“They were adopted and their names changed by the new parents. Louisa Westley became Louisa Hartcourt. She was adopted by a French Canadian couple from Quebec. Mr. Freebotten is still collecting more information but, we do know that she was the youngest of the twins,” Charles told Logan.
He took an offensive position and listened in to whatever Logan projected. From what Logan emitted, it seemed that he was having a difficult time processing all the information. He did have concerns that Logan wouldn’t be able to take such a deluge of information at once and keep the animal at bay but, so far Logan was holding his own.
“Lucille Westley was also adopted and raised bah anothah rich, barren woman, from British Columbia. Her name became Lucy Hatton,” Marie said.
“You and Victor, the second, didn’t know you had siblings because you ran the night of your real father’s death. What I find astonishing, is that none of the children by Victor Creed, the first, knew you had siblings but, I understand why. The twins had to be kept from their real father, and now, the second Victor if there’s a chance that the twins might be alive. If they inherited your advanced healing Logan, there could be a slim possibility that they are alive.”
“But ya know what they say ‘bout slim possibilities Professah… There’s only slim and none, and slim left town. Besides, I was told that Lucille is buried somewhere in Montana. Stanley’s checkin’ up on it fer meh.”
“That’s enough from the peanut gallery,” he smiled at Marie.
Charles didn’t want to bring up the fact that Lara Wyle wanted to join the X-Men. He knew Logan would be fully against her choice.
“Could you find them with Cerebro?” Charles knew Logan would ask that very question.
“I can try but, it will take many long sessions. Right now, I’m afraid; I just don’t have the time. I will try to clear my schedule after the New Year, just for your request. Will that be satisfactory?”
“Yeah, yeah. Is there anything else I need to hear?” Charles heard the sarcastic between the lines of what Logan said. “It might be good to know that you and the twins share the same mother. Like I said, Victor the second, does not. So, Lucille and Louisa would be his half-sisters.”
Marie decided to take over the last part of the genealogy portion of the conversation. She took both Logan’s hands in hers as she turned to him.
“Lucy Hatton grew up and married David Kent from Montana. They had a baby, Evelyn Kent. Then she married Simon Cole. They had Beth Cole. Beth Cole married Franklin Shelby. Elizabeth Shelby was born and later married John Kirkland. Now heah’s where it gets interestin’. They had a girl bah tha name-ah Lara Kirkland. Ya know Lara Kirkland because she married Frank Wyle.”
“So, Lara, my supposed distant cousin, is the direct descendant of Lucille Westley, my sister. I suppose that means I’m Lara’s distant uncle then…”
“Ah’m not sure, sugah. Ah know it’s a lot ta take in all at once. That’s wah ah couldn’t talk ta ya raht away. Ah was adjustin’, mahself,” she said and then looked down at her lap, sadly.
“I think I’m okay Marie,” Logan said and then he pulled her into his arms for a hug while seated. “I can’t say the same when I watch the movie though.”
“I am surprised that you have done so well thus far Logan. I do hope that there will not be repercussions of learning this new information during your sleep tonight.”
“Ah hope not eithah. Should ah sleep somewhere else tonaht?”
“No, Marie. You belong with me,” Logan growled as he answered his mate.
The animal would have it no other way. Marie belonged with him if he did or didn’t have nightmares. She was his calming force. Really, he couldn’t sleep without her or the really bad nightmares might take him under.
“I wouldn’t worry too much Marie. You do have your mutation if he happens to injure you,” Charles added.
“Yeah, Professah but, that don’t heal the pain and guilt we’ll both feel.”
“It will be okay, baby. Listen, are we done here? I need to get out of here for a while.”
“Ah suppose. Ah could go fahnd somethin’ ta do fer a bit.”
“Thanks darlin’,” Logan said as he got up and left.
“It don’t feel raht, Professah. Ah just knew he was gonna come unglued ‘bout Sabertooth bein’ his half-brother.”
“I thought so as well. All we can do is wait and watch over him. But Marie, don’t hover over him. His instincts will tell him to run as he is doing now,” Charles said as he was still listening in to Logan.
“No, no, no, he wasn’t supposed ta run. What have we done?”
“Relax, he says he’ll be back in a couple hours,” he passed on from Logan. “Logan said the animal needs some time to adjust.”
“Tell him that ah love him and to be careful.”
Precious seconds passed…
“He said he loves you too darlin’. He’ll come back, he promises.”
“Well ah bettah get ta wearin’ a hole in mah room. Ah’ll see ya latah, Professah, and thanks.”
“You’re welcome Marie. Not too big a hole please. Don’t worry; the Wolverine doesn’t make a promise he can’t keep.”
“Ah know. Thanks.”
Foyer
First Floor
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
4:00 P.M.
After the meeting, Marie went to check with Kitty about the deliveries that had arrived for her and Logan. She grabbed her small ones and took them off to her room. Then she went back down, Kitty helped her take up the larger items to her room, and Logan’s. The biggest box; she wondered what the hell had Logan ordered so huge. Anyway, instead of snooping, she took her stuff to her room and went through it.
The ornately styled New Orleans Mardi Gras mask she’d had shipped to the school had arrived. The beautiful mask was made of porcelain painted with a shiny black. Then there were hand painted swirls of purple, gold, and green on each side with a slightly larger nose than hers. Then on the upper edges of the mask were these beautiful plumes of colored ostrich feathers in purple, gold, and green as well. Marie had it shipped to the school for fear it would get crushed on the way home to New York. She also bought good handfuls of hanks of beads to match the colors of the mask and other complementary colors. The beads were made of glass and in different sizes.
Marie put a nail into her wall over her bed and hung the beautiful mask above her bed. A few more nails and she hung some of the beads in different shapes around the mask. She’d been thinking about remodeling to remind her more of her favorite parts of the south. So far, the décor was leaning more towards New Orleans than Meridian. She decided to bias it more towards New Orleans because there weren’t any painful memories there like there were in Meridian. She sat down on her bed with the next box and before she opened it, Logan’s words hit her again. She needed to tell her parents about their relationship. She had worked so hard to be where she was; she didn’t want them to put a damper on it because she was still a mutant. She could still hear the hurtful words her parents yelled at her once they found the name for what she was. They learned about mutants after they watched the news the same day the boy she kissed went into a coma. After they yelled at her, Marie went up to her room for the last time as Anna Marie Caldicott, packed her things, before she came down as Rogue. Her father gave her what money he had in his pocket which amounted to $500 with the money she had saved. How were they going to deal with a man like Logan?
She sighed as she opened the next box to find her shipment of her Indiana Jones purchases. Now she had all the pieces to Logan’s costume for next year’s Halloween party at the school. As she tore down the box, she decided that she would handle her parents much later. The time just wasn’t right to face them. Right now, she just wanted to be happy with Logan and help him deal with finally finding out his past. The last box she had to open contained the rest of the candles she bought in California. There were at least 30 of them. She brought only three of the large ones with her that she put in the Boat House by the claw foot bathtub. She picked up that box after pulling out some of the stuffing and put it in the bottom of her closet. After she tore down the boxes, she grabbed the new linen set she bought a while back on a shopping trip with Jubilee, Chloe, Ororo, and Kitty. They were 500 count Egyptian cotton sheets that were a cream color white with black lacy pattern on them in like a modern French style. Marie wanted it to feel like she was in a hotel on Bourbon Street. Later, she had plans to move the furniture, paint black wrought iron lattice work, and other scenes on the walls.
Next to the box of candles in the closet, she had another special box. It was an old-fashioned 1800’s style smoking jacket for Logan. She purchased it a while back for a wedding present to her groom. She hadn’t given it to him yet, because of course she had to wait until she asked and he accepted. Marie looked at it and wondered if he would actually wear it. She thought he’d look hot in it with his cigar in one hand, his chilled Molson in the other, and sprawled out in the Queen Anne styled leather chair in his room. It was actually a fantasy of hers. She’d come along looking like some exotic beauty, kneel in front of him with her New Orleans mask on, in a black baby doll outfit, and then proceed to blow his mind as he sat in the chair. Marie smiled as she considered making that particular fantasy a reality sometime after they got married.
Betsy and Abby’s Bar
Westchester, NY.
5:00 P.M.
Betsy and Abby’s Bar was a bar not too far from the school. It was just far enough away to be away from the reach of the students. The establishment was run by a couple of former female truckers named Betsy Breckenridge and Abby Tennison; very tough broads. Logan pulled up, went inside to try, and drink his headache away. He plopped his ass down on a stool near the back of the main bar. There were a few empty tables in the middle of the bar. Patrons totaled five, two at the other end of the bar with Logan, and two at a table a piece; Logan being the fifth customer.
“What’ll ya be havin’,” the woman called Betsy asked.
“Molson.”
She opened the beer and chugged. He slapped the butt of the bottle to the rich cherry wood bar.
“Need somethin’ else, darlin’,” she asked.
“Whiskey, leave the bottle.”
“You want a glass for that pity party?”
Logan growled.
“Butt out. It ain’t no pity party.”
“Yeah, and I’m the bloody hell Queen. I’ve seen too many people like you drink yerselves under the bar for it not to be anythin’ else but.”
“Darlin’, you ain’t seen nothin’ like me,” Logan said as he gave her the eyebrow arch.
“Oh yeah I have. You, smooth-talkin’, dangerous lookin’ types come in here all the time. As a matter of fact, some hairy lookin’ dude with long fingernails came in here last week. He looked like he was lookin’ for trouble all right. He put grooves in my bar and I kicked him out ‘cause he didn’t wanna pay for it.”
Logan lowly growled in warning as he listened to her story. So, Victor had been in the area last week. He wondered if he was due to either get a visit at the school or another beating. As if things couldn’t get any worse this week… And it was only Monday!
“He ain’t been back, has he?”
“Nah, not while I’ve been here, I’ll have to ask Abby later. She’s on the six to ‘til closin’ time shift. Why, you know him?”
“Yeah, you could say that. He’s my half-brother as it turns out.”
“How do you know for sure?”
Logan held up his fist and popped three claws out of his left hand to show her his proof. He could immediately smell fear from the woman and she took a step back. Then he put them back inside his arm.
“Those ain’t natural are they?”
“Nope, courtesy of the American government,” Logan answered gruffly.
“I’m sorry. That’s enough proof for me anyway. If he comes back in tonight, you want me to leave him a message for ya?”
“Nah, he’ll know I was here. If he comes in, you can reach me here. Don’t give anyone this number, it’s my private line,” Logan said as he grabbed a pen off the bar and wrote his cell phone number on the back of a cocktail napkin.
Betsy looked at it and recorded it to her memory for future use. Then she burned the napkin in front of Logan.
“What the hell…”
“Photographic memory, that’s my gift. No need to keep the evidence in my hands. It’s all up here, I never forget a thing.”
“Good to know,” Logan smirked at her with the eyebrow arched in curiosity. What else was she hiding?
“I’ll give you a heads up if he comes in. I’ll let Abby know so that she can let me know.”
“And just be careful around him. He’s highly dangerous if you piss him off.”
“Good to know,” Betsy repeated his comment, “I’ll let you get your drink on, hon.”
After she left, Logan dove head first into the bottle and time seemed to fly. His headache was replaced by a fleeting buzz he tried to keep up for a while. Betsy went home after she left a second bottle of whiskey and Abby took over, brought him his third.
Logan growled as he asked what time it was.
“You want me to call you a cab, sir?”
“No, the time, I want the time,” Logan said as he looked at two of the woman behind the bar.
“It’s ten after eleven.”
“Shit… Now you can call me a fuckin’ idiot, darlin’,” he said as he thought about Marie and how she was probably worrying about him.
“Nah, can I still call a cab for ya?”
“No. How much do I owe ya?”
Logan settled the bill and sauntered out of the bar as the last of the effects of the alcohol wore off. He threw his leg over the motorcycle and soon he was on his way home.
The Garage
Xavier’s School for Gifted Students
Westchester, NY.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
12:00 A.M.
Logan returned to a quiet school in one piece. The light was out in Marie’s Room as well as his. He headed up to her room to make amends. He hoped she wasn’t too mad at him. The Wolverine in his head told him that it didn’t matter if she was mad, they could always win back their way to her good side. A quick test of the air told him that her scent wasn’t active there; hadn’t been for some time. He went next door to his room. There his senses detected salt water, fear, and no Marie. He didn’t dare call her name or risk the wrath of the student body and his teammates. They were already upset that they kept getting woken up in the middle of the night by him yelling out her name, her screaming his name out, or some other obscene comment during late night hockey game nights. The morning after was usually bad around the school for the staff. When that happened, Logan would grab on to Marie’s hand and they would disappear for a few hours until things cooled down. They usually found a quiet place to talk and catch up.
‘Where the hell was she?’ The animal began to panic, where was his mate?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
More family matters...
Enjoy my darlings... More to come!
Enjoy my darlings... More to come!
Chapter End Notes:
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