"As you may know, my mother had gone through an eventful summer when she was fifteen. My grandparents had taken it upon themselves to travel the world with her. She went to South America, Africa, Europe, and even Asia. When she was in Europe though, she had learned she was pregnant and was in no position to travel. She was in England at the time, but had returned to France, where she had made her first stop, and lived there until after my birth.

"When she had returned home, the talk of the town was Winnie Foster's bizarre adventures while in France. She had met a young American traveler and had fallen in love while in Paris—the city of love. The two had been so smitten, they decided to get married shortly after meeting. They arranged a small wedding ceremony on Eiffel Tower, to which they had climbed all 1652 stairs to the top. After the wedding, they planned to finish traveling the world as part of the honeymoon. Sadly though, shortly after the wedding, he mysteriously went missing, only for him to be found dead days later. Unable to contain her grief, the Fosters left France. It was soon after she learned about me.

"Upon her return to Treegap, the newly appointed deputy, Richard (first name Hugo) Jackson had developed a crush on her. She had openly resisted his courtship for years, but eventually gave in. I was three when they got married. He was a nice man, and while I initially believe my mother didn't love him the way a wife should when they first wed, she grew to love him as such. Their son, my brother, Chris, came almost the next year. Two years later my sister, Sarah Mae. He tried to make sure I didn't feel left out, or that he was favoring his kids over me. He was nice for doing that. Ma seemed to appreciate it, at least. We all lived in that big house, but unlike my mother's upbringing, we were free to play wherever we pleased, other than the wood. She always kept a watchful eye on us while we plated, always afraid of one of us wandering off into trouble. She would let us play every day, and every night she would lay us in bed and hum a tune to put us to sleep with. She had told us the story of The Everlasting Tucks, the family that would never grow old. She had given it to us a bedtime story, along with the fairy tales and the Hans Christen Anderson tales. We believed it all to be fiction. The spring, the man in the yellow suit, you all. We even played pretend as The Everlasting Tucks. I would be Miles, Christopher playing Angus or Jesse, and Sarah Mae always as her namesake. We got our parents to play Winnie and the man in the yellow suit. We were happy."

Jesseca's eyes filled with tears, staring off into space. "When I was fifteen, my little brother fell with a strong illness. Every doctor in town tried to treat him, but nothing healed him. I stayed with the him the entire time. Ma was caught in a bedroom whispering to herself about water, going into fits. At the end, the doctors had no cure, and my mother prayed for a miracle to come of its own." Her voice broke at the next slew of works. "He was just ten years old. Ten. I remember waking up beside him that morning, and..." She closed her eyes tightly, fighting of crying. "He was already gone when I tried to wake him up."

She allowed herself a few minutes to take a few deep breaths before continuing. "Ma lost it. She had to be forcibly removed from him when they had to take him away. She barely had time to grieve and accept his passing. I had caught the illness from him. The day of his funeral I was where he had been just a few days before, bedridden, with all the doctors saying treatments were failing. I was dying too. I remember going in and out of hazes, crying knowing I was going to be taken victim by the sickness too.

"Then, a miracle hit. I miraculously was cured overnight. The doctors were baffled. My family had never been so happy to see me alive. My ma cried and held me for the longest time. After that she began to distance herself from me. She wouldn't look at me. In the middle of the night a week later, she broke down in front of me, saying she had made the biggest mistake of her life. At the time, I thought she meant my birth, not knowing she meant helping me live. We eventually started to notice when my baby sister, who I was seven years older than, began to be mistaken as my twin. Then her as the older sister. I was going to school and looked juvenile. Richard began pressing for answers to why I wasn't getting any older or shifting at all in weight. Eventually Ma broke down and told us all the truth. She had taken water from the mythical spring and had snuck it into my drink while she was nursing me. She said she regretted doing it immediately, knowing I would never age or die. She spent the rest of her life trying to make it up to me.

"Being fifteen all the time grew difficult. I was forbidden to date. I didn't know she had made that rule to protect me from my own heartbreak, and so when I was allowed to move in with my sister when she was twenty, I fell in love with a boy my own age. The oldest I could say I was was eighteen, and we dated for a long time in secret. Not even my sister knew. Then one day, I came home to Sarah Mae kissing him. She didn't know I had dated him, so when he asked her out on a date, she didn't think anything of it. He said he wanted someone closer to his age. Realizing my mother was right, I moved back in with her. Once they all got older, they would have me come in and out of town, splitting my time between her and Sarah Mae. Once Ma got older, we said I was her granddaughter. Then once Sarah Mae's children had grown, her granddaughter. Then eventually Sarah Mae's youngest, Henrietta, became my fake grandmother. The whole family knew of my secret, and so I would split my time living with all of them for years at a time. About four years ago I moved back in with my mother and Sarah Mae. Henrietta was living there too, watching over them. Ma was growing deaf and slightly senile, Sarah Mae trying to fight off cancer. Ma began talking about The Everlasting Tucks again, like a bedtime story. At rare times she'd call Christopher down for supper, or Richard, to realize both were long dead. She began to become afraid, knowing her old age was getting to her. She told me that she had been holding out for the Tuck family since I was born, hoping to reunite with them before she died. She knew her time was growing shorter, and asked me to continue the legacy, calling them family. She said I would be protected by them since we shared the same secret. She spilled every secret to me that night. Every single hidden detail. She gave me her diaries, in case she felt that she had gotten something wrong."

Tears had begun to flow. Jesseca wiped at her face with the back of her hand.

"I found her dead the next morning. Sarah Mae succumbed to her illness and died two months afterward. Laurel, Henrietta's only child, and her family, moved into the home with us shortly after. Her husband's last name was Foster, no relation to my mother's family, so it was a perfect fit. The story we told was that I was orphaned when I was fourteen, and that I had been sent to live with my grandmother, Henrietta. The Fosters then 'adopted' me. Once Henrietta becomes too old, Laurel is expected to take the reign. Then her daughter, Maureen. Though I was hoping to find you all now that Ma is gone and there is no one else who knows you who is still alive today. My mother was desperate to find you all, to introduce us and tell you my predicament. Trying to find a solution. She said I needed to be with my family. To be looked after once she was gone."

Miles shook his head. "What do you mean, you needed to be with your family? To be looked after?"

"That night, she finally told me the truth about my parentage. How she had gotten pregnant before going to Paris. How the wedding was fake. Her first husband is fake. Haven't you all caught on?" She looked at Jesse, who seemed horrified.

"My father is Jesse Tuck."