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What Lies In The Heart

What Do You Do When Nothing Is What You Thought You Knew

By Natalie DemossPublished 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 8 min read
2

Isobel sat in the kitchen looking at the nondescript brown paper box sitting on the table in front of her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to open it. There was a good chance the contents would be overflowing with undesired emotions. She hadn’t asked for this. Her life had been nearly perfect before this. She pushed the chair back from the table with a huff of frustration. She couldn’t do this right now. Grabbing her jacket, she walked out of the house and went to the stables.

Oberon nickered at her as she walked up to him and stroked his silky soft neck. He snuffled around her jacket for a sugar cube. Isobel laughed and gave him one before holding up an apple for him to eat. She brushed his dapple grey back before beginning to saddle him. He had been hers for a few years now, but she still couldn’t get over how majestic he was.

Rhys walked in, lugging a bale of hay for the stalls. “You open that box yet?”

“No.” He thought she should get it over with, like ripping a band-aid off quickly instead of increasing the pain by pulling it off slowly. Isobel had never noticed any difference, no matter how she pulled it off. Besides, Rhys had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

He walked up to her and kissed her temple. “It can’t get worse. It can only get better from here.”

“You don’t know that. They could be homicidal maniacs or something.”

Rhys laughed. “I highly doubt that. And even if they were, it wouldn’t matter. You’re fine.”

“I’m going for a ride.”

“You want company?”

Isobel leaned into his arms. “No. I need to think.”

“Fair enough.” He looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would open up a can of worms.”

“Neither did I. I’ll deal with it. Eventually. It’s just going to take some time.” She pushed away and climbed up into the saddle.

Once they were out of the yard, she let Oberon set the pace. He seemed to sense that she needed to run. They galloped for a bit until he slowed and eventually stopped to drink from the stream. Isobel looked up at the snow-capped mountains and thought about her life. Or at least what she thought it had been. She’d had a happy childhood. Her parents had doted on her but never spoiled her. They thought having to work for what she wanted would make her more responsible. So when she wanted a horse, she worked for it. She did chores around the house and the neighborhood to earn the money for lessons. When she was old enough, she started working at the stables. The equestrian school belonged to Rhys’ parents. That’s where they had met and became friends and eventually married. Now they ran the school for the most part. His parents were still involved. They had been open to her desire to offer therapeutic lessons to special needs kids. Isobel oversaw those classes.

Her mother had died of cancer when she was in college. Her father had followed a few years ago. It had been heartbreaking to lose them, but Rhys was always there for her. Oberon gave her comfort too. She was getting by, happy in the life they had made. Then Rhys had asked her to take a DNA test. Or rather, his mother, Elaine, had asked. He had caught the bug for tracing the family genealogy, so he had highly encouraged her to spit into the tube when his mom had given everyone in his family a kit for Christmas. Her mother-in-law had been positively gleeful when the results started coming in. She joked about how relieved she was that they proved she was indeed the mother of her children, especially his brother, Colin. He was different enough from the rest of the family that it had been a running joke that someone had left him on the doorstep.

At first, Isobel didn’t pay much attention to her results. She didn’t recognize any of the names in her matches. There were people who's names sounded Hispanic, more than Isobel would have expected, but that just meant that some relative had married into a Hispanic family. Her parents had always her told her that she was Irish, even if she didn't exactly look it. They hadn’t taken DNA tests before they died, so there wouldn’t be parental matches. At best, she might have a few distant cousins out there. Her parents didn’t have any siblings, and there hadn’t been a lot of relatives with whom to spend the holidays. That had been fine, though. Rhys’ family more than made up for that.

It was her ethnic makeup that made no sense. It said she was nearly half Portuguese. From the Azores, to be precise. Isobel hadn’t even known where the Azores were until she looked at the map. They were a series of tiny little islands in the middle of the ocean some distance off the shore of Portugal. That would explain the names, but it couldn’t be right. The other half consisted of several Northern European countries. According to the results, she was barely Irish at all. She insisted the company must have gotten her DNA mixed up with someone else’s, even a few months later when new matches came in. She scoffed when the site claimed they were her half-brother and sister. But part of her was becoming very uncomfortable with the whole thing. Something was very wrong.

It wasn’t until that woman had contacted her. There was a man who claimed to be her father trying to connect with her. The woman had undeniable proof of her adoption. A second DNA test confirmed it. Isobel felt like someone had pulled her entire world out from under her. Like an inept magician doing the tablecloth trick only to have everything on the table come crashing down to the floor. Everything she had ever known was a lie. Why hadn’t her parents told her? Why had they let her believe she had been their biological child? It’s not like she would have loved them any less. They were her parents. They had raised her and loved her.

She was still trying to come to terms with all of it. She hadn’t gotten up the nerve to agree to meet her father or even to talk to him. Then the box had arrived, sent by a man named Jack Perry. Her father. Elaine had tried to help her through everything by occasionally telling her about her family as she added them to the tree. The family name was Pereira, but somewhere along the line, they had changed it to Perry to sound more American. It hadn’t helped, but she couldn’t fault her for it.

Isobel sighed and turned Oberon back towards home. She had classes to teach. That evening Rhys poured two glasses of wine and sat down next to her on the couch. The box was now on the coffee table. It was relatively small. She reached out to pick it up and pulled off the tape. Inside were a few pieces of paper and several photos. The letter explained why her biological parents had put her up for adoption. They had been young and not as compatible as they thought at first. He hadn’t seen her mother since Isobel had been born. He occasionally ran across her sister, who had provided some photos from that side of her family.

Rhys held her in his arms as she looked through the pictures. On the back were names and little bits of information regarding location or subject matter. A blond man on a bike, her great-grandfather on her mother’s side who competed in bicycle races. A family in foreign-looking clothing back in the Azores. A handsome young man on a ship, sailing to America from Horta, a great-grandfather on her father’s side. A great-grandmother named Isabella. Her father said he had asked her parents to keep the name he had given her when they had adopted her. They changed the spelling slightly but had given in to his wishes. There were baby pictures and men in military uniforms. Her father’s parents, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes at their wedding. Several images of them and their children with horses. It seemed to be in her blood, her love for horses. Isobel laughed and cried as she went through everything several times.

A month later, she stood waving as they drove off. Her father and her siblings. Even a few nieces and nephews, who declared her the best aunt ever since she let them ride her horses. It had been a good day, one of many to come. They were already planning their next gathering. Rhys put his arm around her shoulder and led her back into the house. There has been no word from her mother yet, but some interest on the part of her aunt. That might come at some point, but if it didn’t that, was ok.

Short Story
2

About the Creator

Natalie Demoss

Single mom to an Autistic child and budding author and artist finally following my dreams. The hand drawn art on my stories is my own.

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