Devastation – Chapter 6
Evangeline dressed with special care the following morning. She was meeting with Viki, her sister. She frowned as she looked in the mirror. She was nervous. This was not like her. It was ridiculous. It wasn’t like she hadn’t met Viki before or that Viki had been anything but gracious to her. It was the unknown. There were too many things happening in her life at one time.
John stopped in the door and watched her for a moment. Sometimes he just liked to watch the expressions that crossed her face.
"Are you just going to stand there and stare?" she asked without turning around.
"I’ve thought about it. You’re fun to watch," he said with a smile.
She turned to him with a smile, "Thanks. How do I look?"
"Beautiful as always."
"I think you’re biased."
"I am, but that doesn’t make it any less true."
"What time will you be home tonight?"
"I’m not sure. It will probably be late, since I was out yesterday. Why?"
"No reason, just wanted to know when to expect you."
"Okay. What time do you want to call your mom?"
"I don’t know yet. I’ll probably call around lunch."
"I’ll meet you at your office then. How about that?"
"Why?"
"I told you I’d be there when you talk to your mom. I meant that."
"Thank you."
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Viki was having a cup of coffee at the breakfast table when Todd called and told her to get a copy of that morning’s Llanview Tattle. The headline that morning read, ‘Evangeline Williamson, the newest Lord?’ The article continued with details that could only be from someone on staff at the hospital. It detailed that Evangeline and Todd had the same rare blood type and that it was likely that they were brother and sister. It went on to speculate how those circumstances had come to be. It was a mess. Viki hated that Evangeline’s first experience as a Lord was going to be distasteful.
Great, Viki thought, just what we need before we even tell the rest of the family. Well, this pushes up our timetable.
Just as Viki was about to call the editor of the Banner Sun to do a real story on the Lord family and make an announcement and welcome Evangeline to the Lord Family, the doorbell rang. Viki opened the door and there stood the newest member of the family. This was the first time Viki had seen Evangeline look uncertain. She was so self-confident and assured it was slightly unnerving to see her this way.
"Good Morning, Evangeline. Come in."
"Good Morning and thank you," Evangeline said as she followed Viki into the living room.
"No. Thank you for seeing me this morning."
"I couldn’t say no."
"Well, you could have, but I’m glad you didn’t. How are you doing with all this?"
"I’m fine. Well, I’m dealing with it."
"Good. If you need someone to talk to, I’m here."
"Thank you, Viki. I really appreciate that."
"Well, what is family for? Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"I’d love one."
Viki went to the coffee tray sitting against the wall and poured two cups of coffee. She carried them back to the sofa where Evangeline sat.
"I know this must be difficult for you, finding out that you are a Lord. I’m sorry that you have to deal with this."
"Well, at least I really know who I am now. There’s got to be a benefit to that."
"Yes, I guess there is. I just remember how difficult a time Natalie had when she found out she was a Buchanan. She lost herself for awhile. She’s fine now and Christian is alive and well and they’re happy, but it was a long time coming. I don’t want you to get lost in the midst of what’s going on."
"I don’t have time to get lost. I have plenty of other things to keep me focused on what my life is. My work, John and now I have a new family. Speaking of the family, have you told anyone else yet."
"I wanted to make sure that you were alright with an announcement to the family. I thought maybe a family dinner here and we could announce it there, but it appears that we will have to hurry."
"Why?" Evangeline asked tentatively.
Viki handed the front page of the Llanview Tattle to Evangeline before answering.
"The rumors have already begun and we need to get to the family quickly and then we need to squash any lingering gossips."
"Oh, my God. I’ve got to warn John about this. The press might try to reach him before he’s aware this is out there. Excuse me, Viki," Evangeline said with a look of dismay. As she reached for her cell phone, it rang and startled her.
"Hello."
"Van, I just needed to check on you," responded John.
"I was just about to call you too. What’s up?"
"The press knows and they are sitting outside the station trying to get an interview with me. I didn’t want you to have to deal with them," John said.
"Thank you. I was about to warn you that might happen. I’m at Viki’s and I just found out it’s in the Llanview Tattle. Isn’t that great?"
"No, but that’s what we got. Are you going into your office today?"
"Now that the press is out there trying to hunt me down, probably not. I don’t want to have to dodge questions or make comments. I’ll go home and work from there today. Viki and I are discussing how to tell the family. I’ll talk to you later. I love you."
"I love you, too. Give me a call back and let me know what we’re going to do," he said before he hung up.
Evangeline looked back at Viki, "Well, I guess you’re right. We’d better get to everyone else before the press does."
Viki grabbed Evangeline’s hand and squeezed. The two shared their first moment as sisters.
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While Evangeline was at Llanfair, Viki called Tina and told her the news. Tina was surprised, but very welcoming. Evangeline had talked to her on the phone and they had made plans to meet in the near future. Evangeline was excited about meeting Tina.
Viki then called her children to the house. They’d already heard about the rumor through many different channels. Since Jessica worked for the Banner Sun, she’d heard about it at work. Natalie had been asked questions at Rodi’s, which she now owned, by some of the staff. And Kevin had gotten calls that morning from reporters vying for interviews.
When Jessica, Kevin and Natalie arrived, they all inundated Evangeline and Viki with questions.
"Okay, everybody, just sit down," Viki said interrupting the questions.
"Well, what’s going on? I’ve been getting calls all morning for interviews," asked Kevin.
"Kevin, we’ll explain everything in just a minute," Viki said looking at Evangeline.
Evangeline nodded and stepped forward.
"It appears that you’ve all heard the rumor that I may be Victor Lord’s daughter," she said. They all nodded and looked at her intently. "Well the rumors are true, and before you ask me any questions. I’ll tell you what I know. Two days ago, I was contacted by the hospital that Todd had been in an accident and needed some blood donated. That was odd, because I have a very rare blood type. Anyway, while I was there one of the techs, made a comment that he hoped my brother was okay. That of course made me ask why he would say something like that. He went on to tell me that Todd and I had the same blood type and blood markers, which means that we would have to be close blood relatives. They are too similar for us to be cousins, we’d either have to be siblings or parent/child. So the only possibility is siblings. Upon getting that information, I called my mother and she admitted that my birth father was Victor Lord."
Viki’s three children sat there for a minute, before responding. The all stood to welcome Evangeline. Jessica went to give Evangeline a hug, and whispered, "Welcome to the family."
Jessica leaned back and smiled. Evangeline returned the smile and responded, "Thank you."
Kevin went to her next, "It good to have the best attorney I’ve ever met as a part of the family. Does that mean we get some free legal advice?" He pulled her into a hug, and also said "Welcome."
She leaned back and told him, "Thanks, I’ll have to think about that free legal advice." They both laughed.
Finally Natalie came to Evangeline with a tentative smile, "I know that we haven’t had the best relationship, but if you ever want to talk, I’m here. There are few people who understand what it’s like to find out that what you’ve believed your whole life was a lie. I don’t know if I can help you through it, but I’d like to try."
"Natalie, you’ve already helped me through it, just by offering. Thank you," Evangeline said. She then said to everyone in the room, "Thank you all for being so supportive. I really appreciate that."
Kevin said, "Well, you’re family and we take care of our own."
"Well, that said, we need to think about what we’re going to tell the press," Viki said.
"We need to tell them as little as possible. They’ll turn it and twist it to their own slant," said Kevin.
"Not if we give them a set story," said Jessica.
"I think you should just tell them the truth. Go to the Banner Sun, give an interview telling the whole story and don’t talk to anyone else," said Natalie quietly.
"I like that idea," said Evangeline agreed.
"I do, too," said Viki, "Jessica can you write the story?"
"Sure, why not? We can go to the paper now and I can get all the details and we can make the decision about what goes out."
"Well, let’s get it done," Kevin said.
