Chapter 42

"Morgan and Zion" he stated but he was confused.

"No."

"I wasn't aware you had any more boys" now really confused.

"Two. They didn't make it. They weren't alive long enough for me to name them" she laughed bitterly.

"I am sorry. I didn't know." he was honestly surprised. There seemed to be much more to Rachel than he thought.

"You weren't supposed to" in a cold voice.

There was a long pause.

"Do you want me to get my children back?" he asked her directly. No beating around the bush.

"Speaking as a mother, I have to answer no."

"I thought so." he said in wry voice. "I have another question for vou"

"Go ahead"

"Why did you leave Eric?" he always wondered why she didn't leave him years ago.

"I was tired." she answered simply.

"You never loved him" he mused.

"What?" surprise in her voice.

"Uncle Eric. You never loved him. Or at least it looked like you didn't"

"Why would you say that?" no anger in her voice just curiosity.

Quite a few people have mentioned that. Even her own children. But the rest if the world thought that they were the perfect couple.

"Observation." shrugging his shoulders. "Every time he was around he could never please you. He could never do anything right in your eyes. And he would bend over backwards for you but you always ignored his advances. You were always so cold to him that I felt for him. All of your kids feel for him. We will always wonder why you hated him so much"

"Hated him? I adored him. You know we grew up together. He was ahead of me in school but every girl in the city dreamt of marrying him. Who wouldn't?" she laughed.

"He had the charm and the strength and the looks. Much like your father. Perhaps that is why they are best friends. The day my grandfather and father told me that I would wed him that was the happiest day of my life. I had the bragging rights of the town but in actuality I became the fool of the town when I thought he would be mine alone. The year of our engagement he chased every girl in town. I felt worthless yet I suffered silently. Our wedding was always pushed back because he was not ready to settle down and have a wife. As he was chasing every Jane and Mary, I found someone else. Timothy was his name. Handsome but not as handsome as your uncle mind you. At first it was just an attempt to get Eric jealous. But then into something much more real." smiling at the fond memory.

"What happened?" Collins asked when she paused for breath.

He was engrossed with the story. He had never seen so much emotion from his aunt.

"Your uncle happened. He flew in a jealous rage when he found out. Weeks later I found myself walking down the aisle.'

"Is that why you hate him?"

"No. I fell for him. I loved him with everything I had. But sometimes that is not enough. I guess it was never meant to be" she sighed.

"You know last time we spoke Sara asked a very good question. Why do you always support Diane?" This question had been plaguing him for weeks.

"Because she is like a daughter to me" she didn't understand why everyone was so surprised at this. That was one of the reasons why she grew to resent Eric. His wickedness towards his own daughter she couldn't fathom. Diane became a real child to her. At times she wished Esther Maria was never in the picture. Then she could have adopted Diane as her own. As her own child. A child who would love her for her.

"She isn't even your real child" Collins snapped. Annoyance and disdain were evidence in his tone. This woman before him had no loyalties.

"Are any of my children are?" her quiet voice more of a statement than a question.

"What?" the glass paused midway to his mouth. He must have misheard her. He had to have misheard her.

"You heard what I said."

"No. No no. I must have misheard you." he laughed trying to pass it off as a bad joke. "You got me there. For a second, I thought you said are any of my children mine." still laughing to himself.

But she was not laughing. She was all too serious. "That is correct."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean none of my children are biologically mine." taking a sip of her drink. She knew she was treading on dangerous grounds. There was no going back after this.

"What? I only thought it was Zion." he caught himself too late to stop himself from repeating what his mother had told him in secret. Years back Rachel had travelled abroad to "have her baby" but his mother had told him different. She explained that Rachel had actually adopted Zion from an orphanage. It was a secret that not many people knew. Not even Zion.

"I suppose your mother told you that right?" looking slightly angry but not surprised.

He could only nod his head in affirmation.

"You weren't supposed to know that" she sighed. One of the reasons she disliked his mother.

He felt a tad bit guilty. But it was no big deal if Zion was adopted. He was still a child of Eric and Rachel. He had the name Timmons. And it was more than evident that Eric loved him. Eric never hid his disdain or love for anyone.

"So all of your kids are adopted?"

"No" she stretched the o. "They have the Timmons blood in them alright." she laughed with no humor in his voice.

"I see you are confused. Morgan, Judy, Ashley, Sara, all products of affairs that Eric had"

"What?" he yelled. Then why did Eric hate Diane so much? He always assumed that it was because Diane's mother had tried to wreck the family. Yet all his kids were products of affairs and he adored them. Why was Diane so different?

"You are wondering why he loves the rest and detests Diane aren't you?"

"I am. It makes no sense."

"The world we live in Collins makes no sense. A month after we were wed, I found myself pregnant. I was excited. A child to love. When he was born he was a very handsome. Big eyes and a voice that could wake the dead. Imagine one minute you are holding a miracle and the next the doctors are snatching your boy and telling you it will be a miracle if he lives. He died the next day. 3:28 p.m. I cried like I had never cried before. Eric tried to comfort me but it was no use. For a year I was nothing more than a walking corpse. And when one of his mistresses showed up at my door yelling and screaming at me for Eric impregnating her"

"That must have been tough" he suddenly had new found sympathy for Rachel. That must be tough. Losing your child and finding out that your husband has impregnated another woman.

"It still doesn't explain why Eric hates Diane" he had to try and understand why.

"Eric's mistresses were always rich and well to do families.

Young girls that come from homes with powerful backgrounds. To avoid shame they willingly give their children up. Nevertheless they still have links and ties and a right to any inheritance. Smart right?"

She didn't wait for an answer. "He thought so. How could you not like children who could one day bring you back fortune?

He loved them as father should love a child mind you. Like how your mother and father love you. Anyway it was all kept hush hush. No one was the wiser. No one will ever have to know. Fake baby bumps. Secret deliveries it should have been a movie. Everyone thought they were mine. And they were.

When I held Morgan and Judy for the first time I fell in love with them. They were so helpless and small. They became my children. I would spend hours on end watching them, making sure they don't end up like my first baby."

"Wow" he whistled. This woman was a saint. Loving kids that were not biologically hers. The more he heard the more and more he was racked with guilt and shame. Listening to Rachel he had no excuse whatsoever to sign his kids away. He was now even angrier at his mother and father and godfather.

They had helped in killing his children and here was a woman who had taken in children that were not even hers and loved them as her own. He was disappointed in his mother. She failed as a grandmother. She denied her own blood.