Mark, who heard what she said, immediately carried her and sped downstairs.
Seeing his wife in pain, Mark went into a state of panic and asked her how she was feeling.
He helped her up and carried her in his arms to the car while instructing Camilla on what to do.
After making sure that Julia was safely seated in the car, he ushered Camilla into the car and sped to the hospital.
Upon reaching the hospital, Julia was admitted into the intensive care unit due to the urgency of her situation.
She was able to birth naturally, which surprised the doctors, as she was scheduled to undergo an operation due to her age.
As she was wheeled out of the labour room, she was placed in a regular room, and only then was Mark allowed to see her and the newest addition to their family.
Back to the present…
Camilla came down after freshening up to help in the house decoration, but she was told to “sit pretty,” she laughed at.
“Camilla, can I have a moment with you?” Julia requested of her, and she dropped the phone she was busy with when she noticed the nervous look on her mom’s face.
“What’s the matter, Mom?
You look uneasy,” she glanced at her mother.
“Let’s go to the terrace, you will know everything once we reach there.”
Camilla didn’t comment to that, as she quietly trailed behind her mother.
When they arrived at the terrace, Camilla noticed her father, whom she hadn’t seen earlier when she came back.
“Dad,” she called out as she went to hug him.
“My dear Camilla, you are growing more beautiful by the day,” he praised, as Julia took a seat on one of the available chairs.
“Sit down, Camilla.
We need to make a confession to you,” Mark said, looking at a distance.
Camilla straightened up as she noticed the seriousness of the matter.
“Are you planning on sending me off to a vampire city?” she joked, to dissipate the tension surrounding her parents.
Not knowing she just spoke her future fate.
“Oh dear, you never cease to humor me with your jokes,” Julia chuckled.
Mark, not knowing how to drop the sentence he was planning on making, looked at Camilla and sighed.
“You have my full attention now, Dad.
Go on, I’m listening,” Camilla assured him.
“You are not our biological child, dear,” Mark finally uttered the words he swore never to tell a soul.
Shock, fear, anger — Camilla sat rooted at her place, not knowing what to make of the confession, while Julia came closer and grabbed her hands, crying.
Mark stared at his hurt daughter and looked away, not knowing how to comfort her without breaking into tears himself.
“We swore to take this secret with us to the grave,” he began again, and Camilla looked at him more attentively now.
“But we received an anonymous message days ago, the content stating that the sender knew you were not ours and threatened to use it against us for keeping you here.
We don’t know your origin, Natalia, but we can guarantee that you are neither human, werewolf, nor vampire.
We don’t know which race you belong to, but that didn’t make us love you less, dear.
To us, you would always come first, so I don’t want you to think that you don’t matter to us,” Julia interjected, crying.
“We found you in a basket at a sidewalk leading to our house, and I can guarantee you were purposely put there for us to find.
You don’t have to feel hatred for your real parents, dear.
I’m sure they did what they did with your safety in mind.
You might be a powerful individual whose life is at risk, but for sure, I can guarantee that we have protected you the best we could.
I don’t know how the secret regarding your birth leaked, but I’m sure it wasn’t our doing.”
Camilla stared at both her parents, whom she had always regarded as hers from the moment she could remember.
Not knowing how to feel about this, she stood up to leave when Mark held her.
Picking up a box from the table, he handed it over to her.
“Your parents wanted you to have this on a day before your twentieth birthday,” he said, and Camilla grabbed the box with shaking hands.
“It’s alright, dear, everything will be okay as soon as you go through everything in the box.”
Camilla hugged them both, and she cried for the first time since she remembered.
They held her in their embrace and let her pour out her heart, and then they turned around to escort her back to her room, when they saw Liam, who looked utterly shocked.
Noticing he had been exposed, he gave them a small, sheepish smile to mask his feelings and thoughts to his already hurt parents and walked towards Camilla.
“Come rain, come sunshine, you will always be my big sister,” he assured, and Camilla hugged him and whispered to his ear.
“My little baby is now all grown up,” before running towards her room without waiting for his reaction.
~~~~
Standing in front of the mirror and looking at herself all decked up, she absent-mindedly played with a heart-shaped necklace she found in the box given to her.
She couldn’t bring herself to read the contents of the letter she found inside the box, among many others.
She resolved to go through with the birthday celebration first and decide if she would open the box tonight among other presents.
Glancing at herself one more time, she turned around and made her way to the lounge, where she would be entering the party ground from directly.
“Are the guests all here?” questioned Julia nervously.
“Relax, my love, everything will go smoothly at the party today.
I trust your arrangement,” Mark assured.
Having been living in the mixed community for some years now, they already gathered much influence and power for their family through hard work.
Mark, being a renowned businessman, now associated himself with many ranking officials in the kingdom who would be gracing their birthday celebration party for Camilla today.
They rarely held any unnecessary parties unless it was an important event or occasion, and it has always been that way ever since their grass-to-grace story, known by their few trusted friends.
“It’s about time to get the party started, Mother,” Liam came down, looking as dashing as ever in his matching designer shirt and trousers — his signature style to any formal event.
Just as Julia was about to comment, Camilla walked in, and her appearance stunned the trio, who were always in awe of her beauty despite having seen her grow under their very own eyes.
Julia, who became emotional, reached out and pecked her cheek.
“I’m really a proud mother to be able to call you my daughter, Camilla,” she said, while looking at her.
“I’m proud of you both,” stretching her hands towards Liam, remembering not to make him feel left out, as she looked at both children with a loving, motherly gaze.