"Put it back, Chil'."
Emil looked up and saw Tante Mattie standing across the room from him. Mattie had known instantly when he found the letter and silently berated herself for allowing anyone to have access to the attack without her supervision. She also knew she had to handle Emil carefully and make sure he didn't learn anything about the contents of the letter. Emil had a tendency of speaking before thinking, and keeping his mouth shut wasn't something that came easy to him.
"Tante..." Emil began. "What...?"
"Non, Emil. Don' question it. Jus' put it back, an' forget it's here." Mattie commanded.
"But Tante Mattie...do dey...?"
"Emil...what did I jus' say?"
Emil sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay." He put the letter back in the box and returned the box to the shelf he found it on. Then he went over to Mattie and asked one more question before he resumed his search. "Can I ask jus' one t'ing?"
Mattie raised her eyebrows, her dangly earrings swinging on either side of her kind face. "What is it?"
"Are dey ever gon' get to see what's inside dat envelope?"
"Oui." Mattie replied. "An' until dat day, dey will not know of its existance. Do you understand dat?"
The red-haired thief nodded. "Yes Ma'am."
NEW ORLEANS, 2001
"Non, I ain' dead yet, Mattie. Far from it. Been spendin' a lot of time researchin' de prophecies an' de Guild histories wit' de Antiquary, much as I hate him. How are t'ings back home?" Jean-Luc's voice was music to Tante Mattie's ears when she heard it over the phone.
"De Antiquary is a pain in de neck, always has been." Mattie agreed candidly with a small laugh. "An' t'ings here are touchy to say de very least."
"It isn' easy for de two Guilds to be unified, non. Marius an' I always knew dat would be a big challenge for dem. But how are dey? Is everyone okay?"
"Everyone's fine, Jean-Luc. Dey miss you t'ough."
"Oui...dat's only to be expected, especially for Theoren an' Mercy, perhaps, b'cause dey're older den de others...an' how are you feelin' yourself? You're not gettin' any younger you know. Happy belated birthday, by de way." Jean-Luc laughed.
"I've been thinkin' 'bout dat a lot lately, mon ami. Gettin' older, I mean. What do you suggest I do? I want to keep my promise to Yvonne an' Jacques, but on de other hand..." Mattie's voice trailed off.
"On the other hand, would it really be beneficial to Mercy an' Genard to have dem find out de truth when dere's no one who was actually dere to talk to 'bout it?" Jean-Luc questioned. "You an' I are de last remainin' members of dis fam'ly who know de truth, an' I'm not dere, nor will I ever be again. Dey're gon' have a lot of questions...an' if no one can give dem de answers, dey'll be more at risk of gettin' hurt by de truth."
"I was thinkin' along de same lines. But I'd feel like I was lettin' Yvonne an' Jacques down." Mattie commented softly.
"Mattie. Listen to me. It's been thirty-two years. I don' t'ink Jacques an' Yvonne would be upset if you broke dat old promise. Your loyalty to dem is unwaverin', as always. But Mercy an' Genard are gon' need you when dey find out de truth. Don' wait until it's too late."
"You're right, Jean-Luc. I'll tell dem. But here's another question for you, if you got de time b'fore you go...how do I tell dem? Separately or together, an' if it's separately, who do I tell first?"
Jean-Luc sighed tolerantly. "Don' be wastin' my time askin' me questions you already know de answers too, Mattie Baptiste. You still got my address here?"
"Oui."
"Den write an' let me know how it goes. An' don' tell anybody dat I called or dey'll all show up here tryin' to convince me to come back or somethin' when we all know dat's impossible. Take care. Of yourself an' dem."
Mattie smiled as she hung up the phone. Jean-Luc always knew. He was always right on the money...in some ways more intuitive than she was herself. "Always, mon ami. Always." She left her room and headed towards the safehouse attic to retrieve the long-hidden letter.
Mercy's bedroom door was open and the light flooded out into the hallway, along with the sound of laughter. Mercy, Genard, Emil, Theoren, Claude and Zoe, the Guild's resident transplant from Tokyo, were playing charades. Mattie laughed lightly as she watched them from the hallway for a moment before making her presence known.
"I hate to break up dis little party," she said, glad the letter was safely hidden in her pocket. "But I have to speak wit' Mercy 'bout somethin' an' it has to be in private. I'm sorry."
"Oh dat's okay Tante Mattie." Genard grinned, following the others out of the room. "We were gon' stop soon anyway. We still have to go rent a movie for tonight. Now's as good a time as any."
Mercy leaned back on her bed, her blond hair contrasting beautifully with the dark green of her comforter and pillow cases. She cast the healer a curious look. "What's dis 'bout, Tante?"
Mattie sighed, finding telling the truth to be a lot harder than she'd always anticipated. "A long time ago, Jean-Luc an' I were entrusted wit' a life-changin' secret dat de adults involved in felt would be best kept. I've been thinkin' a lot about dat secret lately an' it's occurred to me dat dere really isn't any good reason, aside from not breakin' a promise, to keep de secret any longer."
"Tante Mattie you're talkin' in riddles! What's goin' on?" Mercy asked, slightly exasperated.
Pulling the letter out of her pocket, Mattie sighed again. "When you read dis letter, it's gon' change your life, Chil'. As well as de life of someone else in dis fam'ly. I wasn' s'posed to do dis until I was dyin', but de more I t'ought 'bout it, de more I knew I couldn' do dat. I couldn' tell you de truth an' den not be dere to help you understand it." She handed the letter to Mercy, who took it and paused as she saw the other name on the envelope.
"Tante Mattie...what...?"
Mattie shook her head. "Jus' read de letter, Mercy."
Mercy did as she was told, opening the sealed envelope, still wondering what on earth was going on, and started to read. She recognized Yvonne's handwriting, and her own father's little additions in the margins of the pages. Mattie watched as Mercy's brilliant green eyes widened in shock as she read about the affair her father and Yvonne had had, and as the truth of Genard's paternity dawned on her, she put the letter down and looked at Mattie.
"All dese years..."
"Dey didn' wan' hurt either of you. None of dem could bear doin' dat. So dey kept it a secret. I knew an' so did Jean-Luc, but dat was it."
Mercy picked the letter back up and finished reading it. By the time she was done, tears were flowing down her cheeks in salty rivers. Mattie moved closer to the younger woman and put a kind, soothing hand on her arm. "Talk to me, Mercy. What are you thinkin'?"
Mercy got up, still crying and moved to the other side of the room, staring absently at a picture of herself and her parents taken on the day she was made an official member of the Thieves Guild. "I'm thinkin' I can' b'lieve my father had an affair when I was twenty years old an' I didn' know it. An' yet I'm thinkin' dat on some subconscious level, I must have known. I wish..."
"You wish dey'd been honest wit' you an' Genard in de first place an' not kept it a secret." Mattie finished.
"Yes!" Mercy exclaimed, whirling around. "I can understand dem not wantin' to hurt us, but b'lievin' t'ings are one way all your life an' suddenly findin' out you've been lied to for thirty-some-odd years...dat hurts too. What were dey thinkin'? What were you thinkin', to go along wit' keepin' de secret?"
"I'm sorry, Chil'. I really am. Dey t'ought it was in your best interests, an' at de time, so did Jean-Luc an' I. We never intended for anyone to get hurt. Dere was enough hurt in both your fam'lies when Pierre an' your mother found out 'bout de affair an' de result of it..." Mattie explained.
Mercy shook her head. She understood that, just as she understood why her mother and Pierre didn't disrupt the waters with their anger and hurt. Guild life was a fragile thing and the bonds formed within the smaller family units were very strong. "Mon Dieu...all dis time...each of us thinkin' we had no blood relations left...when in reality we weren' alone...have you told him yet?"
"Non...I wanted to tell you first..."
"Dat's not gon' be easy to do...lord...dis is so hard to comprehend, you know? I never understood why I felt so connected to him, from de day he was born...why dat bond we have formed...an' jus' kept gettin' stronger as de time went by...Henri even said on more den one occasion dat Genard an' I acted like siblings...we never knew why..."
"Now you know. Perhaps it's like you said...perhaps somewhere inside, you knew he's your brother, but you never had reason to t'ink 'bout it so you pushed it aside." Mattie commented. "Is de knowledge of de truth gon' change anythin' for you, Mercy?"
Mercy laughed, a contemplative look crossing her face. "Genard's my little brother...how hard to b'lieve is dat? I t'ink I need some time, Tante...I need to find a way to wrap my mind around it an' den move on from dere...on one hand it makes so much sense...but it's so unbelievable..." Mercy's voice trailed off and she sighed. "To answer your question, Tante, non. If anythin', shouldn' dis bring Genard an' I closer?"
Mattie smiled. "It should. But one never knows 'bout t'ings like dis."
"I'm goin' to go for a walk, Tante. I need to clear my head...an' I t'ink I need to talk to my father. Are you gon' tell him now, or...?"
"I was plannin' on it, yes." Mattie confirmed. "Now dat you know, dere's no reason for him not to."
"Okay."
As Mercy left the safehouse and started walking up the sidewalk into the heart of New Orleans, Tante Mattie walked down the hallway of the second floor of the safehouse and knocked on a bedroom door.
"Come in." Genard called from inside the bedroom.
"I t'ought you were goin' to get a movie for tonight?" Mattie questioned by way of greeting after she entered the room, shutting the door firmly behind her and choosing to sit on Genard's windowseat. Genard himself was sprawled on his bed reading a comic book.
"We did." Genard replied, tossing the book aside with a laugh. "De joys of Remy bein' able to borrow Bella Donna's car whenever we need it. What was all dat serious private stuff wit' Mercy 'bout? You got dat same look on your face now an' I'm not sure I like it."
Mattie handed Genard the letter. "I want you to read dis, Chil'. It's been up in de attic for many years, at the request of your mother actually. It was meant for bot' you an' Mercy...she's already read it, an' now it's your turn."
Genard took the letter and looked at it without opening it for a few moments. "Tante Mattie...I...what does dis have to...?"
"Sometimes t'ings aren' always as dey appear to be, Genard. Read de letter."
Pushing his glasses up on his nose, Genard opened up the letter and began to read. He read the entire letter without comment, although Mattie noticed he was shaking by the time he'd finished. He handed the letter back when he was done reading it, looking at Mattie with a look of mixed shock, pain and amazement in his brown eyes.
"Is it true, Tante? I mean...it...it...dey proved it, right?"
Mattie got up and sat beside him, just as she had with Mercy. She let him know she was there if he needed to lean on her. "Yes, Genard. It's true. Mercy is your sister."