Modern History

It was supposed to be a simple project, putting together my family tree. If it weren't for the damn reunion, this secret never would have come out. Everything would have stayed the same. And you know what? I'm thankful that everything came out and that we know the truth.

As with most stories, it started with a simple, thoughtful task. I was putting together a full family tree for my grandmother. With the help of Ancestory.com, I figure it would take me an hour or so tops. Boy, was I wrong. Things were going smoothly until I discovered that my grandfather had been to married to someone named Lady Redwood, shortly before he and my grams had wed. I called my dad to see if he could shed any light on this. "Hey Dad, who was the woman gramps was married to before he married Grams?"

"Are you drinking again? I told you that if you started drinking again, I was cutting you off Kristen. Don't make me follow through on that threat, you grandfather only married one woman and that was your grandmother."

"I'm not drinking, Dad. I can send you the link."

"Be prepared to drop some pee."

Since I was having dinner with grams that night, I decided to ask her. If it went over like a lead balloon with my dad, it was more like a train that goes the tracks with my grandma. "Grams, who is Lady Redwood?"

"Is this one of those trick questions? Remember when you asked me who Lady GooGoo was? Then she was following me around like a bad romance or whatever."

"No. Gramps married her about a year before you guys got married. Do you know anything about her?"

If Grams had been Medusa, I would have turned to stone with the look she gave me. "Your Grandfather was a complicated man, who had a history. Some he shared, some he said was nobody's damn business. This falls into the latter category, and if you had the sense that God gave hobos, you would leave it alone."

"So you don't know about it either?"

"Are you hard of hearing or just plain dumb, girl? I did not come to dinner to be asked about things that are none of our business."

If she had known about it, Grams would have told me. If for no other reason than to shut me up. My boyfriend Kyle was home, when I got back. "Hey, this is weird. Gramps was married to someone else before Grams. But no one seems to know anything about it."

"I think you should listen to them. Kris, there's obviously nothing to this." He kissed me, then went to take a shower.

There was no way I was going to let this go. I typed Lady Redwood into the Ancestry.com and waited for the results. My jaw hit the floor when they came up. There was the marriage to my grandfather, but her father was Kyle Charles Chancellor the first. Kyle's great-grandfather.

"I thought we agreed you would leave this alone?" I turned to find Kyle with only a towel around his waist and a gun pointed at me. "It looks like I am going to have to move up my plan and execute you in front of your Father now."

"Why?" He shot the gun at me. Instead of a bullet though, it was a dart. When it pierced my skin, it made me feel like I was drunk. Even as I slumped over, I tried to maintain some alertness. Through the dizzy haze that was overtaking me, I knew that he was tying me up. He made a phone call but nothing was making sense in my head.

What was happening and why? All I knew was that Gramps had been married to a woman in Kyle's family before he married Grams. Neither Dad nor Grams knew anything about the woman or the marriage, though Kyle did and he was pissed. The question was why? He said something about having to kill me but that didn't make sense either. I thought he loved me, I know I loved him.

Even though Grams didn't know about Lady Redwood, she also hinted that there was more to Gramps' history. How many scandalous things could one person do? That thread is better left undiscovered after my recent history.

The feeling returned to my body, and the world stopped spinning. I heard my dad's voice, "What do you mean she fell off the wagon? She couldn't have bought booze, she had no cash."

He walked into the office and his eyes popped out when he saw me tied up. They rolled back in his head, when he got a dart to the back of his neck. Kyle tied him up. Kyle grumbled. "If your bitch of a daughter had kept her nose out of this, I could've stuck to killing her on our wedding day but no."

"What are you babbling on about?"

"Lady Redwood, also known as Margaret Chancellor. My Great-Grandfather loved his only daughter, he doted on her. He was leaving everything to my grandad but that's how it was in those days. She married your father, what a mistake that was!" Kyle paced around the room, waving a gun around. "Just after their vows, in front of the entire congregation, you father called her a whore. Told her she was nothing to him and left the church. Maggie grabbed the closest thing to her, a cross fashioned into a stake and plunged it into her heart. In front of everyone. My great-grandfather vowed revenge and on his deathbed left it to me. Now it's time for vengenance."

He had the gun trained on me. His finger played with the trigger. A loud bang startled me, I waited for the pain. Kyle slumped over. "If anyone is going to kill Kristen, it's me." Grams ran over and untied me.

"Everyone has secrets, Kris. Even me."