As the chime rang out from the grandfather clock in the corner of the banquet hall, the doors opened and Dr. Montblanc came into the room, followed by Corwin and Simon.
Tarzan was nowhere in sight and neither was Abe or Sir Montblanc. I was about to ask Simon where Tarzan was, but the Doctor spoke up and I lost the chance at that moment.
"Good morning, Nana!" Dr. Montblanc called out, his calm and cheerful countenance, a stark contrast to the crazy state he was in the morning before.
I stood up and mumbled a greeting to the Doctor.
Then, I reached out my hand to Corwin with the intention of giving him a hug.
He completely ignored my hand and went straight for my body.
One moment, he was yards away, and the next moment, I was crushed into a tight grip. My mouth was claimed, even before I had a chance to say anything.
His hunger for me was so apparent, it drew gasps from everyone in the room.
"Good morning," he whispered, dropping a final kiss on my forehead before releasing me.
I fell back onto my chair, dizzy for lack of air, not sure if that possessive territorial marking was directed at Connor or the Doctor.
"Ahem," the Doctor cleared his throat. "Good morning everyone. I trust you slept well."
He scanned the room with a nervousness that was probably brought on by his strange behavior the day before, as well as the possessive behavior he had just witnessed.
Of course, Simon didn't give a hoot about the activities between the twins and myself.
He simply sat there munching on a slice of toast with some purple jam, oblivious to any tension in the air.
He barely even noticed the dribbles of jam that had dropped onto his fresh clean shirt.
The twins' rivalry was old news to Simon. He had witnessed so many fights between the twins, a few of which I had not been privy to.
"I guess you're wondering why I called you this morning," the Doctor began again.
I nodded.
The twins just stared at him, distrust in their eyes.
Corwin looked ready to deck him to the floor if he showed any further attempts at invading my space.
"Er, first I wanted to apologize to Nana about yesterday. I am so sorry. I was just so shocked that you look exactly like my wife."
He cleared his throat. "I think I went a little mad yesterday. But everything makes sense now. Please let me explain."
He took a packet of folders out of his briefcase and handed one folder to each of us.
"If you will, take a look at the first page. It is a detailed map of the areas where there are high concentrations of primates living thereabouts."
He pointed to the map. "The areas of frequent sightings are highlighted in yellow and the areas where they nest are in orange.
"As you can see, there is very spotty sightings and only one or two known nests. Now," he flipped to the next page.
"Take a look at page two."
I flipped the page and saw the same map, but now it showed a huge orange swath which ran the length of a good portion of the map.
It had several small splotches of red which dotted the swath with curious regularity, as if it was a planned occurrence. I looked at the Doctor. He nodded.
"That's right. The entire area that's highlighted in orange is a known area of nesting twenty years ago. It covers hundreds of square miles within the Cross mountain range."
"If you want to find the primates, go directly to the red spots that are located inside that huge orange swath. The orangutans won't be anywhere except for their previous nesting places."
He looked at our excited faces and began to recover his enthusiasm.
"How do I know? Well, before we get to the how, let me tell you the why."
He sat down opposite of us and took a sip of the steaming coffee that had been placed before him by an attending waitress.
"Twenty years ago, I had just graduated with my Ph.D in the field of particle physics. The work I did led me to my former wife, Chloe Belladonna, who was also a scientist working in the field of biophysics."
He placed his coffee down.
"Her picture is on the next page."
I blinked in surprise and flipped to the next page.
And then I swallowed a huge lump in my throat as I stared at a color photo of a woman who should have been dead a century ago.
She looked no older than twenty years of age, and she had the same features that I did, only far more beautiful.
Her eyes were a shimmering green, her hair a brilliant honey blonde, and her skin a perfect shade of creamy ivory.
She was so stunning that I was appalled Doctor Montblanc thought I looked anything like her.
"Now do you see why I was so taken aback when I saw Nana?" Doctor Montblanc asked. All around me, the guys were nodding their heads in shocked agreement.
"Well, at the time, Chloe was working with a group of primates, teaching them how to do all sorts of fantastic things."
He closed his eyes, reliving the moment. "I was so blown away by her ability with the animals that I abandon my physics research and switched over to biology just so I could spend time with her."
Connor and Corwin nodded, as if they completely understood this reasoning.
He shook his head. "We were young, and I had fallen so completely in love with her that if she told me to jump in the river, I'd do it—as many times as she asked me."
The twins looked at each other, and then nodded again.
"It wasn't long before I asked her to marry me, and we had a small quiet engagement and a private wedding that only my family attended."
He sighed. "Two years went by and we had four miscarriages. Each time it happened, my wife was distraught, but she insisted that we keep trying."
"By the third year, she had gotten pregnant again, and this time, the fetus did not instantly miscarry within the month."
"The baby was five months old when she started kicking and moving in my wife's belly. I could feel her movements so I knew she would live and be strong."
"And then, one morning, I woke up and my wife was gone. There was no message, no note, no call, no nothing. She had just…vanished into the night, along with my precious child."
I gasped, covering my mouth with shock. The Doctor looked so devastated that I bled with compassion for him.
He looked at me.
"Fast forward, eighteen years later, and I come into the private breakfast banquet room, and what do I see"
"…a young girl that looks exactly like my wife! So what do I do?"
As everyone shrugged, he flipped to the next page.
"I took a DNA sample of her saliva." He smiled.
"I apologize about this again, Nana. I was just so distraught, and I had to find out, so I sequenced your DNA."
I stared at him, horrified. Beside me, the twins tensed up, but said nothing. I looked down at the sheaf of paper in my hands and with shaking fingers, I flipped to the next page.
As I stared at the information on the page, I shook my head. I couldn't understand anything that it showed.
"That is a DNA comparison between you and me."
He stood up and faced me. "Nana, my sweet daughter. I am 99.99 percent certain that I am your biological father."