Ginger Fox

"Did something happen?" A sleepy Baby, in a purple robe as elegant as her aunt’s, stares at me, yawning after opening her bedroom door.
"Mr. Roy is Jon’s father?" The question escapes my mouth quickly, firing at her like a point-blank shot.
Baby blinks, momentarily lost, trying to understand what I’ve asked. Then her eyes widen, and the hand holding the door releases, pulling me forcefully into her room. I couldn’t close my eyes, couldn’t stay in that room, couldn’t lie in bed to sleep without an answer. I couldn’t focus, being consumed by the image of the picture frame. Needing an answer, I went after the only person who could answer all my questions.
"Where did you get that idea?" Baby locks the door behind her, looking nervous as she turns to face me.
"I... was helping Madame Roy." I rub my face with my fingers, breathing heavily. I extend my hand, nervously waving my fingers. "There was a frame... A portrait... God, Baby, please tell me! Is Jon Mr. Roy’s son?"
"No," she answers curtly, shaking her head, but she’s still nervous. I see her anxious movements as she paces around the room. "What did that old crone and gossip tell you?"
"Nothing. But the resemblance between them is striking. I’m not judging anyone, I just don’t understand why Jon was never told that his father is alive... Why let him think he has no one?"
"Jonathan is not Jon’s father, Ginger." Her voice is loud as she stands still, looking at me with raw nerves. Baby is hiding something, she’s omitting the truth.
Her fingers rise, rubbing her face with the same distress I rubbed mine a few moments ago. She breathes quickly, her shoulders moving slowly, looking at any spot in the room except me.
"Baby, I saw the photo! That’s why you said Jon is important to him. Of course he is; he’s Jon’s father..."
"Jonathan can’t have children, Gim!"
My body has to lean on the dresser to support my legs, which have crumbled the moment her words hit me. And finally, she meets my gaze.
"My brother is sterile, Ginger. Jonathan will never know what it’s like to have his own child, to plant his own seed," Baby whispers in pain, and I feel my eyes welling up with tears. "Jon is the legal heir of the Roys. Jonathan wants him here because he knows that one day everything will belong to Jon."
I don’t know anything more. I have no words or arguments, and nothing to say about Mr. Roy.
"But he..." I look at her, confused, unable to form a single coherent sentence.
Mr. Roy had used a condom with me. But that can’t be used as an argument, after all, it’s sex. Even if he couldn’t have children, he could still catch or transmit some disease, but I never imagined a man like Mr. Roy would be sterile.
"I don’t understand..." I raise my hands, covering my face, feeling worse than when I entered this room. "How... How did Mr. Roy end up like this?"
The melancholic blonde crosses her arms in front of her body, taking a deep breath.
"My brother is suicidal, Gim." Baby sits on the bed, delivering that information in a single dose. This time, not even the dresser can hold my weight.
My knees buckle, and I slide down to the floor, ending up sitting on the carpet. The scar on his neck comes to mind, so vivid. I raise my eyes to Baby, who is looking at the carpet.

"He tried three times during his adolescence. The first time was at nine years old when he took all of Aunt Charlote's medication. Luckily, a maid entered the room and saw him lying on the floor, so we had time to get him to the hospital." A tear trickles down my face, as cold and sad as the ones Baby is shedding. "The second time was at the boarding school, at fifteen. Jonathan used a razor to cut his throat. The caretaker arrived in time to help him before he bled to death. And it was the third time, close to turning eighteen, that he almost achieved his goal." She smiles sadly, lifting her face to me. "The police said it was easy to lose control of the car on a rainy night, but I knew Jonathan had deliberately thrown his car off the road. The impact was severe; he spent almost twenty days in a coma. The injuries near his groin weren't fatal to the artery but were serious enough to leave him infertile for the rest of his life."
I drag my knees up to my chest, using my arms to hug my legs, feeling such sorrow for the young boy who wanted death so badly.
"When he woke up from the coma, he was no longer the Jonathan I once knew; he was a cold, soulless version, just empty." Baby sniffs, breathing heavily, her shoulders hunched. "Jonathan had his reasons for becoming what he became."
"His mother..." I whisper, lost, tightening my grip on my legs.
"What do you know about her?" Baby stands up nervously, dropping to her knees in front of me, holding my face in her hands.
"I... I only know what Bob told me." Baby presses her lips together, looking seriously at me. "That his father shot her after killing her lover. And that Mr. Roy witnessed everything."
"What else did he say?" I shake my head.
"Nothing, just that. I'm so sorry, Baby. I didn’t ask, I swear."
Baby takes a deep breath, smoothing my face and wiping my tears.
"I know, you’re my good girl." Baby kisses my forehead, sitting in front of me and looking at me with affection. "Daddy hanged himself in his cell; he didn’t want to be judged. He wanted nothing but death," she sighs softly, smoothing my hair back. "My brother never left that room, Gim. Jonathan never truly left that room; his soul stayed there, trapped with hers."
Baby doesn’t refer to the murdered woman as "mother." I see the expression she makes when she mentions the slain woman. Maybe she blames the mother for all the misfortune that came to the family. She lost her father, lost her family structure, lost a brother, who never spoke of how he died, and almost lost another one.
"So, answering your question once again, I can assure you with absolute certainty that Jonathan is not Jon's father."
"And James, did he also commit suicide?" Baby looks at me in silence, smoothing my face and closing her eyes briefly.
"One day, not today." Her words are sad and lonely. "One distant day, after many bottles of drinks, we’ll talk about James." She opens her eyes, smiling calmly at me. "I swear."
I don’t want to push her. Baby is already struggling with the revelations about Jon’s situation; delving into her past might be too much for her. I nod slowly, leaving this topic for another time. My gaze drifts towards the door, imagining all the pain Jonathan must carry inside him, locked away behind his grim face.