywhere. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to protect you,” I told her. I wanted to tell her that there was nothing that I wouldn't do to protect her either. But I didn't want her to worry about her safety, so I didn't say anything.

Josh came back into the room and sat back down in his chair. He looked at me and an understanding passed between us both. Celeste, not understanding what was going on, looked at each of us like a spectator watching a tennis match.

“What’s going on? What aren't the two of you telling me?” she asked, looking worried.

Josh looked at her and took a deep breath. He held it for a moment and then exhaled. It was both interesting and amusing for me to watch. I had seen Josh go into situations that would have many grown men pissing their pants in fear, but Josh hadn't even broken a sweat. And now, here he was trying to find out how to break the news to a teenage girl that he was her brother. Looking at him now, I was pretty sure he was about to piss his pants. Once this was over, I was going to give him hell over this.

“Celeste, I need to tell you something, but to explain everything to you properly, I need to start at the beginning. My beginning, that is. This story in its entirety is not mine to tell. So, I am only telling you my part. Do you understand?” he asked, still looking at her.

Celeste looked at him for a moment, taking in what Josh was telling her. After a moment she nodded at what he was saying.

Josh looked at her relieved and kept talking.

“Okay, so my story begins the night Jamie and I got to your house after your mother’s death. That night when you first greeted Jamie I was too far away from you to pay much attention. I knew the situation was bad and the police officers at your house were a big distraction. But after the police interviewed you and I went looking for Jamie and found the two of you in the kitchen…”

“You ran away like I had some kind of contagious disease!” Celeste cut in.

Josh laughed quietly before saying, “Yes, I did, didn't I? Honestly, I think I was in shock. I looked at you and I saw something that I wasn't expecting to see, and I just... I couldn’t, God I am screwing this up” he looked at me, “Dude, can you help me out here?” he asked.

I shook my head before saying, “No, you’ve got this, keep going.”

Josh looked back at her nervously, “Celeste the reason I left so abruptly, was because of you... you... um, well there’s no easy way to say it, so I am going to just spit it out okay?”

Celeste looked at him and nodded. I could see she was starting to get scared about what it was Josh was trying to tell her.

“Celeste you look exactly like my father,” he stated. “You are the female image of him, apart from your eyes and hair of course.”

Celeste looked at Josh in shock. She appeared to be speechless. She looked down at the table as her face flitted with different emotions. I was willing to bet that ten thousand thoughts were running a gamut through her mind. She was probably trying to remember everything her mother had ever told her about her father, which wasn’t a lot if I was going by her earlier emails to me. She looked over at Josh, and the look in her eyes broke my heart. Here was the girl who had believed she was now all alone in the world, and my best friend had just told her that in reality that was not the case.

“What the hell are you talking about?” she suddenly asked.

“Celeste, what I am telling you is that I think we are related. I am so sure of it that I would put money on it,” he replied looking at her. She gazed into his green eyes and saw he was serious about what he was saying. “I am so sure of it, that I have rung my dad and asked him to come over here,” he stated.

“Wait a minute, you did what now?” Celeste gasped, looking horrified at what Josh had just said.

“I have been talking to my father about this since that first night that I saw you with Jamie at your house, right after you had spoken to the police. It is high time my father talked to you about all of this. I’m sure you have a lot of questions for him,” he added.

Looking at Celeste, I could tell that her mind was reeling. It was obvious that she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. "So, what you're telling me is that I am soon going to be face to face with the man who abandoned me and my mother before I was even born?" she asked, looking at Josh.