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The envelope arrives on her doorstep through registered mail as April is on her way out and she signs for the thick envelope with a frown. She can't imagine who would be mailing anything to her, not when she's kept herself so distanced from nearly everyone she has ever met. Her name is on the front, however, and her address in Siren Cove is neatly printed on a white sticker, though under that she can see there are at least three other stickers. Her guess is that each sticker has a previous address written on it and she has to wonder who has been keeping such close tabs on her that they've been able to track her through her last three locations.
She's wanted on charges in at least two states and she makes herself difficult to find for that reason alone. The charges are minor, she doubts she'll ever be interesting enough for any police to follow her across state lines or really pursue her, but she's still done her best to make sure she stays out of jail for that little bit of money she's convinced people to give her. It's not stealing, she thinks, if the person in question wants her to have the cash.
But if the police haven't bothered to find her, she's not sure who has and it isn't until she reaches the boardwalk that she opens the envelope. The return address is a law office in Canada and she wonders if it has something to do with the foster homes as she slips her nail under the flap and opens it.
The contents don't make sense at first. Several legal documents mention Melanie Ross, a name she doesn't recognize, and there's a copy of the woman's will folded carefully around a letter. Whoever she is, she's clearly dead, and April imagines she must be some distant relative, someone she's never even heard of until she opens the letter and sees her name written across the top in a slanting, delicate scrawl.
The letter is from her mother.
Her dead mother.
April scans the will quickly, catches sight of her name, and she feels her stomach turn. There's nothing in the world she wants from this woman with her addictions and her inability to care for her children. The letter makes no mention of the sister April knows she has, the woman somewhere out there in the world who is only a year older than she is, the only decent memory she has of the very brief time she spent in her mother's care. There are other names, though. The names of other women, other places her father had visited.
It reads like some kind of tell-all and the more April reads, the more disgusted she feels until she reaches a familiar name and she feels like her heart stops in her chest. Flynn. Another woman in the long line of women her father had been with, another woman her own mother had apparently kept track of and April shakes her head, torn between fascination at this revelation and disgust at her mother's obsession with the things her philandering father had done.
If this is true, it means part of the family she's told herself she's not looking for is right here in Siren Cove.
April stands up abruptly from the bench and walks down the beach until she's at the guest house on Corrine's property. She doesn't know what she's doing, if she wants to see Corrine or Les and she stands there on the beach for a moment, indecisive in a way she usually isn't. Then she turns abruptly, yanking her sundress over her head as she walks straight into the ocean. She needs to swim. She needs to really be herself for a little while.
[The swimming part is mostly for Les to catch April in her siren form, so everyone else can catch her on the boardwalk with the envelope she doesn't know what to make of. :D]
She's wanted on charges in at least two states and she makes herself difficult to find for that reason alone. The charges are minor, she doubts she'll ever be interesting enough for any police to follow her across state lines or really pursue her, but she's still done her best to make sure she stays out of jail for that little bit of money she's convinced people to give her. It's not stealing, she thinks, if the person in question wants her to have the cash.
But if the police haven't bothered to find her, she's not sure who has and it isn't until she reaches the boardwalk that she opens the envelope. The return address is a law office in Canada and she wonders if it has something to do with the foster homes as she slips her nail under the flap and opens it.
The contents don't make sense at first. Several legal documents mention Melanie Ross, a name she doesn't recognize, and there's a copy of the woman's will folded carefully around a letter. Whoever she is, she's clearly dead, and April imagines she must be some distant relative, someone she's never even heard of until she opens the letter and sees her name written across the top in a slanting, delicate scrawl.
The letter is from her mother.
Her dead mother.
April scans the will quickly, catches sight of her name, and she feels her stomach turn. There's nothing in the world she wants from this woman with her addictions and her inability to care for her children. The letter makes no mention of the sister April knows she has, the woman somewhere out there in the world who is only a year older than she is, the only decent memory she has of the very brief time she spent in her mother's care. There are other names, though. The names of other women, other places her father had visited.
It reads like some kind of tell-all and the more April reads, the more disgusted she feels until she reaches a familiar name and she feels like her heart stops in her chest. Flynn. Another woman in the long line of women her father had been with, another woman her own mother had apparently kept track of and April shakes her head, torn between fascination at this revelation and disgust at her mother's obsession with the things her philandering father had done.
If this is true, it means part of the family she's told herself she's not looking for is right here in Siren Cove.
April stands up abruptly from the bench and walks down the beach until she's at the guest house on Corrine's property. She doesn't know what she's doing, if she wants to see Corrine or Les and she stands there on the beach for a moment, indecisive in a way she usually isn't. Then she turns abruptly, yanking her sundress over her head as she walks straight into the ocean. She needs to swim. She needs to really be herself for a little while.
[The swimming part is mostly for Les to catch April in her siren form, so everyone else can catch her on the boardwalk with the envelope she doesn't know what to make of. :D]
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Her stomach turns and for a second she feels sick and she's sure her face has gone pale. The only thing she can think is that she's so grateful Bach had been off his game when they'd met because if he hadn't been, she knows what she would have done in order to get information out of him.
"Bach," she repeats finally, her voice weak. "He... I..." She's never before been at a loss for words, but now she has no idea what to say. "He's related to me?"
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It's easy to see his statement about Bach gets to April. Obvious especially to Les because of how put together she always seems, even around him, down to the nice dresses and high heels. She's affectionate towards him, but he wouldn't describe her as overtly emotional. Though right now she looks completely thrown, almost stunned, and his instinct is too pull her closer, put his arm around her.
"Hey, it's okay," he says even though all of it pretty much blows. He doesn't know this Bach guy, but he knows Corry and April weren't out looking for two brand new siblings. "She didn't really tell me much about him. And I didn't ask. She just said she found him...."
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"I met him before I met you and he... we flirted. Fairly extensively," she admits and the words taste sour in her mouth. She's related to this man who has flirted with her, who's called her beautiful and put his arm around her in a far more than simply friendly manner. As recent as that birthday party she attended, she'd made suggestions about seeing him naked and all she can do now is be relieved nothing have ever come of it. "Jesus."
no subject
His hand pauses for a second as he rubs her arm in comfort, but he recovers a moment later. Obviously he knows this thing between them isn't exclusive or anything, and he doesn't know if he even needs it to be, but it's different to hear it out of her mouth. It's definitely different for it to be the man Corry told Les she believes is her brother, and now April is telling him the same thing. Is there even anything to say to that? They sit there for a few seconds in silence because that is a ton of new information to take in all at once.
April is Corry's sister. Half-sister. Whatever. They're related. That's...a lot. He shakes his head after a moment. "Wow," he says, not knowing any other words to describe his overall reaction. "If you want me to be there when you talk to Corry, you can use my place. I don't know if that helps."
no subject
"I... I don't know what I want to do," she answers and it's one of the most honest things she's said to him. "I'll have to think about it. It's such an incredible mess." She's been happy without family, perfectly content to leave that entire life behind when she'd left Canada. Her foster parents had never really been family anyway, not with six other kids to look after in each home she'd gone through. She barely even knows Corrine.
no subject
Incredible mess, that it is. Something inside of Les wants very badly to pick up the phone and hear Corry's voice, to tell her what he knows. He doesn't enjoy keeping things from her, especially now when it finally feels like they are in a good place with her coming home and how close they are now. Maybe even closer than before she left. If there's anything that's always been true, it's been the Corry and him surrounded by incredible messes. Before it was her mom, his mom. Things hardly ever change, do they?
But as much as he wants to tell Corry now, he also thinks maybe this news is something between April and her. They share a father, they're related. Les is just around to pick up the pieces. If he even can.
He lets his arm hug around April's shoulders. "Corry's gone for a few more days anyway. It's not like you can tell her right now. So there's time to figure it out," he says.