Revelation after revelation

You look up at her, your mind coming to grips with what she had just said. You ponder her meaning, you couldn't quite put it together. "You mean..one of us...one of us has a different Dad?"

She looks at you with deep sorrowful eyes. She shakes her head. "No, not you three. Chloe." She waits a long moment as you process what you had just heard. "I am Chloe's father." She says solemnly.

You are stunned. "Chloe...she's our sister?"

Your mother nods. "Peggy and I were very young. We didn't consider...we weren't careful." She adds wistfully. "We were...we were so in love and so foolish."

In love!? No wonder your mother was so worried about you and Elsie.

You then realize that your mother had been in exactly the position you were in right now back when she was a teenager, and now she was on the other side of it.

Your mom continues. "We decided to keep her, but we made up a story about Peggy getting knocked up by a boy at school. Mom and Dad demanded to know who he was but Peggy wouldn't say. She got in so much trouble." You sit to her side on the bed facing her. She had a pained and far away look on her face. "Oh how I wished I could have shared in all of the hell she had to go through during those months. But it was a secret. Our secret." God damn, all these secrets your mother kept. It must tear her apart inside at times. Tears begin to flow freely down her cheeks. "Then...then I met John and...it all became so complicated. In the end Peggy raised Chloe and I raised you guys. We decided to keep our secret under wraps."

You ask in a soft voice. "Does Chloe know?"

Your mother nods. "Yes. Only she and Peg and I know." She looks at you with her tearful eyes. "And now you." She presses forward, obviously relieved on some level to be able to reveal her deepest secret to someone. "It was a tough road for that girl. She was so small. So very tiny. She wasn't healthy. It took her a long time to catch up developmentally and intellectually. She's...she's so tough. She has such a bright spirit. I'm so proud of her. She is so..." She can't finish as she begins weeping heavily. You lean forward to hug her, this time it is you comforting her. She cries hard and heavy, your shoulder is wet with her freely flowing tears.

After some time she collects herself and pushes you back, she holds you by the shoulders. She then looks deeply into your eyes. "Our decision to keep her was the best decision I was ever a part of." She then coughs and sniffles. Wiping away some tears she says. "If...if we just...if I am with child this one won't have such a tough time. Peggy and I have spoken about it so often. Your Aunt could help us if it so happens. She knows all about this stuff, genetics and all that. She has told me that if Chloe was conceived today it would be okay, she'd be just a normal kid. Well, normal for a Bailey that is. She can help us if we need it." She reaches down and rubs her belly with her hands, suddenly a strangely serene look in her eye. "Maybe another one on the way. Oh my. I never imagined."

You look at her dubiously. "Aunt Peg can...what can she do exactly?"

Your mother looks back to you. "I'm not really sure. She's a super science whiz. She says she could do all sorts of stuff with anyone possessing our family mutation. Just yesterday we were talking about you, the new you, and she was saying that she could turn you into a..." She stops suddenly and clasps her mouth shut with her hand. "Ooops. Sorry...nevermind." She tries to shift the subject back again. "But she can help us if we need it Jesse."

You couldn't let that slide. "Mom. What did Aunt Peg say she could do to me?" You ask in a pressing but gentle tone.

Your mother looks dismayed at having brought it ups but she answers you anyway. This was obviously something she didn't mean to share. "She said she could probably make you...make you like us. Like the rest of us. Physically that is." Your mind reels, you were being hit with thunderbolt after thunderbolt right now. "Don't worry about that Jesse, she was probably just theorizing. You know you are beautiful to me just as you are. We all love you very much Jesse."