Deadly Hallows [Complete]

Chapter 15: My Sister's Keeper

I stood up and held the certificate in Mason's face. "What is this? Where did you get this?" I questioned as quietly as possible, but it was hard to hide the shock in my voice. I didn't understand how this could happen. How could I not know that my mother had another child? I paused for a moment, thinking back. I realized then that there was a reason I never knew and it gave her enough time to have a child and come back to us without us knowing exactly why.

I shuddered as I thought about my mother cheating on my father. It sickened me to think that she had somehow managed to meet and engage with Mason's dad. I couldn't think of how they could have met, but I remember my mom saying that she used to travel a lot for work when I was in my early school years. According to her, she had missed a lot of my milestones due to her job, which is why she had ultimately ended up changing jobs. Dad never mentioned it, though he did take jabs at her for the year she was gone, without an explanation other than being with her family and her job. He had been left alone to raise John and I, and then she showed up again a year later as if nothing had changed. I had to have been two or three at the time, so I didn't really remember, but I knew my father never got an answer to why she had disappeared for so long. Now I felt as if I held the answer in my hands.

Sophie was the child of the affair, and my mom had left for a year to secretly have the baby. Then she must have left Sophie with Mason's father, and returned without the child, and no evidence of the affair. It made me wonder how Mason's mother had taken the news, or if she even knew. If she didn't then how did Mr. Peters find a way to convince her to keep a child that wasn't hers? I bet Mason had wondered the same thing when he had come across the envelope.

Sophie wasn't only my mother's child, but she was my sister. I had always wanted a little sister, but not like this. I never would have imagined that I had a little sister somewhere in the world. Now I didn't. She was taken from me before I had ever even known she was mine. My sister, the words felt weird even in my mind. Sophie Peters, my sister. It was hard to believe even after I had put the pieces together. That was why we resembled each other. We shared half of each other's DNA. That was also why my mom had been so distressed after Sophie's body was found in the woods. She had lost a daughter. One she didn't know, but she had still given birth to her and brought her into this world. It had to be tough to know that her presence no longer remained here. 

I turned to him, and waited for an explanation. He gave me an apologetic smile, and lightly took my hands in his before instructing me to sit down again. His touch, while it had instantly calmed me down, didn't relieve the confusion nor did it answer the swarm of questions I had swimming through my head. I had so many different trains of thought leaving the station that I didn't know which one to follow first.

"I know it's a lot to take in, Casey," Mason said. His voice was soft and soothing as it lulled into my ears. "I just need you to calm down so you can focus. This is also why I didn't want to wait until tomorrow. I thought it would be better to tell you when there would be no chance of someone watching us, I didn't want to cause a scene wherever I decided to tell you."

I had to agree with that. If he had waited to tell me tomorrow then all eyes would be on us. We wouldn't have any privacy, and I wouldn't have been able to fully express my emotions. Mason had understood that, and I felt myself warming to him even more for being so thoughtful. I wouldn't feel comfortable in front of anyone else, but despite my short time with Mason, I felt comfortable around him.

"Then people would think we were having a fight, and there goes the dating rumor working to our advantage," he continued. There was a soft laughter in his words as he spoke, trying to ease the tension with playful banter. 

I smiled a close lipped smile, calming slightly from the playfulness of his words. "Why would that ruin our facade of dating?"

"We'd be the center of attention for the latest gossip. We'd have people talking about us every time we were seen, what we were doing, and where we were," he said, turning to me with a smile.