TABOO TALES(erotica)

Feeling that way, it had been easy to attempt to drive these interlopers away, these people who’d come to claim her for their own family when she knew she wasn’t and never had been one of them. She wanted to keep on being Bethany Keyes, married to Corey Warren, not this Hu’e whatever persona they were trying to saddle her with.

Even so, the look on that girl’s face, in her eyes, the hurt she’d caused her, hadn’t made Bethany feel any better. She’d set out to hurt these people for intruding in her life, and she’d succeeded, and knowing she was wrong had only compounded it for her, because having gone there, it had been easy to keep lashing out, and that poor kid hadn’t done anything to deserve it. Bethany felt wretched, and found herself wishing she’d been less dismissive, less obnoxious, and a little more understanding of what those two kids had been doing and where they’d had to go to find her.

Now it was too late; she’d burned her bridges there, no doubt about that. Corey had gone to try and make it right, but she doubted he could, nor should he have had to; it should have been her, and that made her feel even more wretched, that she’d forced poor Corey to go and try and undo what should never have happened at all. Bethany looked at herself in the hall mirror. She needed to apologise, but she didn’t know how she could, and Corey shouldn’t be trying to do it for her. The look on his face had hurt her deeply, and she knew she’d lost a little of him because of this, and that hurt even more.

“I thought you were better than that…” she whispered to her reflection, and the eyes that looked back at her were filled with guilt and self-loathing.

++++

Nia was crying, my baby was crying in the other room, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Bethany’s rejection of her had cut right through her, and wounded her deeply, and I didn’t know how to make it better. Now I had to call mum, tell her what had happened, and ask her how to comfort Nia, because right now, I wasn’t in a comforting mood; right now I wanted to find Bethany Warren and tell her exactly what I thought of cruel bitches that hurt my baby and made her cry for nothing. I was just getting in the right frame of mind to pick up the phone and make that call when it rang. It was the Front Desk; I had a visitor, so I asked them to direct him up to the suite. A few minutes later there was a light knock at the door. I opened it expecting to see Regan or Agent Davison, but it was Corey Warren.

“Hello James, I… I wanted to see you before you left,” he started, “may I come in? This will only take a few minutes, I promise, please, just hear me out!”

I invited him in, and motioned him to a seat, and I sat down opposite him.

“What can I do for you…?” I began.

“Corey, please, call me Corey; we are family, after all!” he smiled gently, and I found myself warming to him.

“OK, what can we do for you… Corey? I asked, returning his grin.

He clasped his hands together tightly in front of him, his fingers interlaced. “I came here to apologise for my wife’s behaviour. What she did was uncalled for, and completely out of character, and to be honest, I really don’t want to see her for a while, not until I’ve apologised properly to you, and to … Nia?

That little girl didn’t deserve what Bethany did, and neither did you, and I honestly don’t know why she did that. But it’s done, and all I can do now is try and make it right.”

I could feel the sincerity radiating off him, and I grinned.

“Would you like to meet Nia, properly, this time?” I asked him and he grinned back.

“I’d like that very much indeed,” he said, “she looks so much like Bethany when she was that age! Whatever’s going on in Bethany’s head right now, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind they really are sisters!”

“Wait there, I’ll just be one moment.” I said, and knocked on the bedroom door before I went in. Nia was huddled on the bed, clasping a pillow tightly and staring into space. Her face was stained where her makeup had run and smeared, and her eyes were red and swollen. She turned to look at me, and tears welled up in her eyes again.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“Mum was right; some things should just be left alone. I was better off not knowing; all of this has been a fool’s errand, Jamie, and I dragged you on it, I pushed you into the most God-forsaken places because of it, and you never complained, you just did it for me, and it was all for nothing. I’m sorry Polar Bear; I should have listened to mum, I should have just let this all go years ago! I wish I’d never heard of her, or come to this bloody place!”

My heart wrenched as I listened to the last of her hope and idealism drain away, something else Bethany had taken away from her, but I still smiled and slid her close to me.

“We have a visitor, there’s someone here to see you.” I told her. She stared at me and I smiled encouragingly. “Come on, princess, family calls!”

Nia jumped up, knuckling her eyes. “Bethany…? and I shook my head.

“No, but her husband’s here, he wants to meet his sister-in-law!”

Nia smiled sadly. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be there, OK?

I rejoined Corey in the sitting room. “She’s just making herself presentable; give her a few minutes… about four hours ought to do it!”

Corey grinned back. “Bethany’s the same, it takes her most of the day to take a shower, and she always leaves the door tight shut, it’s like a sauna in there for the rest of the day, and the smell of wet hair and conditioner is overpowering!”

We chatted about nothing much until the bedroom door opened, and Nia gingerly poked her head out. Corey saw her, and immediately stood, smiling broadly at her. Encouraged, she smiled back and crept into the room to huddle against me. Corey offered her his hand, and when she took it he pulled her close and gave her a quick hug, making her squeak with surprise.

We all sat down, and Corey spoke directly to Nia. “I came here to apologise for my wife’s behaviour. I’m sorry you had to see that, I don’t know where that came from. I’ve never seen her do that before in all the years I’ve known her, and I don’t know why she did that to you, of all people. I’m sorry.”

Nia smiled sadly at him. “It wasn’t your fault, I shouldn’t have got my hopes and expectations up; she had no reason to accept me out of the blue like that.”

Corey demurred. “Nevertheless, what she said and did was wrong, and she knew it. I can’t explain it, I don’t know what was going through her head, but all I can offer is my sincerest apologies for what happened; you’re her little sister, and she had no right to behave like that!”

Just then, the telephone rang again. I answered it and was told we had a visitor. I was puzzled, but asked they they be sent up to our suite. Nia looked at me enquiringly, and I told her we had another visitor on the way up to see us. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later there was a knock at the door, and I opened it to see Bethany standing there!

I was momentarily wrong-footed, and even Corey gaped to see his wife standing there.

“I’m sorry for coming here like this,” she said quietly, “I wanted to apologise to you… and to my sister.”

Nia had risen from her seat, and Corey also stood, offering her his hand to help her rise. Wordlessly, I invited Bethany in, motioning her to sit, while Corey watched her in silence.

Bethany stood with her eyes fixed on Nia.

“James… Nia, I want to apologise for what I said today; my behaviour was inexcusable, and I’m truly sorry I hurt you. I was wrong, you are my sister, and you deserved better than what I offered; I’m sorry. Can we talk, please?”

Nia waited in silence, her eyes big and fearful. Bethany looked at Corey, at me, for any clue as to how to approach her. I nodded and pointed with my chin in Nia’s direction, and Bethany held her hand out to her. Nia tentatively reached out and took her hand, and smiled as two big tears rolled down her cheeks. Cory took Bethany’s other hand and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “So there you are, I was wondering where you’d gone!” I heard him whisper.

We all sat down, Nia not letting go of Bethany’s hand, but I think the breakthrough moment actually came when Bethany leaned over and gently blotted Nia’s tears with her handkerchief, a ‘mum’ gesture I had seen a thousand times when Nia was small.

Bethany spoke first. “Nia, I’m sorry, really, truly sorry, for the way I reacted earlier. I know I hurt you, and I apologise for that; I guess I wanted to hurt you for trying to make me part of you, because I didn’t want to let go of my mom and dad, my adoptive parents. Does that make sense? I guess I overreacted when you started talking about ‘our’ mother. I couldn’t hear that, because if I accepted your mom as mine too, then I’d have to let go of my mom, and I can’t do that. My parents loved me very much, and I loved them and I miss them every single day!”

Nia nodded in understanding.

“I would never ask you to give them up; they brought you up, they loved you, and it would be wrong and cruel to insist you let them go for a stranger. But my mum has a claim on you too. She didn’t give you away, or abandon you, or sell you; she and her husband loved you very much, the three of you were all that was left of her family, and then you were taken, and they had to kill your father to take you away from him.”