Secrets (18 page)

As the youngest
of the cousins, Sonya was not yet born when Susan, James and John
were dubbed the “Terrifying Trio” by the family. The closest of
friends, they had been constantly in trouble together as children,
and their fast friendship still remained all these years later.
James and his wife, Martine had flown in from Toronto for this
special occasion, and they were, of course, staying with Susan.

The living
room, dining room and great room were filled with cousins, spouses
and children of various ages. Even their elderly aunt and uncle,
Willi and Jake, had made the trip from the family’s origins in the
Creston Valley in British Columbia. This was as important an
occasion that the family could imagine.

The family were
doing their best to get to know two new family members. Steve
Hunter had been introduced as John and Mike’s half brother several
months ago, and most of the family had seen him again at Sonya’s
wedding eight weeks later. Steve’s addition to the family had
caused another domino to drop, and changed that particular branch
of the family dynamic yet again.

On this
occasion, however, they were being introduced to Air Marshall
(Ret.) Merlyn Blackburn, who had just been revealed as Mike’s
biological father. So as it stood now, John and Steve Hunter had
the same father and John and Mike had the same mother. Brothers
still, but now with some differences.

The stranger in
their midst, Air Marshall (Ret.) Merlyn Blackburn, or BB as he
preferred to be called, apparently had no difficulty remembering
who belonged to whom and where each of the many cousins fit in. The
family, accustomed to strangers being confused by their numbers,
were duly impressed with the patrician British gentleman with the
impeccable manners, regal bearing and prodigious memory.

The story
surrounding the revelations of these family ties was somewhat
convoluted.

Last winter, an
incident had occurred at her cousin John’s home. His wife, Sara and
their son Ivan, had been taken hostage after receiving delivery of
an old desk inherited from Sara’s father. This happened after her
father and his best friend had been murdered. Both of whom, they
later found out, had been operatives for MI5 in England. In other
words, they were spies.

The man who
held them captive, Igor Kovaszic, had been looking for information
rumoured to be in the infamous old desk in one of its numerous
hidden compartments. One thing led to another, which resulted in
John teaming up with Steve Hunter, the MI5 operative who had been
working on solving the murders of their old employees.

Since John
owned the major portion of an air rental company called Airlimo, he
had access to and control of a small jet. He was able to fly Igor
out of the country as requested by Canadian Security and
Intelligence Services, with as little red tape as negotiations
between governmental spy agencies was possible. Steve Hunter had
flown as his co-pilot at that time. After a difficult flight they
finally landed in Gibraltar, surprised to see Air Marshall
Blackburn, Steve’s stepfather. The Air Marshall, who the family now
knew as BB, was at the time married to Steve Hunter’s mother.

He confronted
her with a truth that he witnessed, and a decades old deceit was
revealed. Steve Hunter was in reality John’s half brother, which
had been announced to the family in June. At that time, John’s
older brother, Mike, had demanded that his mother be honest with
him about his parentage as well.

The three men
involved in this triangle, BB, Ivan Toth and Paul Hunter had been
great friends as young men in various Air Force units posted at the
same base in Germany. At the time, they had sown their wild oats
with absolute abandon. What no one knew at the time, was that the
women that married Ivan Toth and Paul Hunter were already pregnant
when they married. And the men that they married, were not the
biological fathers of their unborn children, a fact of which both
women were most definitely aware. This deceit had now all come to
light.

So, while the
family was aware that Steve Hunter was John’s half brother, what
they were now digesting, was that Mike was in reality, BB’s
biological son. Despite positive DNA testing, there was no denying
that Mike and BB were related. They had the same height, build,
profile and identical, laser-like steel blue, dark lashed eyes.
BB’s hair was now pristine white, a foreshadow of what Mike’s honey
blonde locks would become.

Sonya and Bryan
had carefully planned their honeymoon trip to Paris, where Bryan
had spent a year on a post graduate scholarship for his Doctorate
in Art. They had anticipated a romantic honeymoon in the city of
love, but unfortunately, that had not come to be. Mike made the
trip as well, intent on meeting BB, the man that at the time he
believed would prove to be his father. Steve had been essential in
acting as intermediary, using his knowledge of both men to ease
their meeting. All had gone as planned.

Until. Until
Bryan had been kidnapped and badly abused. And then everyone around
Sonya turned out to be spies; honest-to-goodness, black wearing,
judo kicking, electronics using, gun totting, working for various
governmental agencies spies.

And this was
not some sort of “B” movie. They actually had clout with the local
police. And several of them were now socializing and interacting
with her solid, boring and oh, so very ordinary family. It was
somewhat bizarre.

“Hey, Babe!”
Bryan grinned as he slung his arm around his wife’s shoulders. The
bright cast on his last two fingers and part of his hand was
covered with graffiti-like signatures and little drawings in felt
pen. In his uninjured hand he held a beer. Dressed in jeans and a
Picasso Rocks theme tee-shirt, he didn’t look at all like the
director of a prestigious art gallery, but rather an art student.
The black and blue of his bruises had turned into a hideous shade
of yellow and maroon, which didn’t help the image at all. However,
his young looks belied his age, education and talent.

“Hey,
yourself!” Sonya smiled back at him, noting the healing bruises and
again saying a prayer of thanks that he was home and healthy. “It
looks like everyone is enjoying themselves,” she remarked, leaning
against her husband. “BB seems to be fitting in quite well.”

“Yeah, he’s a
bit of a chameleon. He seems to be able to blend everywhere that he
goes. Maybe it’s a skill that served him well in his career as a
spy. But I have to admit that I don’t think anyone would point at
him and declare him to be one. He just seems too…”

“Stately?”
Susan interjected as she walked by. “He looks like the
quintessential English gentleman. Just how much did you tell
everyone about what happened in Paris? And about BB, except for the
fact that he’s Mike’s father?” she asked curiously.

“Only that he
was able to pull some strings that helped us to get Bryan released
from Grégoire and his band of thugs. We also mentioned that Madame
Lalonde was our landlady and her grandson, Sylvain, was about the
same age as Ivan,” Sonya replied, twirling a lock of golden blonde
hair around her finger, something she usually did when she was
stressed or thinking. “But much of what went on is and will remain
confidential. We discussed the entire thing on the flight home from
Paris and we all agreed that too much information is just that, too
much information. This is need to know.”

“So how did you
explain the kidnapping?”

Susan could be
relentless, Sonya grumbled to herself, but that was a part of the
reason for her success in business.

“A case of
mistaken identity,” Bryan sighed, rolling his dark brown eyes
skyward. “It just seemed to be the most expedient way to avoid all
kinds of questions. Mimi, Steve and BB were easily explained. BB
owns the jet that we flew home in and he’s here to meet his
grandsons and to get to know Mike better. Steve is a pilot and a
brother and Mimi is his girlfriend, so it made sense to come home
to Calgary together.”

Susan shrugged
her shoulders. “Sounds perfectly logical to me! The entire story
would be too much I think, and sometimes it’s better not to know
every detail. I had nightmares the first night after you told us
the complete story.”

“You asked!”
Sonya retorted to her sister. “Just spreading the wealth,” she
shrugged her shoulders and laughed, her china blue eyes twinkling
in mirth.

“Yeah, yeah,”
Susan murmured. “Look! Sara’s grilling Mimi. You’d think that she
was Steve’s sister not his sister-in-law. I know that she liked him
when they first met, before they even knew that he was John’s half
brother.” John’s wife, Sara, was one of Susan’s best friends and
they had discussed this in detail several times.

Their little
group gazed across the room where Mimi was gracefully leaning
against a counter, sipping on her wine, while Sara stood beside
her, a serious look across her pretty face, tucking a lock of dark
brown hair behind her ear as she normally did when she was
concentrating.

They were an
interesting study in brunettes, Susan thought. Mimi’s hair was a
short, shining, stylish bob, her heavily lashed, hazel eyes
luminous in an animated face. Sara on the other hand, was all
peaches and cream complexion, soft brown eyes and straight, fine,
almost shoulder length hair. They were two beautiful women, yet so
very different from one another, both in appearance and in
personality. And, Susan supposed, if Mimi and Steve were in a
serious relationship, they could ultimately become sisters-in-law.
What was that saying about degrees of separation?

Susan’s revelry
was interrupted. “So, how is Sonya really doing?” a voice beside
her asked. She turned with a smile. “As well as I think she can,
given the circumstances. She was pretty shaken after it was all
over.”

Peter, their
oldest cousin and Sonya’s employer, nodded knowingly. He was one of
the few that knew the entire story of what happened in Paris.

“She’s been
different since they got back.” Noting the look of alarm on Susan’s
face, he quickly continued. “Not anything you’d notice, if you
didn’t know her well. She’s quieter, more intense and for lack of a
better word, she seems more mature for her twenty-two years than
when she left for Paris. She’s always been stubborn, as you well
know.” He noted Susan’s knowing grimace.

“It’s not in a
rebellious way. It’s in a quietly serious and more determined way.
The older clients that once seemed to intimidate her are no longer
an issue. She handles them like a seasoned professional now.”

Peter managed
the company for which Sonya worked, and in which she owned twenty
percent of the shares, shares that had been bequeathed to her by
Peter’s father. He, along with John and Steven’s father, his
brother Jake and their grandparents’ best friend had founded the
company many years ago. They named it Snytytza, Inc, an homage of
sorts to the family’s Ukrainian roots.

“I understand
what you mean,” Susan replied thoughtfully. “I’ve seen it myself.
It’s subtle, but the incidents in Paris really did change her. I
hope there are no long-term problems ahead for her. Do you think
that she needs to speak to someone about it?”

China blue
eyes, the same eyes as Sonya’s, crinkled in a face encompassing
smile. “Naw, I think she’s fine. Just saying, that’s all. If she
feels the need, she’ll do it. You know how independent she is.”

Susan’s
red-gold eyebrows rose over navy blue eyes. “No kidding!” she
replied. “According to everyone, not only is she the spitting image
of Gran, she’s almost like Gran was – quiet, but a force when she
needs to be. She’ll be okay.”

Their attention
was diverted towards a burst of laughter. Apparently John had, as
was his habit, played a little joke on Sonya and her reaction had
caused the laughter.

All of the
cousins looked like family, unusual for so many relatives, but John
and Sonya looked more like brother and sister than cousins. Both
had inherited their grandmother’s coloring; hair the color of ripe
golden wheat and brilliant china blue eyes. There was no denying
that they were related.

BB’s eyes
glittered with mirth and memory. “Ah, yes,” he recalled, swirling
his glass of scotch. “Ivan frequently spoke of the farm upon which
he grew up. He told me that you were the ‘magic mechanic’, if I can
remember the term correctly. He said your hands were magic around
any kind of engine. I could have used someone with your talents in
the RAF,” he laughed.

Jake shook his
head, his white hair glistening. “Ivan’s been gone for so long,” he
reflected, “that I never thought anyone other than his family would
remember him. It is such a treat to talk to someone that knew him.
Thanks for that!” Then he paused, as if deciding how to phrase his
next words.

“I don’t know
what to say to either you or to Mike. Ivan didn’t know the truth
that you were Mike’s father. That I know for fact. It wasn’t in his
nature to lie or to accept a lie, especially about something so
important. He truly believed that Mike was his son, please believe
that. And he had no idea that Steven’s mother was carrying his
child.”

BB smiled, his
angular face softening. “Ivan was an honourable man, I know that
for fact. There is no question in my mind that he believed that
Mike was his son. He and I were victims of a lie told by Mike and
John’s mother, aided and abetted by Steve’s mother, something for
which I cannot ever forgive either of them. Obviously, they had
their reasons.”

“At least, I
have the advantage to get to know my son, despite the lost years.
Alas, I cannot say the same for Steven. Paul was a wonderful man
and a very good father. But, Steven will never have the opportunity
to meet his biological father, Ivan, and my heart bleeds for him.
All he has is the family that knew his father. Fortunately, John
has embraced him into the family and I feel that he will try to
fill in the blanks.”