Lost and Found (A Novel) (18 page)

“Good morning Caelie. I hope you had a good night sleep.”

The suddenness of Elise’s greeting jerked Caelie roughly from her musings. She seemed to be making more of a statement than a question yet Caelie felt obligated to reply her.

“Yes, I did. Err...I’m really sorry for all the trouble I caused yesterday. I don’t usually faint that easily...” Caelie gave an embarrassed laughter, rubbing a hand behind her neck.

“It was no trouble at all Caelie. In fact, we should be the one to apologize to you for the scare you had. Grab a chair and sit down. I’ll be done soon.” Elise waved a hand dismissively at Caelie as she continued buzzing around the kitchen.

Caelie placed her bag on the floor by the entrance and sat down at the small table in the kitchen. She watched with awe as Elise worked her way preparing a few dishes at the same time with ease and precision. In about ten minutes, Elise was already seated in front of Caelie with a variety of dishes in between them and a steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee placed in Caelie’s hand. The aroma from the coffee was so intoxicating that Caelie felt relaxed and invigorated all at once. She closed her eyes, relishing in the warm feeling it brought.

Elise chuckled as she watched Caelie’s reaction. That girl was really different when she was not so uptight and self-conscious. Probably jolted awake by the chuckles, Caelie’s eyes slowly opened. She smiled sheepishly as she caught Elise’s gaze.

“Um, what actually happened yesterday?” Caelie asked. She was still curious about the whole incident.

“Well, it all started from the standing lamp.” Elise replied nonchalantly.

“The standing lamp in the living room?”

“That lamp had not been used for a long time so no one realized that the wiring was defective which caused the power trip.”

Caelie nodded her head in understanding. “Oh, so that explained the sudden blackout, but I heard one of the boys screamed, that was why I thought it might have been something more serious.” Caelie’s face scrunched up in confusion.

Elise sighed and shook her head. “That was Joaquin. He’s one timid little boy and it didn’t help that his brother likes to tease him. Apparently Jared was still awake and when the lights went off, he decided that he should wake Joaquin up from his sleep and scare the wits out of him.”

“I suppose boys will be boys.” Caelie smile, relieved that it was nothing serious. “There was a man...” Caelie’s voice trailed off as she tried to recall her encounter with him.

“Ah...that was just Wynne. He was trying to find out what had happened, as were you.” Elise smiled, obviously amused at the turn of events.

Caelie did not find anything amusing about it though. If nothing else, she was even more confused why Wynne would be at Elise’s house late at night. “Why would Wynne be here?”

“Because he lives here of course.” Elise raised her eyebrow and gave Caelie a look which stated that it was an obvious fact. “You didn’t know?”

“Err...no?”

“Wynne is my brother.”

Caelie gasped. That certainly was not what she had expected at all. Suddenly, as if she could see it clearly in her mind, she understood now why Wynne had gotten away with his delinquent behavior all these while. He was related to the editor after all.

“I’m surprised you weren’t aware of it. It is common knowledge amongst the staff and usually such gossips would be amongst the first to travel to newcomers.” Elise continued, seeing the surprised look on Caelie’s face.

“I don’t mean to pry but I thought Wynne’s surname is Grant while yours is Kerbs?”

“That is correct.” Elise gave a hearty laugh at this. “He’s my brother by marriage, his mother and my father, hence the different surnames.”

As if there could not have been a more opportune time, the man himself chose to make an appearance right then, causing Caelie to feel self-conscious, wondering whether he had heard them talking about him. Looking like he had not slept a wink, Wynne dragged himself to the table and sat beside Elise. Caelie discreetly observed him as he went about pouring himself some coffee and grabbing some food. There were dark rings under his eyes and his disheveled hair was sticking up messily atop his head. It made her wonder if he had somehow fallen sick overnight. When she realized that his eyes were trained questioningly at her, she immediately averted her gaze. If things were awkward between them before this, their encounter the previous night had made things even worst.

“Are you alright, Wynne?” Wynne tore his gaze reluctantly from Caelie and gave a quick glance at Elise before returning his gaze. “You look like you didn’t get any sleep.”

“I had a lot on my mind.” He replied simply, his voice hoarse from the lack of sleep, all the while not tearing his eyes away from Caelie. It was as though he was trying to search for something, making Caelie squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, keeping her own eyes down to avoid looking at him.

“Then I guess you are not up for our outing today?”

“On the contrary, I’m very much looking forward to it.” Wynne suddenly seemed to have perked up. “In fact, why don’t we ask Caelie along? It should be more fun, especially for the boys. I was thinking we could go kite-flying for a change.” Wynne’s gaze became more intense as he tried to read Caelie’s reaction to his proposal.

Caelie’s head snapped up in shock at the invitation, especially since it came from Wynne. “Uh, I don’t-” Caelie was about to turn down the offer but was swiftly interrupted by Elise.

“Yes, why not Caelie? Come and join us. I’m sure the boys would love to have you around. They seemed to have taken quite a liking towards you.” Elise smiled earnestly at Caelie.

Given a choice, Caelie would rather head back home but she did not have the heart to turn down Elise, now that she had mentioned the boys. Guessing that she had nothing to lose and a little kite-flying wouldn’t hurt, she nodded her head slowly.

Elise eyed the triumphant grin that formed on Wynne’s face when Caelie agreed to come. She knew that Wynne must have something planned up his sleeves, especially since it involved kite-flying. She just hoped that it would not be anything stupid or drastic.

Squeals of laughter pierced through the air, pulling Wynne out of his reverie. His eyes swept across the park, searching for the source. A smile spread across his face when his gaze caught its mark. A quiet chuckle unexpectedly escaped his mouth as he watched the scene before him. A scene that brought him back to a moment in his past and tugged at his heart. There she was, exhibiting the carefree side that he had only seen once and even then by chance. His nephews seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing hysterically and cheering her on as she stumbled along facing upwards following the movement of the kite. Just like the eight year old girl he knew.

Wynne leaned back on the bench, sighing in frustration. He had not slept a wink in anticipation of looking at the crystal eyes again. Yet, that morning had been full of disappointment for him as he looked into Caelie’s hazel eyes. He knew there was always the possibility that she was wearing contact lenses but it still didn’t help to alleviate his restlessness. Now that it had come to this stage, he would never be at peace again until he knew for sure whether Caelie was indeed Hayley. He had almost confronted her straight out earlier but his better judgment was telling him that it would only backfire on him, given her delicate emotional state. It was for this reason that he had decided against showing Caelie the kite that he had given Hayley. It was just not the time yet. First, he had to find out more information about Caelie and he knew just the person who could help him out with this.

“Wynne!” There he was, the one person whom Wynne knew he could rely on. He held up his hand, beckoning him over. “What’s up?”

“Thanks for coming at such a short notice Dale.” Dale shrugged his shoulders and sat beside Wynne. “I need your help to find out information about someone. Think you can do it?”

Dale looked up in surprise at the request. “I’m a little bit rusty since it had been a long while since my last part-time investigation work during college days. But if it is nothing major, yeah sure I think I still have what it takes.”

Wynne clapped his friend’s back, grinning widely. “Great! It’s nothing major, I promise you. Remember the girl I used to know in my teens?”

“The love of your life?” Dale smirked at a flustered Wynne.

“I never said she was the love of my life, you idiot.” Wynne smacked his friend’s head.

“Hey!” Dale rubbed his head, frowning. “What was that for?”

“That’s for jumping to conclusion.”

“Yeah...yeah...deny all you want. So, what’s with the girl? Have you found her?”

“Well, I think I have but I need more information before I actually approach her.”

“And I guess that’s where I come in?” Dale sat up straighter, his chin tilted upwards looking proud of himself. Wynne shook his head, smiling and gave a friendly shove to his shoulder.

“You are right, buddy. I need you to help me find out more about Caelie Pierce.”

“Caelie Pierce? Isn’t she your intern?” Dale gave him a puzzled look.

Wynne glanced at Caelie across the park. “Yes, the one and only. Such a small world huh?” He said wistfully. “She’s here. Come, I’ll introduce you formally to her.”

Dale stood up and followed Wynne as he strode purposefully towards a petite red-haired chick whose face was all flushed up from both being under the sun and constant laughing. She dropped her gaze nervously as they came up to her.

“Hi Elise.” Dale called out to Elise who was sitting on a mat a few distance away with a book in her hand. She waved in acknowledgement, smiling at him. He used to come over to their house almost daily that Elise was as good a sister to him as she was to Wynne. The boys jumped up in excitement when they saw him and ran to give him a hug around his leg. He laughed and ruffled their hair fondly.

“Dale, this is Caelie Pierce, an intern at Mirage.” Dale extended his hand, which Caelie accepted hesitantly, her eyes fleeting everywhere but him. “Caelie, this is my friend, Dale Fracasso.” Dale blinked his eyes in puzzlement as he watched the blood drained from Caelie’s face. She looked taken aback but quickly tried to recover her composure. Dale searched her face. There was something about her that did not sit well with him but he could not put a finger to it.

“Um, it’s nice to meet you. I...uh, need to get a drink. Please excuse me.” Dale watched as Caelie ducked her head down and quickly made her way towards Elise.

“Wynne, what was the name of this girl you are talking about? I don’t believe I ever get her name before.”

“Hayley. Hayley Price.”

Dale’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He looked closer at Caelie, trying to find any indication that would point out she was indeed Hayley Price. She certainly looked different but judging from the way she had reacted, he had a feeling that she found his name as disturbingly familiar as he had found hers. A slow smirk began to form on his face. He could not believe his luck. It was, as Wynne put it, a small world. “Don’t worry Wynne. I’m sure I’ll be able to prove that Caelie is in fact Hayley.”

“Thanks buddy. I know I can count on you.” Wynne smiled to himself. In his excitement, he had failed to notice the evil gleam in Dale’s eyes, nor the worried look on Caelie’s pale face.

CHAPTER 14: PRESENT YEAR

It had been almost a month since their unfortunate meeting. Nothing suspicious had happened since then, alleviating some of Caelie’s fears. She had been so worried that her real identity would be found out that she could barely sleep over a few nights following that meeting. The Fracassos were after all the sole reason for her complete identity change. Sighing, Caelie watched the marinated chicken turning in the oven as it was being roasted. Just a while more and it would be ripe for eating. Wilburn was due to come over from his house any minute now.

The outing with Elise and her sons had certainly made an impact on the way Caelie viewed her life. Though it did not totally revert Caelie back to the way she was previously like what Elise had hoped for, she was no longer the empty vessel that went with the flow as it was dealt to her. At least, she had begun to make some efforts in restoring a little of her small social life with people close to her such as Wilburn, Alex and Chanell. For a start, she had invited Wilburn over to join her for dinner in the house that Annetta had left her with. For Wilburn, this was a big improvement in their relationship. Although Caelie still continued her routine weekend trips to the countryside, their interaction was limited to small talks and Caelie seemed to be keeping Wilburn at arms’ length, much to his dismay. Wilburn had hoped that through this dinner, things could go back to the way they used to be between them.