Clan of Redemption (9 page)

“I have a way to into your
chest, move over,” Sully said as she pulled out a few long pieces
of thin metal.

“Are those lock picks?” I
asked.

“Yes they are. I dated a
guy in New York that taught me locksmithing and this was one of my
birthday presents. It’s come in handy a few times.” Sully
smiled.

“Sully!” I exclaimed. “You
haven’t done anything illegal have you?” I said as I shook my
head.

“No, it’s just helped me
out in a jam,” she said.

Within a few minutes, she
had that trunk lock popped opened.

“So, your dad’s not going
to come up here and bust us is he?” Sully asked moved over so I
could sit in front of the trunk.

“No, I think he’s out in
the garage working on his project,” I said.

“Is he working on that 68
camero super sport?” Sully asked with a gleam in her
eye.

“Yeah I think that’s the
car, how did know what kind of car it was?” I asked.

“I love old cars,
hello……look at my truck,” she said as she sighed.

I opened the trunk slow. I
could feel Sully's eagerness to see inside. I felt almost guilty
going through it, but since my mom wasn’t around anymore you would
think that this was now mine, plus with her cryptic message in her
letter I’m hoping that we might find something in here to help
us.

The first thing on top was
my mom's wedding dress. It was a simple white silk gown with sheer
sleeves. I loved this dress, I wouldn’t mind wearing this to my
wedding, if that day ever happens. I might want to add a few things
to the dress, simple is great, but I like a little
splash.

I set that aside and
starting sorting through the items in the chest.

Sully had found an old
album.

“Hey, let’s look through
this first, this looks really ancient,” she said as she sat next to
me.

“So who are these people,
this pictures look really old,” she said as she opened to the first
page.

“I think those are my
great grandparents, but I’m not sure, like I said, my mom didn’t
allow me to go through this stuff with her,” I said as I stared at
the pictures, black and white photos were always so interesting,
like all the life was sucked right off the page. The people posing
for the pictures looked like their lives were so boring, and grim.
No smiles, you couldn't get a read on anyone in old
photo's.

“You never talk about your
grandparents, are they still alive?” She asked.

I shrugged, “I really
don’t know if they are still alive, my mom never talked about them,
and over the years I’ve asked Dad about them and he told me that
his mom and dad died before I was born and he doesn’t know anything
about Mom’s parents. Dad said that she wouldn’t talk about them,
and he never bothered her about it, he figured if she wanted to
talk about them she would.

“Jayden, this younger girl
is a knockout, I wonder who she is?” Sully said as she pointed to a
picture of a young girl in a beautiful gown. The picture was taken
in a formal living room, but the picture didn’t look that old, even
though it was in black and white.

“I don’t believe it!” I
said as my mouth dropped open.

“What is it” Sully
asked.

“Look behind the girl
above the fireplace, look at the girl in the painting. Do you see
it?” I asked.

“See what, I see a
painting of a girl, what am I looking for?” Sully asked.

“Look at the necklace;
it’s the same one that you gave me,” I said to Jayden as I reached
up and grabbed the pendant in my hand and rubbed it.

“Jayden…that’s the same
necklace. Do you know what this means?” Sully said as she sat back
on her knees.

“That means that this
necklace has been in my family for many years and that your family
and my family knew each other,” I said as I just stared at the
picture.

“Jayden, look the girl in
the picture not the painting, she's wearing the ring your mom gave
you.” Sully pointed to the ring. It was hard to see the ring but it
did look just like it.

“We need to find some
answers to our questions, but I don’t know where to start,” I said
as I closed the album.

“Jayden are you up here?”
My dad hollered.

“Yeah Dad, Sully and I are
both up here.” I called back.

“Sully, let’s not saying
anything to Dad about the necklace and ring, my Mom seemed
concerned for him.”

Saska made a quick
bark.

“Oh yeah and Saska too,” I
said as I smiled and reached for his face.

“Sorry Saska” I
said.

Dad came up in the attic.
He didn’t like to be up here anymore than I did. Too many
memories.

“So what are you ladies up
to?” Dad asked.

“Well I thought I would go
through Mom’s old chest and see if I could find anything
interesting,” I said as I lifted the album up.

“I haven’t seen this stuff
for a long time, your mother showed me some of those photos a long
time ago, but she was pretty closed mouthed about her family. I
don’t think she got along well with her parents.” Dad said as she
started to look around the attic.

“Dad….can you tell me
anything about Mom’s parents, I think I would like to find them if
they are still alive,” I asked with hesitation.

“I don’t know much, your
mother’s maiden name is McCormick. I think her moms name is
Catherine, and I’m not sure about her Dad. You might keep looking
in that trunk to see if you find something. Not to change the
subject on you, but I have a surprise for you, will you come
downstairs when you're done,” he said as he started to
leave.

“Sure Dad” I said as I
looked at Sully.

“Sully let’s keep looking
maybe there is other things in here that might help us,” I
said.

We dug around in the trunk
and found a few letters with no return addresses.

They were never
opened.

I opened one hoping to
find some information.

“Sully, I think these are
letters from my grandmother to my Mom. I don’t want to get into
reading them right now; I still want to go to Logan’s house to see
Grace,” I said as I took the letters and the Album.

“Hey, it looks like
there’s a journal here too,” Sully said as she opened
it.

“This looks like it’s in
another language, does this look familiar to you?” Sully asked
me.

“No, it looks foreign
that’s for sure, let’s take that too,” I said.

We took the items and put
them in my room.

“Well let’s go see what
Dad has for me, it must be my birthday present. We hadn’t had a
chance to celebrate but it was understandable. My Dad loves to go
all out and embarrass me as much as he can," I said as I stood
up.

When we got downstairs dad
was waiting for us in the living room.

“Ok Dad, so what’s the
surprise?” I asked as I sat down on the sofa.

Dad reached into his pocket
and pulled out some keys, and tossed that at me.

“What’s this?” I asked as I
held up the keys that were on a key chain.

“Oh my God!” Sully jumped
up and had this look of shock on her face.

I gave Sully a funny
look.

“Well that’s your
graduation and birthday present.” Dad said as he sat down across
from me in the chair.

“Keys are my present…
that’s good dad” I said laughing.

“Real funny Jayden, those
keys go to your ride in the garage,” he said as he smiled from ear
to ear.

“You’re giving me your 68
Camero. Dad….but you love that car. I thought you were fixing that
up for yourself,” I said with aw.

“I wanted to make
something for you, and I put a lot of work into that car with my
own hands. I bought it from a junk yard, but it’s all restored now
with a new paint job. I thought you would really enjoy it,” he
finished with a huge smile on his face.

“I don’t know what to say,
this is so cool, thanks Dad,” I sat there starring at the keys,
knowing that he had worked on this car for years and he was giving
it to me. I felt tears well up in my eyes and I had to swallow the
lump in my throat.

“Are we just going to sit
here all night talking about how cool the car is, or do we get the
honor of seeing the beauty itself?” Sully said with such enthusiasm
that I out right laughed.

“Sure, I’ll take you out
there, that way I can show you all the stuff.” Dad said.

Dad was so excited, it was
like it was Christmas, which was one of his favorite holidays, he
loved to do things for me, it made him happy.

When we made it out the
garage, I really got a chance to see the beauty that he had put
into it. The paint was a shiny black with two red racing stripes
that ran from top of the hood to the trunk. All the shiny chrome
looked freshly polished. Up until now I had needed a car. Logan and
Sully drove me places, plus I had my bicycle to get around town
with.

“Jayden I am so jealous,
this is so rockin,” Sully said as she stroked the car.

“Sully, you have enough
money in your trust fund to buy yourself one fully loaded,” I said
as I gave her an evil eye.

“Yeah, but what’s the fun
in that, taking one that was junked and restoring it, is like the
ultimate challenge. Most people don’t finish in their life time.
Mr. St.Claire, you must have worked for fuckin' ever on this shit,”
Sully exclaimed.

My mouth dropped open and
I stared at Sully and then swung my gaze to my Dad, waiting for him
to reprimand her for her language, that never came. I decided maybe
that moment deserved the f word.

“Dad, this is so, oh I
can’t wait to show Logan. He’s going to want to drive it first.” I
said as I went over and hugged him. As I walked up to him, I
realized what I had said and my enthusiasm for the car
depleted.

My Dad kept talking like I
hadn’t mentioned Logan.

“I know that you love to
walk everywhere and you only drive my car when you have to, but you
need your own transportation especially since you're going to
college in Seattle, I want you to be able to come home whenever you
want and not have to worry about the buses.”

“Dad, I need to talk to
you about that,” I said as I thought about what I was going to say.
I hadn’t thought about college since the morning of Logan’s
death.

“Jayden……now I don’t know
what you are going to say, but you need to go to college, if
there’s one thing that was really important to your mother and I,
it was education. I know I taught you that money isn't everything
and it's not, but I want you to learn everything you can, and
experience new things. Please don’t tell me you’re not going,” he
said as he pulled me away from him to look in my eyes.

I didn't know what to say.
So much as happened since I got my acceptance letter. I had things
I had to work out before I could devote my time and energy into my
education.

“I am going, but I wanted
to ask you if you’d be ok with me taking this year off, or at the
very least the first quarter. I honestly haven’t thought about
school since Logan died and I really don’t think it would be a very
good idea if I went right now. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate
the way that I should. I need to mourn the loss of my friend and be
able to go to school ready to focus. Please think about it, I will
honor whatever you decide, but I would really like this year off. I
promise that I will go, I want to go, but not right now,” I said as
I held my Dad’s hand.

“You know, when your
mother died, I took a year off from teaching. Her death about
killed me, so I understand what you are saying. You have to give me
your word that you will go next year! I’ll call the University
tomorrow and let them know that I need a refund for this year, but
you have to reapply for next year. OK.” Dad said as he placed his
hands on my shoulders. Having my Mom’s trust fund transfer to me
helped with things like paying an entire years tuition up
front.

“Yes, I will reapply and
go next year. Thank you Dad, you have no idea how much pressure
that takes off my shoulders,” I said as I looked at Sully and
winked at her.

“By the way, Sam called
while you girls were in the attic, are you going to see her today?”
Dad asked.

“Yes, we will go right
now, thanks Dad. Oh yeah, Sully wants to stay tonight is that
alright?” I asked knowing that Dad never had a problem with Sully
staying.

“Yes, of course it is.
Sully you can stay anytime you want, your practically family,” Dad
told her with a smile.

“Thanks Mr. St.Claire,”
Sully said.

“Ok girls, will you be home
for dinner? I want thinking about making Taco’s.” Dad
said.

“Do you honestly think I
can turn down your tacos Dad, you’re the best taco maker
ever
,” I
stated.

Dad walked back into the
house and left Sully and I alone with the car. I opened the
driver’s door and pulled the seat back so Saska could jump in the
back.