Chapter 5

I wheeled into the kitchen the next morning just as Kate was stacking the pancakes on a plate. The eggs, bacon and juice were already on the table. Jen was reading the paper on the other side of the table.

“Eat ‘em while they’re hot,” Kate said as she turned around. She was startled when she saw me and almost dropped the plate. “Damn Kevin. You could have said something.”

“I was too busy watching,” I told her. I wheeled over to the empty spot at the table. “I can’t wait until I can get rid of this thing and use regular chairs.”

“Megan and the kids are coming over later,” Jen said. “We’re going to give them the grand tour.”

“Good,” I said. “I forgot to get her father’s name last night. That means that you two will have to get dressed then.”

“No. We told her how we dress here, and told her that she and the kids will have the option. She said that they will wear their robes to come over. She wouldn’t say just how long they would have them on though.”

“I swear I’ll be dead before I’m thirty.”

They showed up at around ten thirty. Sure enough, the kids dropped their robes at the front door. Little Ronnie had a nice little body going on there. She still had a little baby fat around her waist, but for the most part, she was filling out nicely. She was destined to be a knockout before she turned sixteen. The two of them started their own tour as the rest of us went to the kitchen and the coffee pot. Before long they were at the kitchen door.

“Momma,” Ronnie said. We all turned toward her. “Why do they have a picture of Grandpa?”

“What?”

“They have a picture of Grandpa and some lady over their fireplace.”

“I don’t understand...” Megan looked at us.

“We have a picture of our parents over the fireplace, sweety” Kate said.

“It sure looks like our Grandpa.”

We followed them into the living room. Megan froze at the door.

“That ... That’s my father. Why do you ... Oh no. It couldn’t be.” She turned to us. “What is his name?” she asked as she pointed to his picture.

“Stanley McDonald. Why?” I said.

“Did he work for the Smith and Adams accounting firm, out of New York.”

“Yes, but he said it was in Chicago. You don’t suppose...?” Jen put her hands to her mouth.

Megan turned and looked at the picture and then back at us. “I think we have the same father. Where is he?”

“I’m sorry, but we lost them four and a half years ago,” Jen said. “It was the same day that Kevin went into that coma from a wing falling on our house.”

Megan stood there just staring at the picture.

“It all makes sense now,” she said. “That’s where the money came from. That...” She thought for a minute. “It’s the combination. That’s what that paper is.” She took off and left the kids there.

Kate and Jen grabbed robes and followed her over to her house. I managed to make it there just as she brought a small white box into the living room. She also had a book of some kind in her hand. She set the box on the coffee table, then opened the book and pulled out a piece of paper. She dialled three numbers on the box, and then opened it.

She pulled out a whole mess of papers and went through them. “I didn’t know what was in here and never thought to take it to a locksmith to open it.” She went through a few more, then stopped. She held an envelope in her hand. “This is to Mike from Daddy’s lawyers.” She opened it and started reading.

“This is...” she said. “Daddy is apologizing for dying. He...” She read on, and then looked up at us. “Kevin, Jen and Kate. We are all his children. He was living two lives.”

“This one is from Mike,” Jen said. “It’s sealed.”

Megan opened it and started reading. She soon started to cry.

“He knew, even before the lawyers told him, that Daddy died in that accident. And he knew about his double life. That’s why he hid everything from me. He knew how much I loved Daddy, and he didn’t want me to hate him. He wanted me to have hope that I would see him again someday.

“Mike bought this property just after you bought yours. He was going to have the house built, and then move us in. Eventually he was going to get to know you guys better, and let Kevin know what Daddy had done. It would have been up to the two of them to let us know.” She looked at Jen. “I guess he hadn’t counted on pictures hanging on the walls.” She went back to the letter.

“He met your mother on one of his business trips, fell in love with her and married her a year later. He changed jobs just before that so he could spend every other two weeks with each family.”

“Well ... sis,” Kate said. “It seems that Daddy knew how to raise his kids. Who knew that we would all live the same lifestyle?”