Chapter 13
Jacob called Thomas, “hey, I sent you an e-mail, of the new property, that I was telling you about, look at it and tell me what you think.”
“Ok, I’ll take a look at it,” he sounded miserable, “hey listen, I found Cassandra… and we spoke a little. My son… he’s growing up well.”
“You have a son? Does he know you’re the father? What happened?”
Thomas sighed, “a lot Jacob, who gave you those pictures of Cassandra with that other guy?”
“Rebecca, why? Do you think she knows who it was? Wait you think that her son could be?…”
“No! let’s just say I just had a rude awakening, I found out those pictures were lies, and none of it was true. She thinks I abandoned her and her son, but how could I? I didn’t know she was pregnant, until I was gone, I thought he wasn‘t mine, since she didn‘t call me. You know that’s why I came here in the first place…”
“But if those pictures weren’t true? Who would want to jeopardize what you two had?”
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter anymore, she’s seeing someone else! I can’t even tell my son who I am, because she told him I was dead, and…”
“What?! But why would she do that?”
“She was so hard and I don’t know but she’s probably right, I would have done the same, it was hard for her, you should have seen, he looks so much like her. He is very smart, you should have seen him.”
“Thomas, you met your son, I bet you’re happy but what about telling him who you are? Is there any chance?…”
“No, I can never tell him, he is going to be fine, he’s been fine all this time without…” he sighed, “without a father.”
“Thomas I know this must be hard for you, but what are your plans now? If you’re not going to tell him, who you are, and you’re not trying to take him away from her, are you?”
“Of course not! I can’t do that to my son he needs his mother! And she’s been with him anyways, I just want to know more about him, that’s all.”
“Ok, now there’s only one problem, how are you going to know more about him, if you can’t get close?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.”
Meanwhile, Cassandra arrived, home and Thomas was already awake, “mommy, when did we get here?” He was looking out the window in amazement.
When they stopped, he ran out to greet everyone his grandparents, his uncle and his aunt were there, Julie was there too.
They all greeted each other, and Thomas told them of the day he got lost, “but a mask man helped me, I think he was a hero, because he helped me find my mommy.”
Olivia looked surprised, “your son was lost? How did this happen? Wait a minute, who was this hero of yours?”
“It’s easy grandma, everyone was playing wearing masks, and I was thirsty, and I wanted my mom, Mrs. Shultz wouldn’t let me go see her so I left to find her, but I couldn’t, and he found me.”
“Darling, do you know the masked man’s name, did he tell you?”
“Yes, he was Thomas, like me. But he kept calling me kid, an I told him not to,” he crossed his arms over his chest.
Cassandra bent down, “honey you’re not suppose to talk to strangers, I’ve told you that.”
“But, he was not strange, he was nice, and he helped me!”
Cassandra had to contain a smile, “ok sweety, I meant don’t talk to people you don’t know, ok?”
He looked down, “mommy I didn’t know.”
“It’s ok sweetheart, but next time you are not suppose to do it, next time I want you to run me or Mrs. Shultz if a stranger comes to talk to you, don’t you know they can steal you?” It sounded more like a demand than a question.
Thomas’ eyes started to fill with tears, “ok mommy, I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do that again.”
Cassandra noticed she sounded more stern than what she meant, she bent down and hugged him, “I love you sweety, just promise me you’ll never do it again.”
Thomas wiped his tears, “I promise mommy,” he hugged her.
“Ok, you can go play now, ok?”
“Ok, can I stay in here and watch tv?”
Cassandra nodded and Thomas went up to his room, and closed the door her mother was surprised.
“Was I too hard on him?”
“No, not really,” she looked surprised, “I just didn’t expected that.”
“The masked man, was Thomas himself! I thought I was going to lose him…” her eyes filled with tears, “I was glad when he found him, but afraid at the same time.”
“How did it happen?”
“Mrs. Shultz went to get him a drink from the machine, but when she went back for her purse he was gone, we spent the rest of the time looking for him, to finally hear Thomas on stage announcing he found him.”
“It’s ok, Thomas doesn’t have to know…”
“He knows, but he won’t bother me or my son, unless he wants to see the mother in me.”
“But how can you be so sure?” Olivia looked shocked, her color had drained.
“Mother, he had to know my real identity, I’m not wearing the mask all the time, and he is the host. There he was going to find out more sooner than later. I had no choice but to tell him.”
Olivia was speechless, for a moment, “well, I knew this day would come someday… but why did it have to be so soon? Well, does he know Thomas is his son?”
“He thinks I was unfaithful, but I think he knows,” she sighed, “I told him he doesn’t deserve to call Thomas his, he abandoned him, before he was born why should I forgive him?”
“Why would he think you were unfaithful to him?”
“I don’t know, some pictures he was mentioning, but of course Rebecca had to give those to him. I wish I could have seen it before, but they were in love, you should have seen the little scenery he put, it’s like he’s a natural liar. And he tells me I’m unfaithful! How dare he?”
“Cassandra sweetheart relax! You don’t need to get mad, he’s not here, look I understand it’s all confusing for you, with Rebecca and all, but are you sure she had nothing to do with this?”
“Mother! What are you saying? Well maybe but he was in it too, you have to remember they were in love, and…”
“Why don’t you ask her? The worse that can happen is that you were right, and…
“I don’t want to talk to any of them, those friends turned their backs.”
“Honey you’re not taking them back you’re getting out the truth for yourself. I think you’re not really living, but the problem is not that you need to date, it’s that you need to trust people again, what happened to you was not easy, I can only imagine what you must have gone through.”
“Mother, this has nothing to do with…”
“You don’t trust him, you don’t trust anyone, and you don’t even trust yourself! Cassandra if you don’t trust in yourself than who can you trust? You’re not helping anyone, not yourself or your son, by letting yourself like that!”
Cassandra knew this was an argument she wasn’t going to win, “mother, I trust people but I don’t trust the people that can’t be trusted.”
“I don’t want to hear you say that, you’re not even trying to trust. Anyone that wants to get too close, if you notice they’re getting too close you run away! Don’t you think I want to see my daughter happy?”
“Mother? I want to be happy, and I am but I don’t need a man to be, all I need is to see my son, happy, I just want…”
“No you don’t believe that, for one minute, you hear?”
“But mother, you don’t think that, do you?”
“Well, I set you up on a date thinking that you needed it, but you didn’t even give him a chance, you could’ve you know, he called me to tell me that he was fond of you.”
Cassandra wasn’t speaking, she sat there just wondering, “mom, have you ever felt you only have one reason to live for? That’s how I feel, my son is the most important to me, there’s nothing in this world that would change that.”
“That’s great, but you’ll have to live your life, if you want to be there for your son, it’s fine how can you give your son a life? If you don’t live yours, think about that, you know I love you. But you really have to think about that.”
Olivia hugged her daughter, her sister and Julie walked in, just in time to see their moment.
They were laughing, and went silent when they saw what was going on, “I’m sorry, are we interrupting something here?”
“No, everything is alright,” Olivia was smiling, “I love you sweet heart and think about what I just told you, it doesn’t matter, who you live your life with I just want to see you happy again.”
Cassandra was smiling, her eyes were filled with tears but she felt warm inside, she knew her mom just wanted her to be happy.
Julie and Cassidy looked happy, “hey Cassandra you’re never going to believe what Julie got me for my birthday, she said we’ll be going to go out, and she has a surprise for me.”
Thomas came down stairs happy looks like he had forgotten how stern his mother sounded before. He was showing off the pictures they had taken, he took some of the people from the event he went to.
He told them, of the fun he had, he loved going on this trip with his mom. “Mommy, will you take me to more trips like that again?”
Cassandra bent down to kiss him on the forehead, “of course sweetheart. Just be good, and remember what I told you, ok?”
Everyone was laughing at the faces he made on some pictures, he had taken pictures of places they visited and the event they had gone to, “Cassandra, you never told me, the event looked so beautiful.”
“Yes, but I also have some news, mom, you are standing in front of one of the best models, and future personal assistant to the president of, the Swan modeling agency. I’ll be working for Mr. Swan when his father retires.”
“That’s wonderful,” they looked proud of her, she had gone from being a waitress in a coffee shop to becoming a model and now she was going to be working for a great company.
Stanley was there, and he was holding a dvd burner, and he asked for Thomas’ camera, “I’m going to burn the pictures into this so we can watch it!”
Thomas’ eyes widened, and his hands went around the camera, protecting it, “no! why are you going to burn them? Don’t you like pictures?”
Stanley couldn’t help but smile, “I’m not burning them with fire, I’m burning it, by copying the pictures into this cd… I‘m bringing the files to this dvd…”
Thomas couldn’t look more confused, and Stanley knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere by explaining to a four year old, “what?”
“Come on, I’ll show you,” Stanley and Thomas went upstairs to the study where they could use the computer. While Mr. Hopkins was with the girls in the kitchen, talking.
They came back down stairs Thomas was laughing wildly with Stanley, and riding on his shoulders, “ok, ok, ok put me down! Ha, ha, ha… stop!”
They went to see what was going on, and they saw Stanley playing with Thomas. They started laughing, and Stanley and Thomas looked back, “mommy he just copied the pictures into the dvd, wanna watch them?”
“You should bring it first…”
“Ok!” he ran to the study, to look for the dvd. They all went back to the kitchen except for Cassandra who was waiting for Thomas to come back down with the disc.
“Cassandra, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
He lowered his voice, “Did Thomas meet his dad? Because he took pictures of him, I didn’t add the ones with him, because I don’t want dad to get mad.”
Cassandra looked surprised, “he took pictures of him? Well why should I be surprised, he took his camera everywhere, he got lost and his father was the one that found him. Thank you for not adding those pictures of him.”
“He was lost, why doesn’t anybody tell me anything?”
“Hey, I was telling everyone… actually I told mom, but…”
“Does he know who Thomas is?”
“No! he… well he has an idea, but… can you keep a secret?”
“Ok.”
“I need to find out something, and the only way is to go se Rebecca, she isn’t my friend but at least I know she’ll tell me the truth about Thomas, and I have a lot of questions.”
“Ok, good…”
Thomas walked towards them, “what are you guys talking about, I heard my name.”
“Nothing sweety, it’s just that… that we were talking about you and how you love taking pictures, did you find the disc?”
“It’s right here,” he took out the disc, and handed over to them, “can we watch it now?”
“I think so come on, put it in.” Stanley took Thomas and showed him where the dvd player was,” Thomas placed it inside, and everyone started watching.
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Thomas arrived to his parents house, and his mother opened the door for him, “Thomas you’re home! Andrew Thomas is home! Honey I thought you weren’t coming you said you had to leave, but I‘m glad you‘re here.”
Andrew came to meet his son, they hugged, “Thomas come on in.”
Thomas went inside, and he told them what had happened, since the first time he met Mystique, how he felt like he knew her, “she told me her real identity, when the event was over.”
“How was your event? How did it go?” Thomas parents looked at him wondering.
Thomas was silent for a moment, he looked down at his hands, “I think I met my son… it was by accident, I was outside and I heard a boy crying, he was lost.”
“Lost? She must be irresponsible leaving her son to get lost…”
“Mother! It wasn’t like that ok?”
“He walked away from his babysitter, trying to look for his mommy… mom! Anyways I end up helping him out. I started asking him for his name, and guess what his name is?”
“What was his name?”
“By his own words he said his name is ‘Thomas, like his dad,’ I just passed it on since he said his father died. I took him to a security guard who was no good, Thomas easily getting away from him. But I decided to take him to the stage and announce the missing child, Mystique runs up to the stage.”
“But Mystique, why do you?… who’s Mystique? And since when did you meet her?” His parents were wide eyed.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, I asked Mystique, to give me her real identity, and she agreed to but after the event. So when the event was over Mystique came and told me who she was… Cassandra.”
“Are you sure he’s your son though? I don‘t want you to be hurt.”
“I’m not really sure, she did lie to me, but now… I don’t know if that story was true either, she thinks I lied to her… with Rebecca, I don’t know where she got that idea from. I have to know why.”
Mrs. Johnson looked at her son, and back at Mr. Johnson, and she looked down, as she sighed “now I feel awful, but after hearing this… honey I have a confession to make…” Sandra swallowed, hard.
Mr. Johnson looked shocked, obviously he didn’t know, “Sandra you’re scaring me, what’s going on?”
“I heard from Rebecca that Cassandra was with another man… I knew there was something about her I didn’t like, but now I hear this… she told me Cassandra wanted to be with you because of the money.
Rebecca told me that Cassandra’s parents kicked her out of the house, a week later and she got pregnant from another man. Her own parents disowned her, what was I suppose to think?”
Mr. Johnson was shocked, “Sandra! But how long have you?…”
“I didn’t want to tell you this, because, I didn’t want to hurt you, but I don’t know, I think all this is strange and I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Thomas was silent, his tears were falling and he was still looking at his mother, his face was pale and he wiped his tears, his mother broke the silence, “she went to live with a friend, Julie I think it is, I know because Julie came to me one day, and told me she was pregnant.”
“When did this happen? I never knew,” Mr. Johnson was surprised.
“Six months after Thomas left, she told me she was going to have a son and that it was Thomas’ son, she told me she needed help, I felt bad so I wrote her a check, not for free but I gave her a baby sitting job, Nicholas loved her and he needed a babysitter.”
“But when did she baby sit? I never saw her.”
“I worked ok, Andrew,” she looked back at Thomas, “she baby sat for three months, “Cassandra was never to find out, they had cut Julie’s hours at the coffee shop and she needed a job, your father and I… we weren’t in the best of situations, I was planning on leaving him.”
“What?! But why didn‘t you guys tell me?” Thomas was surprised, that he didn’t even know about this.
Mr. Johnson sighed, “it’s true,” he looked at his wife, “but I said I would support you I was going to be the one to move, and…”
“I still needed to work, Andrew and I was a sales agent for three months, I was getting good money, I had enough to pay for a baby sitter, Cassandra couldn’t work because she was really pregnant. Two months later her baby was born, I wanted nothing to do with her, it was only going to remind me of her cheating on you.”
Thomas stood from the sofa and walked to the window, he turned looking outside. He stood there silent looking out towards the street people walking and children playing.
He sighed and he turned back to his mother, “she must have felt deserted, I was wondering when I followed her to the plane, I expected her to be angry but her anger was more like a rage, like she wanted to bring down all her resentment against me.”
“What? You followed her into the airplane?”
“Yes, I did, I wanted to see my son, but she told me that her son thinks I’m dead, because she didn’t want to tell him I left him… now I know, she must have felt… rejected by me like I did when I knew about her.”
“I have to talk to Rebecca I know… I’ll know more from her and I’ll judge from there. I think she has something to do with all this, but I want to be certain, and I‘ll find out trust me I will,” he left the room and his father followed.
“I know your mother didn’t tell you Thomas, but I know she has her reasons for not telling you, your mother could have done a lot of mistakes but she really cares for you.”