All of us were staring at Leana like she had ten heads.
"What?!" Jimmy shouted as he stood glaring down at his girlfriend, but she didn't back down.
"You heard me," Leana said. "Patrick and Emma Allen are not Eliza's adoptive parents. Not legally anyway."
I shook my head. "You're lying!"
She had to be lying. I knew they would never steal a child from another family. Besides, I had been four when I was adopted. Wouldn't I remember being kidnapped?
But then I thought about it and I realized, I don't remember anything from before Ireland. Could that just be repressed memories?
Leana scoffed. "Oh please. I did my homework," she said as she held up the envelope and handed it to Jimmy. "Since you first got here, Eliza, I hired a private investigater to look around for me."
Jimmy's head snapped up from the papers he was reading. "And you did this all behind my back?! Why, Leana? You know how much I care about her!"
Leana looked shocked that Jimmy was yelling and she took a step back. "That's why I did it! Eliza doesn't belong here! She belongs with her real family. You don't need to care about her so much! You have me, Jimmy. You don't need anybody else."
Jimmy shook his head. "You're jealous of a girl I consider to be my little sister?! Yes, Leana, I love you. But this is low even for you. Eliza is no competition for you."
"Leave her alone, Jimbo." I said and he looked at me with wide eyes. "She is just trying to protect you, but what she doesn't understand is that not every girl is after her man."
I was staring Leana down now. I would never forgive her for trying to ruin my happy life. She was jealous of me for no reason and now she was trying to ruin everything.
Leana looked over at me, somewhat less smug. "When he's as famous as mine is, yes they are. That includes you. If they weren't famous, you'd still be the little kidnapped mistake in Ireland!"
I glared at her and I snapped. I moved forward and shoved her so hard that she stumbled back into the wall. "You need to shut your fucking lying mouth, you nasty bitch!" I yelled.
Johnny came up behind me and held me. Jimmy stood in between Leana and I. "Leana," he said to her. "Just go home."
Jimmy looked so heart broken and it snapped me out of my rage. What had I done? I had never been the violent person and now I had just attacked the girlfriend of one of the most important people in my life.
I looked at Leana with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, Leana. I shouldn't have done that."
She held up a hand while she stood up straight. "Fuck you. Don't apologize to me," she said before she turned to Jimmy. "You have to choose, James. Me or her."
Everyone was standing now and looking at Jimmy who had his head in his hands as he sat onto the couch. "Go home, Leana," he said again. "We'll talk about this later."
At that, Leana turned and stomped out of the house. Once we heard the front door slam shut, we all seemed to relax. I turned in Johnny's arms and tried to keep from bursting into tears. He was rubbing my back and consoling me, but I didn't feel like I deserved it. I had very likely torn Jimmy and Leana apart.
I stood and kissed Johnny's cheek in thanks before I moved to sit next to Jimmy. He was still hunched over with his face in his hands. I rubbed my hand over his back and I felt him relax slightly.
"Jimmy, I'm so sorry," I said and he looked up at me.
"Sorry? Ly-ly, why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong," he said as he sat up straight.
I shook my head. "I snapped and I pushed her. I never should have done that and I know I just messed up your realtionship."
Johnny sat down on my other side and placed his hand over mine. "So you got mad, Eliza. It happens to everybody. You had every right to do so. Leana was way out of line."
Val came and knelt in front of me. "Leana shouldn't have lied like that. I don't know what's gotten into her, but this wasn't your fault. So stop beating yourself up, Eliza. She did it to herself."
"Um...I don't think she was lying," Zack said making the four of us look up.
Zack was standing and had the papers that Leana had brought over in his hands and Brian, Matt, Michelle and Gena were looking over his shoulder.
"What are you talking about?" Johnny asked as he moved to look at the papers.
Matt nodded. "There's pictures of a couple here and the woman looks like an older version of Eliza."
I stood as they handed the papers over to me. I handed the documents over to Johnny as I looked through the pictures. I saw the couple that did look like me with dark hair and I had the same nose as the man and same eyes as the woman. I kept flipping through news stories on their missing four-year-old, Eliza Taylor fifteen years ago. The last picture was of the little girl and my legs got weak.
I collapsed onto the couch and I heard Jimmy and Johnny call my name but my attention was on the picture in my hand.
Johnny sat next to me. "Eliza? Eliza, honey, what is it?"
"This...girl," I managed to get out.
Jimmy took the picture from me and looked at it. "It looks like a very young you-oh," he said as it registered.
The little girl in the photograph was me at age four.
"So...Leana wasn't lying," Brian said sitting in the recliner across from me. Everybody was slowly finding a place to sit down and we were all thinking the same thing: Leana had been telling the truth.
Johnny put his arm around me and pulled me to his side and held me. "This doesn't mean anything," he said. "You don't have to meet these people. We're your family now, Eliza."
I shook my head. "I have to meet them, Johnny. If I don't I know I'll regret it."
"So...you're going to Texas?" Brian asked me.
I put my head in my hands. What was going on with my life? I was just getting used to the changes I had gone through and now Leana had come in and dropped this bomb so she could get rid of me. It might be working.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Eliza?" Jimmy said.
I looked up at my family and gave them a weak smile. "Yes, I'm going to Texas. But only to meet my real parents. I'm almost twenty and I don't need to live with them. I just want to see what they're like."
"But what if you want to stay?" Val asked and I shook my head.
"It won't happen. I love my life just the way it is right now. I wouldn't trade this in for anything," I said leaning against Johnny's shoulder.
Jimmy smiled at me. "Then I'm coming with you."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," I said smiling back at him.
Johnny kissed my cheek. "I'll come too."
"We'll all go," Zacky said and Matt nodded.
I stood and hugged them all. "Thank you all very much. I love you all."
I then turned around and headed for the kitchen. "Where you going?" I heard Johnny ask and I turned and held up my empty glass.
"I have a problem that needs solving. I need chocolate milk," I said as Jimmy jumped up and ran into the kitchen yelling out about solving our problems with the "Chololatey drink of Heaven."

Notes

Yes, I know it's short but it's a good one :)
Comments and cookies, my loves <3