The Beach House
Katherine
This summer my dad sent my friend and me, along with my brother and two sisters, to a beach. He said since we were old enough, he didn’t have to stay with us. Besides he never had much time for any of us anyway. He’s a lawyer, and a very good one at that. His job became the most important thing in his life after our mom died three years ago. My aunt insisted on taking us to her mansion in Maine, but my dad wouldn’t have it. My brother, Andrew, is nineteen; my sisters, Molly and Morgan, are eight and five. I’m eighteen, and so is my friend, Caroline.
Everyone is outside swimming but Caroline, who went to the store for groceries. I decided to stay inside and unpack our stuff. There is something really strange about this beach house. I just have a funny feeling about it. It has been kept up nicely. There are five bedrooms, all fully furnished. Along a hallway there are several pictures of sunsets and beaches. My parents used to come here often. They stayed in the room that was the biggest, of course. I walked through it and remembered my mother. She really liked sunsets and had many pictures throughout the house. I sat down on the bed and spotted a small, gold key on the nightstand. I remember my mom telling me of a hidden room in her bedroom. She said it was marked by a keyhole surrounded by a sunset. I looked all around the room and scanned the walls from top to bottem. I found the picture and placed the key in the keyhole. Surprisingly, a click and then the door opened. What I saw was astonishing.
“Hey, you guys! Come quickly!!!”
“What? Why? We’re having fun out here.”
“Andrew!! Come here now! I found something.”
“What is it?”
“Remember the hidden room that mom told us about? Well, I found it.”
“Yea! So what.”
“Just look inside Andrew!!”
Inside there was a nursery. Along the wall was a beautiful crib. It was white with faded pink sheets. The faded sheets had dirty white lace around the edges. Inside the crib there were two boxes covered with dust. On the top of them it said `KEEP OUT’ in big bold letters. We were about to open them when the doorbell rang.
“We’ll come back in here later.”
We all went to the living room, and I went to open the door. A young man about 24 or so was there. He was leaning against a column with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black shorts. He had sunglasses and a baseball cap on. It was obvious that he worked out at the gym regularly.
“Hello!”
“Hello m’am! My name is Banks, Derick Banks!
“Hi, Derick Banks. I’m Juliet Hohmes.”
“Hohmes! As in Helen Hohmes?”
“Why yes! She was our mother!”
Andrew butted in, “Did you know her?”
“Yes, yes, young man, I did. I always had a bit of a crush on her. Every summer she would come down here for a month.”
“Our mom had her ways with guys.”
“Who might you be young man?”
“Andrew!! I’m Juliet’s brother.”
“Ahh, yes! Your mother told me all about you. As I recall, she had five children.”
“Five?!! No way! Just four.”
“Well, Andrew, that was quite a while ago. Forgive me if my memory is a little forgetful.”
As we went on talking, I found out that Derick and my mom were good friends. He saved her life one time when the water was too rough to swim in. On her visits, Mom and Derick would go into town once a week for a movie. They even woke up early to meet on the beach to see the sunrises and sunsets. I could see why my mom liked it here so much. Just then, Morgan and Molly walked in.
“Where have you two been?”
“Sorry, Juliet! We were unpacking.”
“Well, meet Derick Banks.”
“Hello.”
“Very nice to meet you both.”
“This is Molly. She’s eight.”
“Hello, Molly.”
“Hello, Mr. Banks.”
“Hey! What’s with the ‘Mr.’ stuff. It’s just ‘Derick’.”
“Okay, Derick.”
“And this little one is Morgan. She’s five.”
“Well, hello Morgan.”
“Hi, Dewick.”
A car pulled up in the driveway, and Caroline got out. I made Molly and Morgan go help her with the groceries. Once they got inside and put them down, Morgan and Molly dragged Caroline into the living room.
“Come on, Caroline. You have to meet Derick.”
“Who’s Derick? Wait, Morgan. I have to put up the groceries.”
“Caroline, this is Derick Banks.”
“Derick, this is Caroline Statley.”
“So, where are you from, Derick?”
“I live just down the beach on the hill.”
“You mean that huge stone mansion?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Umm. . Umm. Can you hold on a second? Juliet, will you please come help me in the kitchen?”
“But, I want to stay in here.”
“Please!!”
“Okay, okay, I’m coming!”
I could tell Caroline had a major crush on Derick. I went into the kitchen, and we talked all about him. I told her how he and my mom would go into town and meet on the beach. She said that they seemed to be really close friends. I said that she was just imagining things. Mother was madly in love with Father and would never cheat on him. After we unpacked the groceries and finished our conversation, Derick came in.
“Hey, we’ve all talked and we want to go into the city for a movie. Do you two want in on the fun?”
“Sure. How about you, Juliet?”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll come. But let me go change first.”
As I started to walk off, I yelled for Andrew and the kids. “MOLLY! MORGAN! ANDREW! Come change if you want to go.”
“Golly, Juliet. We don’t have any eardrums left.”
“Ha! Ha! Very funny, Andrew.”
“I don’t think I am going to go. I want to stay behind and look through that hidden room.”
“Okay. That’s fine. I’ll bring the cellular phone in case you need me.”
We went to Derick’s house to get his Ferrari. Caroline sat in front with Derick and left me to sit in the back with Morgan and Molly. I had never been into the city of Charlotte. As we started to enter Charlotte, I could see why my mother enjoyed it so much. We went to see the movie, Fools Rush In. After that we had lunch at Regina’s, a small but delicious Italian restaurant. We went shopping and bought way too much stuff! Derick said he would pay the bills if we did this every week. Of course, we agreed. Caroline and Derick were getting to be really good friends. Caroline was on a full flirt mode. I really think Derick liked that.
“Hey, Juliet. We’re going down to the ice cream shop.”
As I started to follow them my phone rang. “Hello!”
“Hi, Juliet. It’s Andrew.”
“Oh Andrew, hi! What do you need?”
“Juliet, come home right now!”
“Why?”
“I found something in that room, and it has Derick in it.”
“What? Derick? Well, him and Mom were good friends.”
“There’s a picture of them kissing each other, and, trust me, it’s not a friendly kiss.”
“Alright, we’ll be home in half an hour - okay?”
“Okay, but hurry!”
I got to the ice cream store and gathered everyone up. They were mad that we had to leave. Caroline and Derick said their goodbyes and we headed home in Caroline’s car. When we got home Andrew was waiting for us. I didn’t want Morgan to know what we had found so I sent Molly to watch her outside.
Andrew showed us the picture he had found. I couldn’t believe it! Caroline was now very mad at Derick. I found a baby book in one of the boxes. I opened it up and found a birth certificate. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Emiline Lauren Hohmes was born on August 5, 1993 to parents Helen Marie Hohmes and Ryan Derick Banks. My mother and Derick had had a baby together! I showed it to Andrew and Caroline, they couldn’t believe it either. I kept looking through the baby book. There were so many pictures of Mom and Derick together. There were even more pictures of them with the baby.
“Juliet! Derick is here.”
“Okay, Molly. I’ll be right there. You two stay here.”
“Hi Juliet, long time no see.”
“Molly, please go back outside.”
“Is something wrong, Juliet?”
“Why are you here?”
“Caroline left her bracelet in my car.”
“Caroline! Andrew! You can come in now.”
“Hello, Derick. Or should we say Ryan?”
“How did you know my first name?”
“We found something that revealed who you really are.”
“Caroline, stop scaring the man!”
“Sorry, Juliet. I’m just so mad!”
“Juliet, what is this all about?”
“Andrew, why don’t you tell him.”
“Look, Ryan. We know that you and Mom were more than just friends. You had a child together, didn’t you?”
“Yes, we did. So you found out the truth. I wish your mother had let me tell you the whole story. She said that she was going to tell you when she got back home. But, a few days later I got the word that she had died.”
“Okay, Ryan. Since she didn’t tell us and since you’re here now, why don’t you tell us the whole story.”
“Okay. Fine. I’ll tell you what you want to know. All of you sit down. As you all know, your parents came out here every summer. Only, your dad stayed in the city to do his work, and your mom came down here to stay. We fell in love and wanted to be married. However, your father would not agree to a divorce. So, instead I moved into the beach house. When Helen came down we spent every second we had together. About a year after we met, Helen became pregnant. Neither of us wanted her to have an abortion, so we carried it through. Your parents were separated at the time, so none of you ever saw her pregnant. After the baby was born, we were so happy. It was almost as if we were a real family.
Four months after Emiline’s birth, Helen received a letter from your father. He was sorry for everything that had happened and wanted her to come back. They met at the Ashton hotel in Charlotte. Helen found out a week later that she was pregnant again. She told me that she was sorry, but she knew that she had to go back to her husband. She was still in love with him and was having his fifth child. So we agreed to place Emiline up for adoption. We knew that she would have a family that was together and would get more love than she was getting with us. Helen wrote your father telling him that she was coming home in a week or two.
The adoption agency found Emiline a wonderful home in no time. I believe she is living in Los Angeles with a family by the name of Grant. Yes, Nick and Rachel Grant. So Helen started to head home and that’s the last time I heard from her. A few days later I read in the newspaper that a woman, believed to be a Helen Hohmes, was killed in a head-on collision. She was rushed to a hospital but, tragically, died an hour later. I couldn’t believe it when I read it, but when I got the phone call from your father I knew it was true. Apparently Helen had told your father everything in her letter and hoped he could forgive her. I moved out of the beach house last year, but have been fixing it up every so often. There. That is all I know. I hope you found out what you wanted to know.”
After we got home, we did everything to find out where our half-sister was. When we finally found her, we wrote her a letter and asked if we could meet her. So we flew out to Los Angeles and drove out to her house. Caroline came with us since she was there when we found out the news. We all sat in the car nervously thinking what she might be like. We finally got up the courage to ring the doorbell and waited to see our new sister, Emiline.
