Progeny Page 4

  She paused then hastily added, “Don't get me wrong or take that out of context. She is one of the most loving people in the universe, and I love her more than anything. I just hate to see her uncomfortable.” She was talking really fast. It was so odd, all of her confidence seemed to be gone. Was I making her nervous?

  I chuckled to put her at ease. “I just thought it was interesting. You don't need to justify it to me or anyone. I see an almost grid pattern there.”

  Her confident look was back. “Good eye there Samantha. It is almost second nature to me now. Maybe I'm a little OCD by proxy now.” I tilted my head at her. I could tell she was pretending last night never happened. If she wasn't going to bring it up then neither was I. She grinned, “Let's eat before we start. I haven't eaten all day.”

  I caught myself smiling at her and quickly pushed the thought away and said, “Sounds good to me Abbey.” We discussed our classes as we ate. I found her really guarded and hesitant, but the moments her humor and her smile poked through the shell, it was all I could do to stop grinning at her. I loved those peeks at the real Abbey.

  I stole a shrimp from the box of sweet and sour shrimp that she was hogging. We had a chopstick war and then after I lost she cutely nudged another shrimp over to the side of the box for me. She wouldn't make eye contact, but her silly shy grin made me smile at the offer. Why is she so shy around me? She's the awesome one.

  She got me talking about England. She said she had always wanted to visit London. She looked a little sad at that revelation. I tilted my head in question. She waved me off with a smile. “Sorry, that just got me thinking about my godmother, Victoria Davenport. I can't remember her, she moved to London when I was a baby and I have never really met her.”

  I grinned as Oceans of Blue started playing over my speakers. I looked at Abbey. “June's mom is awesome. I love her later stuff as Mandy Fay Harris. Too bad it is all live and she never recorded any of it but Oceans of Blue here.”

  Abbey nodded and listened intently. “I think it is the emotion in the music. She was brought to the breaking point and I think the new music was an anchor, a lifeline she used to pull herself back from the brink.”

  I tilted my head at her. “That's a beautiful sentiment.”

  She shrugged and then pushed an empty container from her then said, “That was good! So shall we start on your project?” I grinned and nodded at her. She really didn't know how to take a compliment.

  The brunette looked around and started cleaning up our mess. Throwing the empties into my trash can and the others into my little mini fridge. I watched in rapt fascination as she reorganized my fridge, neatly rearranging things by size in descending order. She slowed down then stopped, staring into the fridge and took a deep breath before she turned a dazzling smile on me. “I'm doing it again, aren't I?”

  I bit my lower lip and scrunched up my nose and nodded, I hoped cutely. She just closed the fridge and hopped up to sit on the end of my bed. She regarded me for a minute then said, “So show me what you got so far. Remember we have plenty of time, it isn't due until the end of the semester.”

  I grabbed my work and sat beside her and showed her the copious amounts of nothing I had amassed. I didn't share the records search I did, I was still embarrassed that I had stooped to that level. She grinned as she looked through the now familiar dearth of articles. She ran her fingers across the screen, almost lovingly, when the grainy photos of Mia popped up. I looked at her soft smile. Then she turned her amazing cat's eyes to me. “So where do you want to start?”

  I realized she had asked the question after a few seconds. I was mesmerized by the orange flecks that seemed to swirl in her amber pools. “Oh... umm... probably with her life since that is a major part of what will have influenced her art. But I've checked everywhere, it is almost like she is a bloody ghost that creates these brilliant masterpieces. I'm thinking maybe we can contact her college, maybe there might still be an instructor there that had her all those years ago that could help out.”

  She had a tight lipped, almost satisfied smile on her face as she responded. “Yeah, she's pretty reclusive. The spotlight makes her nervous and she figures that people can learn everything there is to know about her if they can see her art. The only one still there is her old psychology teacher, he wouldn't be able to help much. They didn't know each other well. She refers to him as 'kind'.”

  My pen was tapping nervously on my notepad. She seemed to know this as a fact. “Hmmm... OK. I have looked at almost everything she has ever created. I simply LOVE her work, it's brill! But I don't see the insight you are speaking of. I mean, most of it is tranquil, for a while some looked more emotional then sad.”

  She nodded almost sadly now. “Yeah. That down period is after she lost her wife, Valla. But that is the point. Every single one of her pieces shares one of her memories. There are points in her life that she has burned into her memory and she can see every single detail in her mind's eye. It's the same as you and that sketchpad you walk around with.” She grinned. I blushed a little that she noticed that, or even anything about me.

  I tilted my head. I had a lot of questions about how she knew this stuff but I knew I needed to concentrate on the project. I looked down at my iPad she was holding and at the grainy picture of Mia on it. Like the other two public pictures, it was a photo from behind. She had a shapely figure in her evening dress and her dark hair almost reached down to her waist.

  The one thing I noticed was that as a bizarre counterpoint to her feminine look, she wore some sort of army boots. I remembered that one night I had met her when Aunt Bobbie was missing. I was young, but that was the one thing I actually remember about her. I noticed those same boots.

  I glanced at Abbey then opened my mouth to ask a question. She wouldn’t know anything about that. So I thought of another question instead. But she spoke first, “What?” her smile cajoled the question out of me.

  I couldn't stop my own shy smile in return as I said, “Oh, it's nothing. You wouldn't know what I was talking about.” She cocked an eyebrow in challenge. I rose to it. “Fine. I was just looking at the combat boots in the photos of her. They have been mentioned in other articles too, there is speculation ranging from her being in the military at one point, to a simple eccentricity. Do you know anything about them?”

  The sadness in her eyes made me wish I hadn't asked. She took a deep breath then gave me a crooked smile. “They were her wife's. The love of her life. Valla, who wore them everywhere, and after fucking cystic fibrosis took her from this world... Mom wears them to remember Mother, so she can feel her strength and her love always, to help her through the tough times.”

  Oh my god. That was so sad and almost... inspiring? Come on Sammie, get it together, you're not going to cry over some boots! Then my eyes suddenly snapped to Abbey, “Wait, Mom? Mother?”

  Abbey looked at me oddly. Then in surprise and said, “Oh. I'm sorry Samantha, didn't you know who I am? My full name is Abbey Victoria Jacobs.”

  I gasped remembering the birth certificate from the records search that I didn't look at and blurted out, “Bloody hell! You're Abbey friggin Jacobs?! You're Mia Jacobs' daughter?” I felt like a bloody git! Now it was crystal clear why she didn't want to have Mia as her assignment AND why she was assigned to me as a resource on Mia.

  She giggled. Not laughed, but giggled and it melted my heart. Gawd it was endearing. Then she said. “Ummm... yup.” Then she spread her arms with her fingers spread wide. “Taa daa?”

  I giggled back. “Well, that explains a lot. I thought... never mind.”

  We laid down on our bellies on the bed facing each other, with our feet up behind us and the project notes and iPad between us and started one of the must surreal study sessions of my life. Her eyes kept distracting me, almost as much as her shiny lips.

  She kept catching me staring at her, which just made me blush and redouble my efforts on the project. At one point we both reached for my notepad at the same time and her hand la
nded on top of mine. I stopped breathing, it was electric. For a long lingering moment she left her hand there before timidly pulling it back. Was she blushing too? Lord, why did my study mate have to be so dishy?

  At one point that night, some of my Satin Thunder songs played over the speakers. She squinted one eye cutely in confusion and looked at the speaker. Then I absently started singing along, this was my favorite, Snowflakes. This caused her to slowly turn from the speaker to me. She opened her mouth to speak but snapped it shut.

  I stopped singing when I realized what I was doing. Then she crinkled her nose. “Ummm... where did you get these extended tracks? And some of the words are different... I have never heard them before and I'm probably the biggest Satin Thunder fan on the planet. And why do you sound EXACTLY like Skylar Roth?”

  Before I could say anything she was saying, “Samantha 'Roth'. O-M-G, Kimi and Skylar Roth are your parents?!”

  I could feel the heat of a deep blush on my face and neck, and I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. Why was I so embarrassed? I shyly looked at her and mimicked her previous move in a tiny scale and stretched out just my hands, “Taa daa?”

  She grinned, “Two things. One, Jesus that was cute. And two, your parents are Satin freaking Thunder?!”

  I nodded. “Yup. I don't like people to know it. I'm trying to make a name for myself.” Then I looked over at the speaker. “Yeah, you wouldn't have heard any of the tracks I have. I get one for each birthday from my mums, but this song is my favorite. After she married Mum and adopted me, Kimi wrote Snowflakes for me and Mum. When I was tiny, she had showed me how beautiful and unique each snowflake is with a magnifying glass...”

  I dug my keys out of my pocket and held up the little magnifying glass on them that matched hers. “And how Mum's burn scars held that exact same beauty. I was too young to understand back then, but now it almost brings me to tears, that lesson she taught me. That there is beauty hidden where most don't even think to look, you simply need to open your eyes and let it in. Then as Satin Thunder's first song, they gifted me Snowflakes. I can hear the wonder, love, and emotion in the song she has for Mum.”

  I looked at Abbey and the warm, almost compassionate smile on her face as she watched me was heating me up. “Wow. That's awesome Sammie.” I bit my lower lip, that was the first time she had used one of my nicknames and it melted me a little. Why did she have to be so... alluring?

  We were so off topic now, just sharing our common thread of growing up in the shadow of our famous parents. At one point I had asked what her other mother did before that evil disease took her. Her cryptic response of, “Oh, she just dabbled a little in poetry.” and the sad look on her face told me that I should never bring it up again.

  She shared with me how much she looked like her mother Valla, and how it was both a blessing and a curse. She loved that when she looked at herself in the mirror, she shared something with the mother she could not remember. On the flip side, everyone who had had the good fortune to have known Valla, got spooked when looking at her... the resemblance was uncanny.

  Our talk evolved into probably the most intimate discussion of my life. We started just talking about everything, the topics were fluid and the ease in which I found myself sharing with her was unparalleled in my life. I felt safe with her and knew I could share anything with her without worry.

  I looked back at her, I hadn't even realized when I had picked up my sketchpad, but I captured the evening with a smile then closed the sketchpad and looked at the time. “Bloody hell, it's one in the morning. I'm so sorry we got so far off track.”

  She tilted her head with an almost thoughtful smile. “I'd derail with you anytime Sammie. This was... different. I really enjoyed it.”

  Those eyes! They captured me and wouldn't let me go. But then again, why would someone ever want them to? I know I was blushing as I nodded. She was absently straightening up the papers on my bed in neat stacks that were all aligned perfectly with each other and the edge of the bed. I smiled warmly at her, she didn't even realize what she was doing.

  She grabbed her purse and stood up and said, “Same thing tomorrow night? We sort of were a tiny bit off topic and there is a lot to share about my mom.” I nodded with a grin. Anything to spend more time with this lovely creature.

  Then she almost blurted out, “June invited me to brunch tomorrow morning. Are you going to be there?”

  I giggled at her sudden shyness and replied, “You mean her traditional Sunday brunch?” She nodded and I grinned. “The tradition that will begin tomorrow? I mean how is it a tradition if we haven't done it yet? The silly bird.” She nodded again, this time with a silly grin and I nodded and said, “Yes. I'll be there.”

  She exhaled a breath I didn't know she was holding. I was aware of the fact that I had followed her to the door and with her height, she loomed sexily over me. She shot me a knee buckling smile and said, “Good! I'll see you in like six hours then.” I rolled my eyes at yet another night with virtually no sleep.

  I blushed. “OK. See you then. And Abs, tonight was so much fun for me. You have no idea.” She nodded her agreement and we both leaned in and shared the most awkward hug of my life. I usually hand them out like candy to everyone I know, but with her, I just wanted to latch on and never let go. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable though, and wasn't sure how long my hugs usually lasted. So I gave her one last squeeze and released her. Lord that blush on her face was adorable on such a confident woman.

  She mumbled, “Bye.” I watched as she darted out the door. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of her.

  I moved my papers off the bed and got ready for the night. Once I slipped under the blankets I was asleep in minutes with Abbey friggin Jacobs on my mind and a smile on my face.

  Chapter 6 – Samantha Friggin Roth

  I woke up like I always do, I was instantly wide awake and ready to start the day. I think I get it from my mom, she would always laugh at me and say, “You can't inherit anything from me Abbey. I was just the oven, the bun was all Valla's... and she was the laziest waker-upper in the galaxy. So it is all you baby girl.”

  I haven't been able to get this silly smile off my face since last night. I mean, Samantha finally looked at me and smiled. This past week I've been trying to figure out why she looked at me with such indifference. I still don't understand why it has been so important to me that she liked me. She is so far out of my league it isn't funny, especially now that I know who her parents are.

  I smiled at that thought. Besides June and me, I didn't know anyone else with two moms. But Sammie's parents were Satin Thunder! Probably the greatest band since the Beatles. It almost pained me that people were calling their music 'classic rock' now. Come on, it's only been like ten years since they retired! Their stuff is still being played on top forty stations.

  The most shocking thing about the revelation is how... real... so down to earth Samantha is. She hasn't let her parents fame go to her head. I know it has crossed her mind a time or two to use their influence to contact mom to get the information she needs for her paper. Especially because my mom says she knows them and respects them, so I'm sure she'd allow it.

  Sammie wants to do this on her own and I admire that. I'm attempting the same thing here at the Academy. I may never be the poet my other mom was, but I'm hoping that one day, my spoken words can inspire a new generation as hers did.

  Can you believe it? That blonde angel is Samantha friggin Roth!? I couldn't stop my smile from getting even larger on my face as I got ready for the day. As I showered I thought about how easy it was to speak with her last night. I found myself sharing secrets I haven't even shared with my mom.

  I got dressed and checked my understated makeup. I didn't usually wear makeup, but I wanted to look good for Sammie. I don't know why.

  I looked at my wavy locks and smiled sadly and went about straightening my hair with a flat iron. When I was done I looked in the mirror and smiled, I saw me now, not the ghost of a
mother I do not remember but wish I did.

  I smiled again as I made my way out the dorm room door, glancing over at my sleeping dark haired roommate, Genevieve. I swear that girl could sleep through an earthquake. I almost laughed when I saw her drooling on her pillow. I swear I have only seen her like thirty minutes since I moved in. She is always out partying, I wonder when she studies.

  I left quietly and made my way down to the bus stop, excited to see Sammie again at brunch... I mean, to go to brunch with the gang.

  I really needed to get a car if I was going to be here for four years. I really can't handle riding the bus like this. I'm pro public transit, but I like the freedom of going anywhere at any time more, and taxis can bankrupt you quickly here in New York. I haven't tried out the subways yet. I'm sure they will be old hat to me soon.

  I turned with a smile on my face to a superbly low, feminine voice with a heavenly British accent behind me saying, “Fancy meeting you here.”

  I looked down at Sammie and those sparkling ice blue eyes locked onto mine again. I may have stopped breathing. I seem to do that a lot around her, I don't know why, I'm usually the one taking control of situations. But she's just so... I remembered to breathe again.

  I cocked an eyebrow at her and asked, “No vehicle either?”

  She was just shaking her head but not breaking eye contact as she replied, “No... but I aim to correct that soon.”

  I nodded and my smile grew. “Me too!” I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of the air brakes from the bus that I hadn't realized had pulled up to the stop. I caught my breath and tore my eyes from hers. I stopped at the door and waited for her to board. Gawd that pink lock of hair was way too friggin cute. Mmmm... I smelled berries as she passed, she used some sort of berry shampoo, I smelled it last night too.

  I joined her in one of the bench seats. Then looked over at her with a smile. “Ummm... long time no see.”

  She gave a toothy smile back. “Quite.” We shared a chuckle. I was extremely nervous and acutely aware of her proximity. Damn it, where had all my confidence gone?