One Wild Night

"Coincidence," Jade said as she dropped one of the pieces of paper she had shredded on the floor.

"Not a coincidence," she dropped another.

"Coincidence," she dropped another.

"Not a coincidence," she dropped the last paper and sighed as she got off the bed, and began pacing around the bedroom.

Even though she was supposed to be focusing on preparing for the court case against the Legion cartel, she couldn't seem to shake off this feeling in her guts that it wasn't a coincidence that Candace looked so identical to Harry's mother.

Regardless of what Aaron had said, the more she thought about it the more she was beginning to see how Candace might share some similarities with Harry. Both their eyes were the same, they were both twenty-eight years old, and they smiled alike. It also occurred to her now that she had enjoyed talking with Candace the previous night, in the same manner, she enjoyed talking with Harry and Aaron. Both Harry and Candace talked in the same manner, as Aaron. That is assuming sarcasm was a genetic trait.

If she didn't know better she would say Candace was Harry's twin or something, but Harry was an only child and it didn't make any sense. None of the similarities she had made was enough basis to assume that they were family relations. Harry's mother who was dead, was also an orphan just like Candace, so it didn't make any sense.

She glanced at her phone which was lying on the bed when it started to ring, and she picked it up and frowned when she saw that the call was from Lucy.

Why was she calling? Did she want to scold her again? Jade wondered as she received the call, "I promise I have been on my best behavior, aunty Lucy," Jade said jokingly immediately after she received the call.

"That's good to know, but that's not why I called," Lucy said in an urgent and serious tone, that made Jade's brows pull together.

"Okay. Why did you call?" Jade asked, sensing that it was important.

"The picture you wanted me to send. I mean, the photo of Harry's mom, why did you want it? I overheard Aaron's end of your conversation with him," Lucy said, and Jade raised a brow.

"If I remember correctly you said 'the only way not to get involved in something you don't want is by not being curious about it' didn't you? Why are you showing interest in this now?" Jade asked curiously.

"Trust me, if it didn't concern me I wouldn't be asking you any questions," Lucy said, piquing Jade's interest even more, but before Jade could ask her any question she continued.

"By the way, I got the picture you wanted. Aaron let me snap it. So if you still want it I could send it to you," Lucy offered, but Jade sighed.

"Nah. That won't be necessary anymore. Aaron already said his late wife was an orphan. Call me crazy, but you won't believe that for a moment I was thinking that Candace might be related to Harry's mom," Jade said, laughing at the foolishness of her thoughts.

Lucy's heart skipped a beat, "Candace?" She asked in surprise as she tried to remember Candace's face to see if she truly looked anything like Sara.

"Yeah. I know it's crazy..."

"Can you tell me why you thought so?" Lucy asked, and she listened as Jade explained how she had seen the picture in Harry's bedroom and had thought she looked familiar but couldn't place her face until she was reminded earlier that day that Candace had the same hair and she realized that was why the lady had looked so familiar.

Candace? Was it possible? If it was true that Candace looked so much like Sara why didn't her mother say anything when she met Candace and Jamal? Lucy mused as she tried to organize her thoughts on all she knew about Candace thus far.

Jade had just confirmed Candace's age. She was exactly the same age as Harry. She looked like Sara. Unlike Jade, she knew for a fact that Harry had a missing twin sister, so even if Jade thought she was crazy for linking Candace to them, Lucy didn't think so.

"Lucy? Are you still there?" Jade asked when Lucy didn't say anything after some time.

"Yeah. I'm here," Lucy said with a frown.

"Just now you said this concerns you. How? Did you find out something?" Jade asked curiously, but Lucy couldn't bring herself to tell Jade what she knew.

Aaron had told her that his wife was an orphan and Jade believed that Harry's mom was late. She couldn't tell Jade otherwise. As far as she was concerned this was Harry's and Aaron's family business and it wasn't her place to tell Jade about it.

She could comfortably tell Tom because aside from the fact that he was her lover and Harry's best friend, and he was also aware of her reason for staying with Aaron, she also had Aaron's permission to tell Tom about it, but she couldn't tell Jade.

The fewer the people that knew about this, the better for Aaron since Harry would be even more angry when he gets to know the truth and also finds out that others know about it too. She knew that from experience. She had felt like a fool when she realized that not just Tom, but Harry, Jade, and Bryan, had been in on Tom's deceptive game.

"I'm taking care of Aaron. Your call seemed to upset him a lot so I needed to know what you both talked about," Lucy said, but Jade could tell that she was hiding something.

Her tone had sounded too urgent and serious for it to have merely been out of concern for Aaron's health, "By the way, why did you ask for the picture? And how come he let you snap it?" Jade asked curiously, wondering what Lucy must have told Aaron.

"I asked him if it was okay if I snapped a picture of it and he let me. I wanted to send it to you since it seemed like you were unable to ask him for it," Lucy explained, and even though Jade wasn't entirely convinced by her explanation, she decided not to push it.

"Where is Candace right now? How is she?" Lucy asked, and Jade sighed.

"She is at the hospital looking after Jamal's dad," Jade said, and upon Lucy's further inquiry she told Lucy what had happened to Jero.

"I hope she's fine," Lucy said, and Jade agreed.

"Tom said you wanted him to help you find out about Candace's childhood and how she ended up at the orphanage?" Lucy asked, trying to keep her tone light.

Although she had been of the opinion that it would be wrong to dig into Candace's past as they might bring up upsetting revelations that would do more harm than good to Candace, Lucy was beginning to have a change of heart.

Candace was around the same age as Harry and if it happened that Candace was Aaron's missing daughter, it would bring more joy to both Aaron and Candace than harm. The only harm would be that Candace and Aaron would be hurt by the knowledge of what Sara had actually done.

"I guess it's true that lovers don't keep secrets from each other," Jade said in amusement.

"Do you think Candace will be okay with that?" Lucy asked, and Jade rolled her eyes.

"Lucy, I know you might not exactly approve of this, but I hope you won't try to dissuade Tom from looking into it. I care about Candace, and I consider her a friend, and that is why I need to find out what happened. Something about how she ended up at the orphanage smelled fishy to me and I intend to look into it whether or not you're comfortable with it," Jade said in a blithe tone.

"Fishy? How?" Lucy asked, ignoring Jade's tone.

"You have suddenly become awfully curious about a lot of things. What had changed?" Jade asked curiously since she remembered Sonia telling her that Lucy was usually the type to mind her business, and she had observed it too.

"You can call it a side effect of being so closely attached to the Hank family where no one minds their business," Lucy joked, and Jade laughed.

"I agree. It's a Hank trait not to mind our business especially when it concerns those we love," Jade agreed before telling Lucy what Candace had told her.

So Candace had been abandoned at an orphanage home by a wealthy man claiming to be the brother of her adopted parents who had died? Was it possible the couple Sara had sold her daughter off to died, and the brother of the man dumped the child in an orphanage?

There was only one way to find out if Candace was Aaron's missing daughter. She needed to do a secret DNA test. If a DNA test confirmed that Candace was Aaron's daughter, then there would be no need for further investigations.

All she needed to do was get something with Aaron's DNA. She was sure she would find something with Candace's DNA at Tom's place. That would be the easiest and fastest way to confirm her suspicion.

"Wow! She must have been through a lot," Lucy said when Jade finished her story.

"Yeah. I feel so bad for her," Jade agreed with a sigh.

"Alright, I have to go now. Thank you for answering my questions," Lucy said, and Jade giggled.

"Do you realize that this is the longest we've ever spoken?" Jade pointed out, and Lucy laughed when she realized it was true.

"The call would have been much longer if Sonia was involved," Lucy said jokingly.

"Yeah! Speaking of Sonia, I should give her a call to find out how she is doing today. Perhaps the three of us can have a conference call tonight if you're not too busy?" Jade asked, and Lucy smiled.

"Sure. That will be great," she said, and they talked for a few more seconds before hanging up.

Lucy sighed once the call was over. Now she had to give Tom a call. Just as she started to dial his number, his call came in.