Chapter 5

    Jaclyn was so devastated at what she had read last night.

It was Saturday and she was suppose to be doing her weekend chores to make out lunch time with Jake but in the state she's in,

She couldn't lift her finger.

They hid the truth from her for almost twenty years and no one not even her father,

The one she loves most could tell her about this fact

Liars,

They're all liars.

She lazily pulled herself from the bed, the bed, she’d laid on for the past few hours crying.

She stood up from the bed and staggered to her kitchen to make herself something hot and strong to drink.

She poured some water into her kettle and turned on the electric cooker.

Allowing the water to boil, she went to her kitchen cupboard and got herself her coffee tin.

Brew herself some strong hot coffee with no milk and sugar then, she went back to her living room,.

Turning on the TV, the Wildcat were playing their finals against Buccaneers.

She turned off the TV and went back to her room.

The photos and letters were still on her bed where she'd left them.

Should she go and confront her parents about this whole bullshit in front of her or investigate the whole shit herself?

She was lost.

She looked at her alarm clock,

Ten am.

She has till two hours to do whatever she has to do.

Slowly, she packed back the photos and the letters,

She pack them inside her shoe box and kept it under her bed,

She took out her dirty clothes and threw each into the washing machine.

Making sure she was done with almost all her chores,

She went in and had a very long shower,

It was exactly twelve fifty three when she came out of the bathroom and sat naked on the bed,

There, she lost count of time.

She was so lost she didn't notice her phone ring several times,

She snapped back to earth when she heard the loud ring if her doorbell.

Immediately she jerked from the bed, took her towel and wrapped it around herself.

She went to the peephole and checked who was there,

It was Jake.

She opened the door,

"Hey Jake." She said to him,

He frowned,

"I've been calling your number for quite a while now but you weren't taking my calls." He complained.

"Thought something was wrong."

"No," she smiled,

"I was in the shower, so didn't hear it ring." She lied,

Trying to hide her eye bags but Jake as a very sensitive gentleman noticed it at a glance.

"Were you crying?" He asked her,

He came closer and touched her cheeks,

Jaclyn pulled away immediately,

"No, I wasn't.

I was in the bathtub for a very long time." She lied again.

Jake knew she was lying about not crying but he didn't push further,

She let him in and left him to go get her clothes on.

"Nice apartment you got here." He complimented,

She smiled,

"Thanks.

Just give me a few minutes to get dressed." She said,

Jake nodded and in two,

She left.

He stood up and walked around the living room,

Looking at the room, he understood something vital,

She's a neat freak.

There was no specks of dirt anywhere,

Everything was so placed in order, it looks like some perfectionist robot had just cleaned the place up.

Wonderful.

Mahogany table, complete cushion set, a 32 inch plasma TV and a DVD player set, a breakfast corner and a window that separated it from her kitchenette.

Wonderfully furnished,

Hardwood tiles floor and same all over the kitchen's wall, it was very classy and exquisite.

"Can we leave now?" She said,

Jake turned and there she was back, wearing a while cotton print blouse with a jean trouser.

"Wow! You look gorgeous." He complimented,

It was no lie,

She literarily looks good on anything she puts on.

"Thanks." She said with her crimson red cheeks,

He walked closer to her and took her hands into his,

"Mind if we leave now me lady?" She nodded,

He led her out of the apartment as she closed the door behind them.

        He took her to the Village Inn that was twenty minutes drive from her house.

There they took the table that was near the window while a waitress came up to them to take their orders.

“I’ll have the lemon meringue pie and one cup of coffee please.” Jacky said to the lady in black and white checked skirt and a white shirt that was tucked neatly into the skirt.

“You sure you don’t want anything else?” Jake asked her and she nodded with a smile.

“I’m okay with the pie and coffee.”

“Okay, get me the same order as the lady,” Jake told the waitress, then stole a quick glance at Jacky.

“We would love cream in the coffee, sweet and creamer.” He explained to the lady who nodded, taking his order in her booklet.

When he finished, she left them to get their order while Jake now had his full attention on Jacky, he smiled at her,

“Tell me about yourself, I want to know more about you.”

“Well, there isn’t really much to know about my life, I’m a pretty open person.” She asserted with a smile.

The memories of her revelation last night, popped into her head but not wanting to dwell on them, she pushed them aside, she wasn’t going to let them ruin her time with Jake.

“I grew up in Manhattan with my parents, Adam and Katy Chisholm…”

“You were born there?” He asked and she nodded,

“Pretty much, I’ve lived there all my life till last two years when I moved down to Brooklyn…..” She was talking when the waitress came with their orders.

She set the table for them and left them to eat.

  “So tell me about you, at least I’ve said something about myself.” She said, taking a bite from her pie.

“ You haven’t said much.

Do you have siblings?” He asked and she nodded,

“I have a younger brother, Ed.

He’s fourteen and is in his first year in senior high.

My dad run Chisholm and Sons Transportation alongside his younger brother, my uncle, Gabriel and he lives with them in your family house in Manhattan.” She paused because he’d a smile on his face.

“What?” She asked exasperated, trying to suppress her own laughter,

“Nothing, continue.”

“ Whatever.

Well, I graduated school with plans of majoring on business or economics but apparently that wasn’t God’s plan for me cause I dropped out of college after my second year and decided to join Crime Analysis Education.

Majored in Forensic Photography because of my love for photographing and art and after the program, I interned in NYPD for three months then got hired fully after my internship.” Jake wasn’t surprised,

She is the type of woman he loves, she knows what she want, when she wants it and how she wants it, he loves her for that.

“Now back to you, tell me about yourself.” She said to him, looking curiously at him as he cleared his throat to begin his story.

“I grew up in San Antonio in Texas.

My dad’s late and my mom alive.” He breathed out like the memory makes him sad.

Sure it does,

Who wouldn’t be sad losing a parent?

“I’ve two sisters, Vanessa’s older than me and she’s married with two kids while Corina is in her final year, majoring in English.

Unlike you, I knew what I’d wanted before going to college, I took my Crime Analysis Education, where I majored in Criminal Justice and I got a degree in the course. I joined the FBI afterwards, stayed there for two years before I moved to New York and joined the police force.”

“Wow! That’s great.” Was all Jaclyn could say cause deep down, she was smitten by the man already.

    They went on and on talking till they finished their snacks and afterwards, they drove to the movies to catch ‘Deer Hunters' since it was premiering that day.

He drove her home later that night,

“ Thanks for going out with me, I’d fun.” He said when he stopped his car in front of the building.

She smiled and turned to him,

“I’d fun too, Jake.

Thanks a lot.”

“Mind if we go out again?” He asked and she nodded,

“Yeah, we should go out again.”

He pulled closer to her and kissed her lips, she invited him in and he deepened the kiss.

The kiss lasted for a few minutes and when they retracted from each other, they were breathing heavily,

“Good night Jacky.” Jake breathed out and she smiled,

“Same to you Jake.” She opened the door and stepped out if the car, with one last wave, she walked towards the building while he stayed there, watching her till she got inside and when she did, he started the car and drove away.

     Monday,

Jaclyn decided to skip work.

She called in sick, then went to her dad's house.

Not much of her families were home when she got there except the maids and her aunt Anhitta,

She snuck into her dad's study.

The office was neatly arranged.

She went to her father's seat and sat down,

Taking out the drawers, she decided to go through his files to see of there was any document signed on her behalf to let the Chisholm have full custody of her.

She pulled out every files there, some medical reports on her and her younger brother.

She continued searching till she got to the oldest files there,

There were some photos of her and her biological parents and those with her foster parents,

That's what she would call them.

After taking a few photos from the drawer,

She placed everything back the way it was before she came.

After arranging the study,

She snuck to her mom's room to get the Cabbuca train,

Luckily for her, her mom had left it on the dresser table.

She just took it and left the same way she came, avoiding being seen by anyone as she left.

Afterwards, she went back home and searched on her father, Lionel Baird.

Via her search, she found out he was meeting up with a new client of his at an Italian Restaurant not far from the State's Museum.

So she decided, she was going to go meet him there.

The daughter he thought he'd lost is coming to meet him.

     That night, dressed in a black oversized hood and a black tight pants.

She kept the train inside the hoods pocket and set out.

She checked her watched, seven forty-six,

His appointment is by eight pm and he should be here soon.

"What's Mr Baird's table number?" She asked the waitress who she'd met earlier when she first came.

"VIP table 015." She replied her as she took the cup of finished coffee,

"Get me one mocha please." Jaclyn said to the lady as she turned to leave,

The woman nodded and left to get her order.

   It was seven fifty-five and Lionel would be there soon,

Jaclyn was still waiting for the man to come when she received a text from a private number.

She didn't bother to check it cause she felt it was unimportant but when it beeped again, she became conscious and decided to go through it.

She opened her phone and the message popped in front of her cell phone's screen.

"Don't wait any longer Jacky,

Go home now.

He shouldn't see you or know that you're alive." It read.

There came another text, from the same private number,

"Go home now,

I'll call you when you get home.

Lionel shouldn't know you're alive." It read again.

Terrified as she was,

She looked around to see if anyone was watching her, but no one was.

She hadn't told anyone about her coming here to see her father.

So who's this person?

It baffled her a whole lot,

But she decided she wasn't going home till she meets her father.

Like a mind reader, whoever it was send another text.

"Jacky, you just have to trust me on this,

I'll call you and explain who I am and why I'm asking you to go home but now,

You just have to do as I say to save your life." The text read.

With some sort of assurance she developed all of a sudden for this mysterious person, she got up from the seat.

"Waiter!" She called,

The lady who'd served her earlier came again with a cup of mocha.

"Here you go Miss." She handed the cup to Jaclyn,

"Okay,

Here's my bill." She pushed a fifty dollar note to the waitress,

"Keep the balance."

Disappointed and curious, she left the place with the cup of mocha in her hands.

Who's this mysterious person?