Chapter 547 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Something told him that whatever Jade was about to tell him was something he already knew about Harry.

“What?”

“For starters, you don’t need to look into Candace’s past anymore. Somehow it just happened that her birth mother is searching for her, and my boss put me in charge of the case, can you believe the coincidence?” Jade asked in disbelief, and this time Benne’s brows pulled together.

“Her birth mother is searching for her?” Benne asked as his gaze moved to Jamal who was grinning at him like he had no care in the world.

“Yes. Yesterday, my boss asked me to take this case as a personal favor for him, and I was supposed to go to the orphanage home to ask some questions about her whereabouts, but then I received a call that Jamal’s dad was dead…”

Hearing about Candace’s husband, Benne glanced at Jamal once again and walked away from where the kid was into the bedroom in his inner office.

“He is dead?” Benne asked, remembering that he had planned to ask Jade about Jamal’s dad. He made a mental note to ask her that some other time.

“Yes. He died this morning. So as I was saying, I picked Candace up from the hospital, and on our way home it just occurred to me to ask her if she knew the orphanage home I was going to. You know, I wanted to use that as an excuse to ask for the name of the orphanage home where she was raised so I could send it to you. And much to my astonishment it just happened to be the same orphanage home,” Jade explained, and Benne sighed inwardly, wishing she would skip the details and just get right down to the point. But at the same time, he didn’t want to sound impatient, so he paced around his little bedroom.

“Somehow in the middle of our discussion, I decided to show her the picture of the kid I was asked to find, and boom! Candace just happened to be the kid in the picture…”

Tired of the dramatic narrative, Benne cut in, “So what is the name of the woman? Candace’s mother I mean.”

“Now that is the interesting part. She is a famous international model. Although you may not really know her since she worked majorly in European countries. Her name is Sara Walker and she…”

Benne’s heart skipped a beat the moment he heard that. Although they had suspected it thanks to Jade’s hunch and had gone as far as taking the DNA samples to the lab to confirm Candace’s relationship with Aaron, hearing it like this made goosebumps rise on his skin.

Candace was Harry’s twin sister for real? Candace? Benne mused as he remembered the first time he had met her and Jamal on his staircase as he and Celsie left for work. That had been the only time he actually conversed with her until two nights ago when they spoke over the phone.

He just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had been accommodating Harry’s twin sister and nephew. Nephew! That meant Jamal was Harry’s nephew and Aaron’s grandson. Christ!

Even though he had considered the possibility of all that relationship the previous day, it still stunned him now to think he was surrounded by Harry’s family. Candace, Jamal, and even his own Celsie.

“Are you listening to me, Benne?” Jade called impatiently when Benne did not answer her question.

“What?” Benne asked as he tried to focus on her voice even though he was still very stunned by the entire revelation.

“I was asking if you are positive that Harry’s mom is late. I know this might be hard for you to believe, but Harry’s mom looks exactly like the younger version of Sara Walker and I heard she has a husband and Candace’s twin brother who she abandoned but I don’t know…”

“She is the same person,” Benne cut in, seeing no need to lie to Jade or act oblivious to it anymore since it was thanks to Jade that they had been able to put together the pieces.

Jade gasped aloud in astonishment, “What?” Jade asked in disbelief.

“Sara is Harry’s mom,” Benne said with a sigh. At least now they knew for a fact that Candace was Harry’s twin sister.

“Is Harry aware of this? Does he know that his mother is still alive?” Jade asked, and her heart skipped a beat when she recalled how he had spoken so proudly of his father’s love for his mother the first time he told her that his mother was late, and how sad he had looked when he talked about how his father used to pretend that his birthday gifts were from his late mother. That mother was Sara? She was alive this whole time? She abandoned them?

“He wasn’t aware, but I believe Aaron is telling him about it right now,” Benne said, and Jade raised her hand to her lips as tears gathered in her eyes.

“Oh, no! Harry is going to be devastated,” Jade murmured, all the excitement she had been feeling gone now.

Although she had suspected it, hearing that her suspicion was true, did not give her the satisfaction she would ordinarily have gotten from being smart enough to have figured it out. Instead, it made her sad. She was sad on behalf of Harry.

“You haven’t told Sara about Candace, have you?” Benne asked, and Jade shook her head.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Then don’t. She doesn’t have any good intention, trust me,” Benne said, and Jade paused when it suddenly occurred to her that Benne already knew all about Sara and her relationship with Harry, and hadn’t even been surprised about Candace being Harry’s twin sister or anything.

“Didn’t you just say Aaron is telling Harry about Sara right now?” Jade asked with a confused frown, wondering how Benne already knew about it if Harry had no idea of it.

“Yeah. Why?”

“How did you know about Sara then? Did Aaron tell you about her? And why don’t you seem surprised that Candace might be Harry’s twin brother?” She asked, and then paused when it occurred to her that Harry… Her own Harry might actually be Candace’s twin brother.

“Oh, my God! Benne? Harry and Candace? Oh, my fucking god!” Jade exclaimed as she slapped a palm on her forehead. This whole time Harry had helped her with her case, and they had talked about Candace without even knowing that they might be related in any way.

“It is all complicated and I’m not sure I can get into it right…”

“It’s Celsie, isn’t it? She knew about this already before my phone call with her yesterday, didn’t she?” Jade asked as she put the puzzle pieces together when she recalled her conversation with Celsie the previous day when Celsie called to find out why she had wanted the picture of Harry’s mother.

Jade remembered how Celsie, who did not like to interfere in people’s business had been asking her questions about why she thought Candace looked like Harry’s mom. She also remembered how Celsie had been quick to say she shouldn’t give up on Harry during their conference call. She had said Harry was stressed. Was this what she had been trying to say indirectly? Had she said that because she knew that Aaron would be telling Harry everything soon and he would be devastated?

“Jade, let’s talk about all of this later. I need to find out what’s going on with Harry and his dad…”

“Fine. Just tell me something before you hang up. I need to know two more things before I let you go, and then later you can tell me everything else that is going on,” Jade said, and Benne sighed.

“What do you want to know?”

“Is Aaron aware that his daughter is alive?”

“No. Only Celsie and I are aware of it for the time being,” Benne said, and even though Jade was tempted to ask him how they knew about that, Jade had another more important question that she needed to ask. She believed that if Benne knew this much already, then he would have the answer to her next question.

“Then is it true that the child was stolen from her? According to my boss the child was stolen at birth and the doctor presented a dead baby to her. Candace doesn’t buy it, and I don’t either. But I don’t know what else to think,” Jade said honestly, and Benne hesitated for a moment as he thought about how Candace would feel when she finds out that her mother had sold her off.

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