Defiance (Significance #3)(47)

Kyle jerked up to pull Lynne to him and buried his face in her hair. I waited, but his touch didn't heal her, Kyle was too upset, and I closed my eyes to everything else but Caleb and my own anguish. Rodney had cared for me, saved me, and guarded me. He was family and it hurt so, so bad to know that he was gone so senselessly.
After a while, more people began to come up to the roof. I still hadn't moved and the cries of Rodney's parents were the most wretched thing to hear as we backed up to give them room. Someone put their hand on my back and I turned to see Dad and Bish.
"What happened?" Dad asked and looked around at the destruction. "Did you do all this?"
"Mostly," I admitted through my tears. Then I hugged Dad to me and Bish, too. I squeezed and begged them silently to never leave me. Life was too short for people to be so careless and hateful and the repercussions of the day pounded down on me. Too much life lost, too much time wasted. Too much hate and bitterness. This all could have been avoided and I vowed to never let things get this bad again.
Twenty Six
Caleb and I lounged around my now un-charmed bedroom and tried not to think too much. The last two days the palace had been a solemn place. We had a memorial for Rodney, but they were taking his body home to be buried. The Watsons had been removed from the palace. Now human, they were going to have to try to live normal, human lives and be forced to get along just like everybody else in the world. If they found love one day it would be just that. No imprints, no ascending, no abilities. Justice had finally been served for that family.
And it hadn't been as hard to fight the council and everyone else as I thought it was going to be. We eventually came down from the roof that day and went to the council and explained everything to them. Caleb and I showed the entire people my visions of how and why the problems had come. When the vision of the previous Visionary played out, that was pretty much the kicker. The council apologized for not doing more. Paulo admitted to knowing something was going on with Donald, as did a couple of others, but they didn't want to start digging. I wanted to be angry at them, but the time for anger was over. The time for change and healing was now. 
Donald was still a 'statue' of sorts. Caleb borrowed his ability to turn him that way, but couldn't borrow it now to turn him back.
Everybody was surprisingly understanding and even…relieved that the Watsons were no longer one of us. I sat at the council table for the first time and it felt right for the first time, too. The old rules and traditions were being changed on a one-by-one basis. We sat down and stated the obvious ones. Like, it was declared that no council members were to live at the palace anymore. It was too important for them to be with their families and to be here just for the sake of being important and special didn’t serve any purpose in my book. I didn't have any complaints about that when I suggested it and I wasn't surprised.
The only problem left to deal with was Haddock. He was the only Watson left and he hadn't been on the roof when a lot of the stuff went down. I later learned that he was the one who let Jen and Bish out of my room. They had planned to use the same gas like charm that they had tried to use on my father. He saved them. And then after that, he went to the council and pleaded for forgiveness. He told them everything that the Watsons had done; uusing my blood, about kidnapping me, about Marla and Donald and their plots and plays to destroy everything and everybody.
Even Marla and Marcus' parents knew what their children were being used for and did nothing to stop it.
So they were good and buttered up when Caleb and I had to state our case and show the Vision. Then when he'd realized the rest of the family had gone up topside, he ran up to see what was going on and found us over Rodney. I knew that Haddock had no ability because he'd never imprinted. We decided to grant him clemency - gah, I hated that word - since he was so forthcoming and eager to help us, though we still really didn’t understand why.
Things were just getting to feel a little normal again. We we're going home tomorrow and everything would be sorted out then. Kind of ironically, and sadly, was to find an email on Caleb's phone. Rodney had texted all the Visionary scroll pictures he'd taken that day we were in the library together to Caleb. I had planned to scour and study them. He'd thought ahead, even if he didn't know what he was planning ahead for.
As it was, Dad and Fiona had decided to live at our house, or…his house. That was going to take some getting used to. Caleb was trying to figure out what it meant to be the Champion of our clan. And as far as my house, every time I even thought about it Caleb slammed his mind shut to prevent me from peeking. I assumed he was working on buying our house. He was supposed to have it for me before the wedding.
And I was going to be eighteen in just two days.
There was a knock on our door and Caleb kissed my forehead before getting up from the bed and answering. It was Haddock and my real father.
"What?" Caleb barked.
"He has something to say," Haddock explained. "To Maggie."
Caleb looked back at me.
I'll throw them both out, just say the word.
I waved him off and came to stand next to him.
"Come inside. I don't want anyone else to overhear." They obeyed and I shut the door. "What?" I asked the man who gave me life and nothing else.
"I'm sorry. I had gambling debts. I was depressed because I didn't have anybody."
I shook my head. "What does that mean?""Marla came to me and said she'd give me some money if I'd tell you I was your father," he admitted and looked down at his shoes. Haddock jerked his face up by the man's hair.
"Look at her! She deserves to see your eyes while you tell her how you lied."
I took a deep breath as Caleb and I looked at each other. I glanced back at the man. "So, you're not my father? And you're not a Watson. How can you keep your thoughts from me?"
"Marla gave me something to drink. She said it would make so that you couldn't read my thoughts and wouldn't see that we were lying."
"And you agreed to this. You agreed to lie to me knowing it was something so hurtful that you were lying about."
He nodded in misery. "I'm sorry. I truly am. I felt like I had no other choice."
I huffed. "What is it with everyone and acting like they have no choices? You had a choice! And you chose to hurt me! Get out."
"I am sorry-" he started, but Caleb made a noise that had the man backing away. He left and shut the door behind him.
I hadn't even seen that man since he claimed to be my father and now he comes and says it was all a lie? I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed them with my fingers. Without opening them I addressed Haddock.
"How did you know that he wasn't my father?"
He sighed. I opened my eyes and watched him stick his hands into his pockets. He glanced up at me from under his lashes and I had that same strange feeling come over me as before. He was tall, but his brown hair was wavy and thick. His eyes were green and honest. He got a wry, sad look on his face and held his hand out to me. I took his hand hesitantly and let the vision come.
It was him in my house with my mother. He was happy. He was enthralled by her. My mother met him at the flower shop he owned and she made my father out to be a monster. She said he was hateful and hurtful, showing her no attention. That he just wanted a pretty wife to show off to his friends. Haddock dated my mother for almost ten months before she called it off. He had plans to marry her and take her away. He was passed imprint age and knew there was no hope that way, but thought he could be happy with my mom.
When she called it off, he was devastated. She gave him no reason except that she wasn't interested in him anymore. He made several attempts to see her afterwards, but she threatened to call the cops. He eventually respected her wishes and left her alone. He had no idea that she had a baby and that it was his. He wanted nothing to do with his family, but being tied to them by blood wasn't in control of the allegiance he owed them if they called for it. He never helped them with their ploys, but would overhear things at the family meetings. 
When he heard them say they had the Visionary's blood, that she was a human girl from Tennessee that had imprinted with the Jacobson boy, and they had plans to give them all her blood so they'd be hidden from her ability, he was intrigued. The Visionary! They'd all waited their whole lives for her to return and for his family to so carelessly try to use her was appalling. And more so was when he found out who I was.
Marla was asking them questions at a meeting about the woman that they'd been with outside of the clan. No one wanted to speak up, but Marla claimed to need the information. This intrigued Haddock further and he wound up divulging his entire affair with my mother to Marla. But at the end she never told him why she needed it. So he began his own research. When he heard my full name he put all the pieces together.
I was the lost daughter of Sarah Masters, the one love of his life, and he never knew I existed.
So he spent the whole week trying to find a way to help me. He couldn't just leave his family. He wanted to be on the inside, so he could help if I needed him. He could know what they planned, and he knew what they had planned for Bish and Jen in my room and waited until it was clear to save them. Then he went to make it all right with the council.
I opened my eyes to stare at him. He spoke.
"That's how I knew he wasn't your father, because I am."