The Celtic Dragon Saga - 2. Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Truths Revealed

“What is going on here?” Brian demanded when he saw his mother and father enter the pub behind Donald.

His dad replied, “Son, the time has come for you to know the truth. Now remember, we never wanted to keep the truth from you, and we were planning on having the O'Maoileagain family over to supper tomorrow where we would have sat down afterward to tell you and Brigit all of this.”

Then as if just seeing him, Randy looked over at Keiran sitting quietly on the other side of Brian and said, “Son I don't mean to be rude, but I don't know who you are, nor at this point do I really care, but this is a family discussion so I think you need to leave now.”

Keiran just nodded at him and had just started to get up to leave when Brian said, “No just stay there.” he then turned to his father and said, “This is my friend Keiran, from class, and I have already given him my word that I would be his ride back to town since I brought him out here so he can stay and I will fulfill my commitment.”

Randy, who was starting to get visibly upset now, said “This is a private family matter and we do not need others involved or listening in.”

“Well I am not going to let him walk by himself 15 miles back to campus at nine o'clock at night when it is below freezing out there with a snow storm coming in tonight. That would not only be rude but callous, cruel, and inimical. Would you do that to one of your friends when they do not have a snow parka or proper snow boots on?” before his father could answer Brian said, “No, you would not, so do not even attempt to say you would. You would not and any other time if you heard something about me doing it you would tear my hide apart.”

Brian could tell by the look on his fathers face that, though he didn't like it, he knew Brian was right, even though he would not admit to being wrong. Randy said, “Fine.” Then while glaring at Keiran he said, “I would appreciate what is said here to go no further than this room.”

With everyone in agreement Pansy left the room briefly, most likely to let the other staff know not to disturb them unless it was an emergency. When she returned she hung a sign on the outside of the door leading to the pub side then came back over to our group.

Donald seemed to be silently elected the leader by the older group of adults so he started by saying, “First of all I apologize for being so blunt with you earlier, Brian. Secondly the 'old fart' over here beside me is my uncle, Angus, he already knows everything that will be said here so none of this will be new to him.” Then, as if gathering his strength and thoughts he looked at me and said, “Yes, Brian you are adopted, Randy here is your uncle not your father and the lovely lady next to him is your aunt.” I started to object that this couldn't be possible, but Donald raised his hand and said, “Just hear me out before you say anything and I will try my best to explain everything. Your mother was Randys sister, she died giving birth to twins, her name was Sara Brigit Milligan.”

Upon hearing this Brigit sat up and said, “How is that possible? You told me that Sara Brigit was my mother?”

Donald answered her saying, “The twins she died giving birth to were you and Brian here, we almost lost you, Brigit, to the void when you were born at the very moment your mother took her last breath.”

Everyone was quiet for a few moments until Brian said, “You said my mother died during childbirth, but what happened to my father... I mean our father?” Brian stuttered forgetting for a moment that his father was also Brigits father. “I mean...my dad....or my uncle....whatever the fuck you want to call him.... I was told that my uncle died on his way to see me born. Or is that all just another lie to add to the list?”

Randys face turned an ugly, blotchy, crimson red before he said“Boy, I may not be your sperm donor and my wife may not have given birth to you but we raised you as our own and you WILL be respectful to us.” then, with a growl in his voice Brian had never heard before, he said, “You had better wise up REAL quick before I knock you off that stool and across this bar into the next room! I did not raise you to be disrespectful or to swear at people! And on top of that we NEVER lied to you about any of this.” was Randys response to Brians question.

This is where Angus stepped between Randy and I, and said loudly, “Number one: if I am an 'old fart' what does that make you? You are only 15 years younger than me.” Everyone had a chuckle at this point and Donald gave his brother the finger with a grin and a wink. Brian was kind of glad for his attempt to bring some levity to the situation. “And number two: Randy the lad has a right to be upset about this, I remember us telling little Brigit here about being adopted when she was 15.” and turning towards me he said, “Don't think for a minute that lets you off the hook lad, even though you are, understandably, upset it does not give you a license to be disrespectful. Now I've said my piece so I am going back over here to my drink while you people sort this out.”

After several uncomfortable moments had passed in unbroken silence with everyone staring off in different directions Donald looked at Pansy and said, “Won't you be a Dear and go get my private stock? And Brigit would you be a good lass and get yourself and the other young ones something to drink as well, then go back over there to that booth in the corner? I think we all need to separate and we all need to get hold of our tongues before something gets said that we all will regret for a long time.”

Brian was still fuming about being lied to his whole life and wanted to demand more answers but both Keiran and Brigit gave him looks that told him unequivocally “just go with the flow for now” so they got up and moved over to the booth Keiran and Brian had originally occupied.

When Brigit had returned to the table with three coffees she said, “ I think we can all use something 'super-leaded' at this point so this is some special blend that I keep around for the late nights and early mornings.”

Keiran and Brian both took sips from their cups and nearly choked on it. Whereas Brigit just sat there grinning and sipping her cup. Once they had wiped the tears out of their eyes from choking so hard Brian asked Brigit, “What the hell is in this shit? I think I need some of this for finals week. And I am sure Keiran could use some of this every day for his jobs and classes.”

Keirans only response was, “No shit. This stuff is strong enough to power a nuclear reactor.”

While laughing she said, “It is my own mixture of black and green teas with Irish, Colombian, and Italian espressos. And yeah, it does have a 'bit' of a kick to it but the crash is not as bad as you would think.”

As they were joking about the coffee Brian could tell that all of them were not really as into the jokes as they were pretending, instead what they were doing was halfheartedly trying to avoid discussing the pink-and-purple-polka-dotted-elephant standing in the room between their group and the adoptive parents group.

Finally when they realized that it had to be brought up Brian said, “Well it looks like we can't ignore the issue any longer so, what should we do? I don't feel like I can even trust my par..er.. Randy and Sharon any more. I feel like they have lied to me my whole life, but now that I stop to think about it, I kinda feel like I have always known. Obviously I didn't, but all of the odd glances, weird paper trails, and the fact that the strange... I guess, hole, is the term I am looking for... seems to be..gone.. ever since you walked over to our table and started babbling about not being a waitress. Huh, I hadn't even realized there was a hole there until I started thinking about it just now... now that's just..odd.”

All of a sudden Brigit looked like she had been zapped with a cattle-prod before saying, “You know I think you are right. Now that I look back at my life, even before I found out I was adopted, I have always felt like I was...incomplete...like something within me was missing and now.. that feeling is gone! Wow, this is amazing. I HAVE A TWIN! Hehee.”

The older adults were now looking at them strangely when they heard Donald say, “Oh no, she brought out her special blend again.” Angus and Pansy just rolled their eyes while Randy and Sharon looked at him oddly to which, from what Brian could hear, Pansy said something about, “...extremely high..heavy..coffee.” They then went back to speaking in undertones so that the younger group couldn't make out more than a few scattered words between the five of them.

Returning his attention to Brigit and Keiran, Brian asked, “What are we supposed to say to them? I mean this is totally out of left field for me. Brigit, what else do you know about our family and this whole adoption thing? I am asking because apparently you have known for what, about five years now?”

She nodded and said, “Yeah it was about five years ago, we had already decided to move over here and were still discussing the wheres, hows, whens, who’s, and what-fores of it all, so Donald had me going through the old file cabinets boxing up all the old paperwork that had to be sorted so they could decide what could be burned and what was needed still. In the back of one of the cabinets full of old receipts I found a file with the name Brigit Sara Milligan written on the tab so, being the nosy girl that I am, upon seeing 'Brigit Sara' my curiosity was aroused, since I was Brigit Sara O'Maoileagain or so I thought, I opened the file and found a Certificate of Live Birth with my birth-date on it along with an American Social Security card among other things all with the name Brigit Sara Milligan and my birth-date written on all of it. But what really shocked me was the Certificate of Adoption giving this girl, which at this point I had pretty much figured out that it was me, to Donald and Pansy O'Maoileagain.”

She stopped her narrative at this point to take a drink of the cooling coffee and gather her thoughts before continuing, “So I sat there for what must have been hours staring at these documents until I heard Pansy call out to me from the top of the stairs to come up and have supper. At first I wanted to just put the file back in the cabinet and forget about them, but as I went to put them back a second thought hit me 'if I am adopted then maybe Donald and Pansy know who my real parents are and I can find them on the internet and maybe even arrange to meet them' so I took the file with me up the stairs, into the dinning room, laid them in front of Donald and sat down next to him to see what he would say. At first he just sat there staring at the file and going pale in the face, until Pansy walked in and saw the file, at which time he was startled back to reality by the sound of yell then the crashing of the large soup bowl that Pansy had been bringing to the table from the kitchen, shattering against the tile floor splashing stew across most of the room and all of its occupants.

“I quickly stood up from my seat at the table and went to the kitchen to ask one of the servants to help with the mess while I went to retrieve a mop and bucket from the utility closet. What I found when I returned shocked me to my core. I saw the woman who had always been my mother sitting in the middle of the dining room, cooling stew splattered on and around her on the floor, in tears screaming at the man who I had always known as my father. I stepped back into the kitchen, out of sight of those in the dinning room, and listened. Even though I knew it was rude to eavesdrop on their conversation, I figured that since they were talking about the file it meant that, maybe, they would say something about my birth parents, which made it my business, that way I didn't feel that it was a big deal if I listened in.

'.....kept those blasted papers down there. I told you that it was asking for problems.'

“Apparently my mother had been yelling since I left the room to retrieve the mop. At this point my father had heard enough and yelled back at her, “THAT IS ENOUGH! We both knew this day would come eventually, in fact I had expected it to come up sooner than this back when she had to start going for her monthly checkups and I, for one, am tired of walking this fine line of information. She already knows we have family over there she just doesn't know how closely she is connected to them. What did you think she would say if she met them and found out about the adoption from them?”

“After saying this Donald went over to her and held her to his chest and said something in a voice so low that I couldn't hear more than a word or two. At the time I thought he said something like '..in lover' but dismissed it as nothing important. Since it appeared that things had calmed down I reentered the room properly and 'accidentally' kicked the mop bucket I was pushing in front of me so that it would make a hollow thud sound and slosh around so they would hear me come in.”

Stopping once more to drink the rest of the, now tepid, coffee in her cup she said, “That evening, after cleaning up the mess in the dinning room and eating frozen pizza for dinner, we sat down in the library that Donald used for business meetings with the folder between us. I think all three of us were nervous about the conversation we were about to have, my mother was nervous because she didn't want to discuss the issue at all for reason, my father was nervous because he didn't feel like he had prepared himself for this enough, whereas I was nervous because I was going to be told the truth about who I was and I wasn't really sure I wanted to know.

“After sitting, all staring at the folder without saying anything, I finally realized that they were waiting for me to start this, so that they could figure out what answers they could give me. So once I had realized where the situation stood I decided to open with the easiest question I could think of, “Is this file really about me?”

“Donald grimaced as if in pain, then said, “Yes Brigit, this file is the records of your birth and adoption. You were born at midnight on February 29, Leap Day. Your mother, Sara Brigit Milligan, died giving birth to you. Your father was Travis Johnathan Bozeman, he also died the day you were born, he was hit by a drunk driver on his way to the hospital to see you be born. Your parents were never married because they were both only 17 years old and the laws would not allow it. They had planned on getting married in the spring after your father turned 18.”

“My first thought was 'My parents are both dead' I sat there in shock for a few moments before asking the thing that had been troubling me since I first read the documents in the file, “How did I get adopted so quickly by you two? The papers say that it happened within a week and the only time I have heard of that happening is with in-family adoptions and as far as I can tell the Milligans and O'Maoileagains are not related, at least not by name that I can tell.”

“We are in fact directly related to the Milligan family, that is why I brought us in here, so I can show you that we are related.” he turned to his computer and pulled up the family crest for the Milligan family and showed it to me, he then pointed behind his desk to the ancient looking tapestry that hung there, he then pointed to the top of it where there was an embroidered crest with the O'Maoileagain name beneath it. I looked back and forth between the tapestry and the computer screen several times before realizing that the only difference between them was the name written underneath.”

When Brigit stopped speaking again Keiran said, “Why don't we take a bit of a breather and stretch our legs for a few minutes while we get our heads together?” when they all nodded thier heads he continued, “ I don't know about you two but I could use another cup of that wonderful coffee and a bathroom break myself.”

Brigit said, “Sure I think I will just go ahead and bring the pot with me and I will show you guys the bathroom on the way.”

She got up and motioned for the guys to follow her towards the kitchen then pointed down the hallway off to the side and said, “Second door on the right.” as she continued into the kitchen, her copper-red hair waving behind her.

When they got into the bathroom Keiran asked, “How are you handling this so far? I know it has to be a lot for you to process all at once.”

Brian was slow to respond but finally said, “Yeah, it is a lot to handle but at the same time it's all starting to make sense to me. There are still a ton of questions that my...parents, for lack of a better term, will have to answer both to and for, but.... I... I don't know... I still feel as if there is more going on here than the obvious because of how shifty my dad..er..Randy and Donald are being. It feels as if they are hiding something important from us but I can't figure out what it could be.”

“ I guess you will just have to wait on them to explain things from there point of view. Then once you have their side of the story you can decide if things are still left just unexplained for one reason or another or if they are deliberately misleading you about things. Either way you still don't have all the pieces needed to see the whole picture so for the moment just go with the flow. Alright?”

“Yeah, you're right I may be jumping at ghosts, something tells me I'm not but I will at least give them a chance to explain themselves, I owe them that much at least, even if it goes against my instincts. I'll be fine.”

***

While the boys were in the restroom and Brigit was in the kitchen the adoptive parents were discussing what to tell the twins about the truth and history of their family. During this time Angus just sat there listening to the others try to decide what they felt was important for them to know and what they could leave out and ignore hide from them.

When Donald suggested that the “kids” didn't need to know about Randy's father being a bastard child of their grandfather and one of the Lucht Siúil, Angus felt he had been silent long enough. After clearing his throat and taking another drink he said, “Randy, you and I both know that your grandmother gave that talisman of hers to your sister, that is why your father disowned her when he found it. Yes I know about the talisman I was old enough to remember when she came 'round, and how my mother helped her give birth to your father before putting them on the first ship out of port to this country. Now I happen to know that even though, Donald here, tried to get Brigit to throw away her half of it, after he found it on her nightstand and broke the chain, she still has it. I still haven't figured out how she got it to begin with or why she only has half of it but, fact still remains she has her half and from what I have heard, your Brian has the other half of it as well.

Now what is going to happen when they figure out that they are really two parts of the same? Now neither one of those two are dim, so it won't take long for them to search out where it come from. Even I have searched and learned about it, when Brigit got the half of it she carries. It was said to be a token of the Goddess Brighid herself given to her warrior son for protection against dark magicks. The only reason Brigit doesn't know about it is because she doesn't know that it is only half, having never seen the whole thing like I have.

“Randy, you said your boy was studying the old histories and myths, did you not? What makes you think that talisman won't show up in his studies one day?”

Randy spoke up at this point saying, “ I refuse to allow this pagan bullshit to be a part of mine or my families lives. That shit should have died with my grandmother but instead she passed it on to my sister and ended up getting her and that stupid boy of hers killed. As far as I am concerned it did die with my sister and I will not allow it to infect my son the way it did my sister.” then slamming his fist on the bar he said, “I REFUSE to allow it.”

Donald then added to Randys statement by saying, “Upon that we both agree, that will NOT be allowed in our homes. This line of discussion is over, and if they want answers out of us then they can live elsewhere before we discuss the topic again.” Saying that Donald and Randy walked over to where the three younger ones were laughing their heads off about something leaving the mothers and Angus at the bar.

The three older people left at the bar started talking about what had just been said and, Pansy and Sharon, seeing the looks on their husbands faces decided that, if things turned out the way they were expecting them to, they should gather up some money to make sure their kids could survive until things cooled down enough for everyone to get back together with out all the hysterics and anger involved.

All Sharon had with her was the $500 that was supposed to go towards Randys new truck so Pansy offered to give the twins the money from the front register in addition to the $500, that way they felt the two would be secure financially until this whole thing blew over.

Angus hearing the discussion the women were having grabbed a pad of paper and wrote a brief note saying 'If things don't settle down between you two and your fathers call me and I will give you the information you need. Angus (949) 682-9423' he then wrote his name on the outside and handed the note to Pansy to give to Brigit.

***

Once the guys had finished their business in the bathroom they walked back out, passing the 'parents' still talking in low tones and Donald and Randy looking almost fit to be tied. As they approached and sat down in the booth where Brigit was waiting they noticed the smirk on her face just before she said, “Took you two long enough. A little hanky-pankey in the pub bathroom? Hmm?” Keiran and Brian both lit up bright red before trying to say at the same time, “No..No nothing like that...we were just...talking....and...”

Brigit started busting up laughing tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to speak, “You...two....should....see...your....faces...” before dissolving into giggles again.

Keiran and Brian glanced at each other briefly before starting to chuckle under their breath, then started to laugh a little louder until when they looked at each other again they were almost falling out of the booth laughing so hard that their sides hurt and it was difficult to breathe. It took the trio nearly five minutes to stop laughing and catch their breath because every time they looked at one another the laughing fit stared again. At one point both Donald and Randy came over to find out what was so funny that it would have three twenty- something year-olds falling on the floor laughing. When they tried demanding to know what was so funny all they got back for answers was several laugh garbled disjointed words that made absolutely no sense at all.

Once she had dried her eyes and taken a sip of coffee Brigit said, “You two really should have seen your faces when I said that. Oh how I wish I had a camera, both of you lit up like a chrismas tree on a bonfire in June. Hehe. Wow, I hadn't realized how badly I needed that laugh. The last time I laughed that hard was when Suzie Swindle got her hair caught in the roller blinds at school, she had just had it cut dyed and permed the day before. She ended up with more curls than she ever wanted.”

The amount of maliciousness and vindictive scorn her voice was rather shocking to Brian and Keiran because thus far she had been, for the most part, fairly calm and easygoing, other than the comment about the bathroom. When she noticed our looks she said, “ I will explain later, after all this shit is dealt with.”

It was then that they noticed Donald and Randy still standing there looking upset. With his hands on his hips Donald said, “Alright, since you three can sit there cackling like a bunch of crazed geese, you can join the rest of us and get this sorted out once and for all.”

Brigit looked up at him and said, “ I still haven't finished explaining things to him, at least what, obviously, little I know since you never considered it important to mention that I had a twin brother. It makes me wonder what else you conveniently 'forgot' to inform me of.”

That just made Donald even angrier than he was earlier. He started speaking in a dangerously low growl saying, “I have my reasons for telling you what I told you, and I refuse to discuss my reasons with a spoiled little brat just because she thinks she knows better than I do what information is important and what is not.”

At this point the other older adults had also gathered around the booth we were sitting in. All of them except Randy stood behind Donald while he was speaking. Apparently Randy decided that he needed to put his two-cents in on the issue as well by turning to Brian and saying, “Don't even think about trying to demand answers from me, Boy. If you do decide that you are man enough to demand answers from me I can guarantee you that you will not walk away in one piece.”

After looking at Brigit and Keiran, Brian stated, “Well then since that is the attitude that both of you are going to take then it would seem that sitting here any longer will be a waste of everyones time, and anything that is said would count as nothing more than wasted breath.”

At this point Keiran spoke up, for the first time with the older adults around, looked at the other two he was sitting with and said, “Brigit, Brian, if you would like you can stay at my place for the night until cooler heads can prevail. I have a spare bedroom and a pull-out bed in the couch”

Donald and Randy looked at each other and nodded. Then Randy turned to the twins and said, “If you leave here now then you are no longer welcome in or around either of our homes, businesses or workplaces. You will leave all property keys on the table and you will not return again.” After he finished speaking both Donald and Randy turned around and left the room going upstairs to the residence part of the building.

Angus just stood there shaking his head muttering about hard headed Irishmen, while Sharon and Pansy looked at each other then looked at the stairs with looks of shock at their husbands actions. Finally Sharon was able to pull herself back together enough to tell the younger adults to go ahead and leave the keys on the table and she would try to talk to Randy once he calmed down and was sober enough to see reason, Pansy told Brigit that she will do the same thing with Donald.

As the twins were doing as they were told, taking the requisite keys off their rings and setting them on the table Pansy told them, “Brigit I will try to gather some of your things like your school stuff and some of your clothes while he is busy or gone tomorrow. Brian your mother will do the same thing for you and I will take Brigits things to your house so the two of you will be able to get your stuff at the same time while Randy is at work.”

Sharon just nodded before Angus suddenly spoke up and said, “If needs be I will knock some sense into both of them.” Brian and Brigit just nodded back at him still in shock from what had been said. As they walked toward the door Pansy rushed out of the room and Sharon went back to the bar leaving Angus still leaning against the side of the booth shaking his head and muttering to himself.

It wasn't until the twins and Keiran got to the parking-lot that the shock started to wear off of Brigit because she started sobbing into her hands and asked the only question that was in her mind at the moment, “What are we going to do?” then the questions started pouring out at an accelerated rate, “Where are we going to live? How can I keep going to school? WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?” she finally yelled before collapsing into Brians arms in tears.

Both Sharon and Pansy came running out the door at this point and rushed up to the twins, their children whether by birth or not 12 years old or 50 they were still their children. They wrapped themselves around the twins until the tears started to subside before Pansy told Brigit, “This is the total from the front register for the night. I don't know how much it is but this was a busy night so use it wisely and make it last, your education is paid for under my name not his so he cannot cut you off that way. Take care of yourself and your brother.” She then handed Brigit a large stack of money wrapped in a rubber band with a note that said 'Angus' on the outside.

Sharon was also speaking to Brian at the same time telling him to bring Brigit by the next day while Randy was at work to pick up his stuff. She also handed him a stack of money but when Brian started to protest she told him that the money was supposed to go toward Randys new truck but after what happened she felt that he needed the money more than Randy needed the truck.

Sharon, hearing Randy yell from inside the pub, quickly gave Brian a peck on the cheek told him to take care of his sister before turning back towards the pub with Pansy hurrying behind her.

After the 'mothers' had gone back inside Keiran turned towards Brian and said, “Why don't you give me the car keys and let me drive us back to my apartment? Then we can move all of your papers and books out of the backseat and put them in the trunk for now, that way the two of you can sit back there and talk, hold each other,.....make out or whatever.”

That comment earned Keiran a sore shoulder on each side, but it also served to partially diffuse some of the remaining, and extremely high level, tension left over from the fight that happened inside. After hitting Keiran the twins looked at each other and started laughing like mad.

When the laughing finally finished they moved things around and got in the car and left heading for Keirans apartment. On the way there Brian spoke up from behind Keiran and said, “ I really am sorry about getting you dragged into this mess Keiran. The reason I asked you out was, I could tell you were having about as much fun at that party as I was and I wanted to get to know you better. I never expected that going out to a new restaurant would lead to so much drama.”

Keiran laughed and said, “Don't worry about it you didn't know what would happen when we got there. By the way was that your version of asking me out after the fact? Or were you going to wait a while before asking? I would have said yes if you asked at the party or in class. Okay, here we are but before we go to bed I think the best thing to do is sit down and figure out who we are in relation to each other and what we are going to do about putting the pieces of your family back together.”

When they got inside the apartment the twins both asked Keiran about his past and how he got to where he is today.

“Well, I am 21 now, so I am a couple years older than you two, something that we have in common is that I have never met my parents either, I am also an orphan....