A Piece Of Her History

"What is it my dear?"

Layla's hands drop ever so slowly, releasing the woman she had so tightly embraced like her life depended on it. The hair, her voice, her entire face says this is her mother, but…"

"Layla?"

"That…" Layla's eyes flicker back to the woman's face. The woman has a frown on that even after so many years does not look anything like her mother's. Her mother, actually, would have had heavier lines of worry at the situation than a frown. It was in the little things. Layla may not have seen her mother in years, but the things she knew about the woman who was once the light of her life, had surprisingly not faded. She thought she had forgotten, but seeing this double version of her just refreshes all those memories and it saddens her.

"You are not her." Layla states, her heart breaking all over again.

A warm hand cups her cheeks almost immediately. The touch is as good as her mother's and Layla leans into it, seeking comfort unconsciously. With eyes closed and a few tears silently escaping her eyelids, Layla is thrust back onto memory lane.

"I know. I could never be her. She was always the wild one." A sad chuckle makes Layla open her eyes.

"The wild one?"

"Being six minutes older apparently, never gave me enough big sister privileges to tame that wild side."

"You are mom's twin?!" That would be the most logical explanation, but it's still shocking to Layla. "Mom never mentioned she was a twin. She never mentioned any of you." Layla steps back, reality dawning on her. Finally, her long lost family has found her, but why now and how?

"Caleb…"

She finds him leaning against the bedroom's door looking guilty as hell. She should be happy about this. After all, she told him that she feared growing old alone. So, then, why is she feeling so upset? Is it disappointment at the woman not turning out to be her mother? Or is it something deeper. Something that questions her own choices and decisions. Had she fallen into a pattern?

"Is this why you wouldn't let me see her right away? You knew she was not my mother?" Her voice is surprisingly cold. He didn't have a right to dig around her past like this. These people never cared for her or her mother and yet he searched for them without her consent. It makes him no different from Simon.

"This is about you. It has always been about you, Layla Theresa Jones."

"Oh God!" She holds her hand up when Caleb tries to pull her into his arms. "Don't touch me!" She snaps. This is Simon all over again. At least she thinks so.

"Layla…" There is a hint of hurt in Caleb's voice but she can't bring herself to let him close. Right now, he is Simon. The faces may be different but their actions couldn't be anymore different. A fact that has her building walls around herself instantly.

"He saved my life."

"What?" Layla turns to her aunt, surprised. "Saved your life?" Her eyes travel back to Caleb, unsure of how to feel after accusing him of being no different from Simon.

"That's not necessary–"

"If it weren't for him, I would still be locked up by your future husband, I mean ex fiancé." Her newfound aunt cuts Caleb off.

"Wait, Simon had you locked up?" Her accusations forgotten, Layla faces her aunt fully, wanting to get all the details. She also doesn't miss the stab to her heart when she realizes that her decision to be with Simon may have put her family in danger. It doesn't even matter that the family relationship is almost non-existent.

"Ever since you woke up from your coma."

Layla makes a quick mental calculation and her eyes widen. "That's over a month! You've been locked up all this time? But why would he do that?"

"I suggest you take a seat." Caleb reaches for her again and this time she lets him. Relief crosses his face and she's glad. She doesn't know what she would do if he held her accusations against her. But all that will have to wait. She needs to know what in the world possessed her ex fiancé to imprison her aunt.

"But why would Simon have you locked up?" Layla asks impatiently the moment her body hits the couch. And now that she thinks about it, her aunt does look a little thin and a bit pale, definitely not a sign of a healthy person. "Was she starved or something!"

"It's actually a long story that I'm glad is over now." Her aunt flashes Caleb a grateful smile.

"I want to hear about it regardless." Too soon maybe, but lately, Layla has learned how quickly things can change in her life. She unconsciously reaches for Caleb's hand. He's there for her as always, making sure to squeeze her hand gently as if to let her know of his presence.

"I was never interested in the world of business, but Theresa always was."

Layla's heart aches at the mention of her mother. Even more so when someone who looks exactly like her is seated in front of her. But as hard as it is, she focuses on her aunt's narration that is a piece of her past.

"Business was my father's lifeblood, so naturally, he got to spend a lot of time with your mother. I even suspected that she was his favorite of us twins. The two of them would talk for hours. As long as Theresa had questions, my father would be there to answer. It was clear that she would follow in his footsteps. Inherit the company when it was dad's time to step down."

"The company?" Layla can't help but ask. With how her life turned out, she would never have thought that she belonged to a family whose inheritance was a big deal.

"Companies, actually." A subtle smile crosses her aunt's face.

"Companies?" Memories of her struggling surface without warning, making her clench her teeth. Companies can only mean one thing but she pushes it aside and focuses on her aunt's story. "What is done is done."

"Father had always worked hard to make a small empire of our family business. That's why when Theresa mentioned that she did not want anything to do with it, father was furious."

"She didn't?"

"She met this guy. He did not exactly fit our family circles. At least not to our father's standard. The two of them had plans. Having learned a lot about business, Theresa was sure they could start up something and make it work, with father's guidance of course. They wanted to get married, but among other things, her being eighteen was not enough for father to give his consent. And he had no intentions of supporting her business idea either. I think he hoped that would change her mind, but…"

"She left." Layla said quietly.

"We didn't know she was already pregnant and by the time we did, she wouldn't let anyone near her. Not even her own twin. I swear we didn't know until it was too late." A lone tear escapes her aunt's eye.

"Why now? You had all these years to look for me." A lump lodges itself in Layla's throat at the question that she has always wanted an answer to.

"I did. But I was always too late. Every address I came across was your former address. And there was never a forwarding address. And I have to admit that after that one last address, I stopped looking. Perhaps like father, I hoped you and your mother would show up eventually."

Layla remembers moving a lot with her mother so she believes that part. And it's not much, but knowing that at least a member of her family looked for her is a bit comforting and brings tears to her eyes.

"One day, a face in a magazine caught my attention. It was my Theresa's face, only younger. Simon stood next to you. It was my chance to meet you. With my father's business connections, I met up with him. It was a mistake."

"A mistake?" Still teary eyed, Layla frowns, wondering what kind of turn her sad story is about to take.

"It wasn't at first. He narrated what you had gone through." Another lone tear escapes her aunt's eye. "I got to know that Theresa had passed from him. Told me how broken you had been since then and how you resented us for abandoning you. How you never wished to see any of us. I believed him, because obviously, it was true. It never occurred to me that he was after something else. After playing the guilty card for so long I realized he was keeping me away from you on purpose. That is when I decided to get to you myself. It was the day before your wedding." The woman's voice cracked. "I guess Simon was right. We were bad for you. You almost died, Layla."

Her accident is almost a distant memory, but coupled with these revelations, everything comes crashing in.

"It turned out he wanted what connected you to your mother and her family besides the blood that runs through your veins." Her aunt reaches for Layla's hand and holds on tightly, her teary eyes boring into her.

"Even with Theresa gone, whatever she was meant to inherit automatically passed to you."

"She's only a means to an end." Simon's words slap Layla in the face.

"I don't want it." Layla shoots up from the couch and rushes for the bedroom door. Suddenly she wishes she knew nothing of what she just heard.

"Money? It was all about money?"

All the pain in her life just got summed up in a few sentences that centered around money. Everything could have been different, if only…

"Damn it." She wants to get away from everything but once outside the bedroom, she realizes that she doesn't know which way to turn.

"Hey." Caleb catches up to her and she melts in his arms.

"I don't want to hear any more. I don't want to be here." She sobs like a child, trusting Caleb not to judge her.

"I got you."

She lets him carry her. She doesn't care where to, as long as it's nowhere near here. As if putting a distance between her and her aunt would erase some of the stuff the older woman just narrated.