Cassada play 14 - Ryder, Alessandro & Andrea

In this chapter we unravel a mystery. Enjoy!

As we go along, I'll be introducing various psychological concepts. I started in chapter 4 of Aha with EMDR. All of these concepts are absolutely true. If you find them interesting, please message me for more information or ask the Great Wizard Google. I hope to both entertain and educate you on a subject I find fascinating, human psychology.

We return now to Hiaku House where brothers Ryder and Alessandro live. Recall that Ryder is a world traveler who cherishes his possessions and seeks adventure. He is rarely home but enjoys having a beautifully furnished home base where he can throw lavish parties and show off his stuff. Ryder enjoys the life of a bachelor.

Alessandro, on the other hand, is quite the social butterfly and is pursuing his dream of becoming a professional street luge racer. He does not entertain at home often, but goes to a lot of sporting events and holds down the luxurious "fort" while Ryder is away on his travels. Alessandro, in the last installment met and developed a little crush on a woman named Andrea. Andrea is his sister-in-law Robin's friend from Lamaze classes as they are both due soon. Andrea, Ryder says, has a striking resemblance to their father's long-time friend Amy Aha, who died in childbirth some time ago.

Haiku house underwent some minor renovation. Apparently this piece of custom lot was built before Seasons and the roofs were merely decorative, but did not provide adequate shelter from the elements. The roofs and parts of wall have since been upgraded to accommodate Seasons as wearing a sweater inside is so passe.
"So, uh, Ryder," Alessandro began after Ryder had woken up from his slumber after taking the red eye flight home the night before. "I, uh, kind of agreed that Andrea could stay here, just for a little while. She's having her apartment fumigated and things are crazy with Robin and Leo and their kids right now so she can't stay there and I seem to be her only other friend. So, uh, anyhow, sorry for not asking you, but you're kind of hard to get hold of sometimes.""You what? You moved someone into our one bedroom house? Someone big as an ox and due any time now? What of my things? What of being roommates? There's not even room enough for us two if I weren't always traveling. Where will she stay?"

"I put her in the den for now. Its just for a week, less than a week, just while her place is fumigated. She has to let it air fully as the sprays are toxic and she's obviously pregnant. Don't worry about your stuff. She doesn't putter around with your things and she's sleeping on the little couch in the den."
"I'm not okay with this, Alessandro."

"Would you have me throw her in the street then?"

"No, of course not. She can stay, but don't pull a stunt like this again. You know you can get me on my Blackberry anyhow. I'd get back to you if I didn't get the message right away. Ask first. We're equal in this house. Okay?"

"Fair. Sorry."
But something still nagged at Ryder. She was just too similar to Amy Aha. Could she be her sister? Jordy never mentioned Amy's sister - especially a twin. You'd think he'd mention that. And Andrea had a different last name, but Amy could be an Aha by marriage, likely anyway.
Andrea got bigger by the day. She hoped she could stay until the baby was born, but it was probably putting too much strain on the brothers' relationship to be in the way. Ryder didn't seem to care much for her.
Although she thought they were both dreamy!"Hey, Alessandro, wanna go upstairs for awhile?"

"Andrea! My brother's home. Plus, its really our bed - his and mine, I mean. He'd kill me."

[Alright, that was a bit of an adult joke, but if you got it, blame my Evil Monkey.]Alessnadro was taking more and more interest in Andrea and her unborn child.
They seemed to be an item, though Ryder wasn't fond of the idea. Mostly, he didn't want to have to hire a house sitter every time he traveled. It was convenient having Alessandro around all the time, and he was a good roommate - usually - as long as he didn't invite unwanted guests to stay. But what would happen if Andrea moved in? No, there simply wasn't room. As it was two grown brothers shared a bed and that was a little too much for both of them.
No, Ryder didn't like it one bit. He vowed to get to the bottom of things.
"Hi, Leo. ...How's things with you? ...Uh-huh. ...Good. ...Good. ...That's great. ...Yes, I'll make an effort to pick up a little something for Lakshimi next trip I take. ...I know she likes that. ...Yes, I'll come over for dinner, soon, I promise. ...Leo, do you know Andrea, Robin's friend, pregnant woman, dark hair? ...Yeah, does she look familiar to you? ...No? ...Remember dad's friend, Amy Aha? ...Yeah, died awhile back. ...You remember her? ...Good. Do you think Andrea looks like her? ...You don't remember. Hmm. Okay. ...Listen, Leo, is Robin home? ...No? Darn. Hey, when she gets home, could you just ask her a question? ...Ask her if her friend Andrea has a sister. ...No, I'm not looking for a date. ...Okay, okay, Leo. I gotta run."

"Hi, Dad, it's Ryder. ...Well I don't expect you to recognize all our voices. ...Listen, Dad, you remember Amy Aha? ...Yeah, of course. I'm sorry. Dad, how did Amy die? ...Giving birth to her fourth child. Did the child live? ...Yeah? A boy. Good. Say, how is Mestral these days? ...Dead? Wow! I mean, I'm sorry to hear that. Wow. Sheesh. So what of the kids? ...No kidding? That's incredible, so Perth is mute now and Sydney's off at college. Crazy. And the boys never came back to them? ...Yeah, that is sad. Anyone know what happened to them? ...No, huh. Darn. Okay. Say, Dad, have you met Robin's friend Andrea? ...No. Okay, nevermind. ...Oh, Dad, um, did Amy have a sister? ...I don't know. I had a dream about her and I just wondered. No reason really. But did she? ...Only child, right. Yeah, you did tell me that before, about her wealthy parents and all. Right. I guess it was, uh, just a strange dream. Okay, Dad. My love to Mom and Madelyn. I gotta run. ...Yeah, I'll try to stop by."
Several days after Ryder's investigative phone calls, Alessandro surprised both Andrea and Ryder by proposing to Andrea at the breakfast table. Unfortunately, she declined.
Alessandro took it pretty hard.

"Alessandro, its just that...well, there's so much you don't know about me, that I don't know about me. I don't even know who the father of my baby is and you want to take on that job already. Its so soon and we don't even know what we're getting into. I could be the daughter of a mob boss for all we know with my amnesia. I want to be fair to you. I hope you can understand."
"Plus, I'm such a big old cow right now. I'd want it different. I'd want to wear a sexy wedding dress and be beautiful for you, not just glowing with growing life like some kind of light up petri dish."

"But Andrea, don't you see, you are beautiful to me. Inside and out. I don't care how you got to be in my life, just that you are. I see you as the toned ab princess you are inside."
"Please, Andrea, marry me."

"Okay, Alessandro, you've convinced me. But I want to wait until I'm in wedding dress shape. No, it has to be now. I want your baby to be my baby. I want to be the father of your child, even if I'm not biologically. I want to be your family, for you to be my family, and that baby you're incubating too. Let's sneak down to the courthouse. If my sisters get wind of this, I have 9 siblings to invite who will all have to be in the wedding party and your side of the family is just you. It'd be an awful wedding. Let's just keep it you and I and the little one."

"Alessandro, you're a romantic, and practical too. Okay, tomorrow then. Let's sleep on it."
About three weeks later, Andrea was still staying in the den while Ryder was around and in the master bedroom when he traveled. Ryder came home from a trip and was surprised to see Andrea still there - they hadn't announced their marriage, just their engagement - and even more shocked to see her water break right on his Persian rug - imported from Persia and hand woven by some local peasant women he'd met.
The cleaners were called right after the ambulance and while Andrea delivered her daughter, Giana, the Persian rug was restored to its original glory and sanitary state. By the time Andrea came by with Giana, everyone was pleased to see them both. Andrea introduced her as Giana Fanboy and Ryder was shocked. They took that opportunity to tell Ryder that they'd gotten married and now would announce it to the family. Ryder wondered where they'd live but didn't feel now was the time to ask such a thing.
"Congratulations you two. Alessandro, she has your eyes, the Fanboy eyes. ... ... ...How is that possible?"

"You know," Amy said, "she really does have your eyes. Both of you have that same unusual shade of hazel and so does Giana. That is really strange."
Amy said to herself "Just like Jordy's eyes."

"What's that, Andrea?"

"I, I don't know. I just had a memory. Do you know anyone named Jordy? Strange name. Don't know why it just came to me."

"My father's name is Jordy. Do you know him?"

"No. I...I must have heard you mention him before, I guess. Listen, Alessandro, you have to get off to practice with the guys after you take Ryder to the airport. I'll be fine, okay? I'll just put Giana down for a nap and by the time you get back we'll be all rested and cleaned up, okay?"

"Sure, Andrea. You sure you'll be okay by yourselves? You feel alright?"

"Yes, Alessandro. I'm fine. We're fine. Doctors all said so. Go on. I'll be right here."
With the house to herself, Andrea checked the phone's address book for Jordy's number, labeled "Dad" of course. She didn't know why she needed to phone him, but it was the first memory she'd had since her amnesia and it was such a striking one that those eyes were that of Jordy that she just had to get some...confirmation? answers? She didn't know what to expect.

"Jordy? This is...Andrea. ...I know you don't know me, or maybe you do. I am dating Alessandro, your son. ...Yes, that Andrea. Okay, I...I don't know how to say this, but to lay it all out so please be patient a moment. I have amnesia and have blacked out a portion of my life possibly spanning several years. I recently had a baby girl- ...yes, thank you. Anyhow, my daughter has these eyes, that remind me of 'Jordy' and its such an unusual name that Alessandro thought maybe you knew me. ...What? ...Blackmail? What are you talking about? ...No, I'm just trying to figure out my life here and I think you may have a piece to this puzzle. ...Tell your wife what? ...What's this all about?"
And then Jordy told her the whole sordid truth. More truth than Andrea was prepared to hear. Andrea did bear a striking resemblance to Amy Aha. Andrea was Amy Aha. Amy had been long time friends with Jordy, since their early 20s before Jordy met Kim and before Amy met Mestral. Amy and Jordy flirted, but good-naturedly, knowing their goals in life were different. Both married and lived happily for a time, but both felt that heat between them and it strained their relationship. They still kept up the friendship and shortly before Amy found out she was expecting her third child, they had an affair. That affair was meant to be a one time thing, both felt bad for potentially ruining each other's marriages, but when after months neither one had been caught, they met up again. And again and again. There was even some question whether the third child was Mestral's or Jordy's, but of course there was no mention of this to anyone. It would ruin too many lives to change things. They tried to break it off, but without much effort and they landed back with each other whenever they could for years.
Andrea / Amy was shocked. "I, we, what? No, it can't be." But even as she said it, the memories started coming back. Taking Clover to the groomers and stopping by Jordy's house just to say hi, staying far too long and the groomer's closing and her having to beg them to get her cat out so she could be home with Clover before Mestral returned. Taking the kids over for a play date and sneaking upstairs or out back for a quickie. Oh my gosh, what had she done? "But wait, my kids?"
Jordy filled her in on what had happened with the kids and how the boys were adopted out, no one knew what happened to them. Jordy had tried to look for them, but having no relation to them, he couldn't get any information. Mestral's death, her mother's death, Perth's mutism but that she was doing well, and Sydney's college attendance. Amy - yes, I suppose she was Amy not Andrea - was melancholy. This was all so bittersweet. She looked at Giana, sleeping in her carrier, and began to cry. What had she done? And who's baby was this?

Jordy stated that the youngest boy, the fourth child, was definitely Mestral's. The timing worked out so that Jordy's kids were all a handful and he and Amy hadn't seen each other much for the better part of a year. Mestral was definitely the father of the two older and the youngest children. The third, no one could be sure. However, when Amy delivered, Mestral had to be with the older kids so Jordy accompanied Amy to the hospital. She delivered and was miserable. Blame it on postpartum depression maybe, but she stated quite factually that she wanted to leave the hospital and her life and her kids and her husband and be with Jordy or be alone.

Jordy wouldn't leave his wife and 10 kids, not for anything, even Amy, but he helped her leave. He snuck her out of the hospital and had a friend who worked in patient transportation get her out and switch her spot with a corpse of a female. It was fudged to look like she died in childbirth. Amy got out of there and continued to see Jordy. Jordy felt terrible especially when Sydney would call him, her Godfather, and cry about missing her mommy. But, he didn't feel so guilty as to stop seeing Amy. Plus, it was kind of his fault all this was happening. If only they'd broken it off years ago, it never would have gotten this far.
Then, about 7 months ago, Amy missed a period and knew that Jordy and she were going to have a baby. She didn't tell Jordy. She just disappeared. No one knew where she went. She left her apartment full of her things and simply disappeared. Jordy hadn't heard from her, which was unusual and he assumed her murdered. He couldn't report her missing, however, as she was already living under an assumed name and Mestral, well, what would happen? It wouldn't be pretty. So Jordy accepted the fact that she was just gone. He was saddened, surely, but he had to put on his happy face for his wife and now that Madelyn was back home, and always around, it was difficult to find time to sulk.

Amy developed a dissociative fugue. She blanked out who she was, where she came from, everything. She knew basic skills of living and could care for herself, but that was about it. She had no friends, no family, as far as she knew, aliens had dropped her on the planet moments ago. Not that she believed that, but for as much memory as she had, it could have been so.

Jordy hadn't known Amy was back in town. It was a fair sized town and not everyone runs into one another very often. It was purely coincidental that his daughter-in-law and Amy had Lamaze class together. Thus it was purely coincidental that Robin and Amy, now Andrea (she picked the name for herself off the name tag of a waitress in a diner she'd stopped at, seemed a nice enough name), became pals and that Robin introduced Andrea/Amy to Alessandro.

"So, wait a moment. Jordy, are you telling me that this baby, this Giana, is yours?"

"It would seem likely, Amy. I mean, I don't know what you did after you left, but the timing is right."

"Alessandro and I got married and were just about to announce it. Your daughter is also your granddaughter. Jordy, I'm married to your son!"