Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (books for 9th graders TXT) 📗

“Did she tell you anything about her?”

“Her name is Francesca. She’s Italian. Guess that explains my dark hair, dark eyes, and love of cooking.” I managed a laugh. “Her husband passed away two years ago. She’s sixty-five years old.” I could tell Jack was trying to do the math in his head. “She was seventeen when she had me,” I continued, sparing him the mental calculation. “Other than that, she didn’t say much more. I did learn a lot about my sis—I mean, Jennifer.”

“Your sister?” Jack said the word I was unable to get out.

“Yeah. It just seems so foreign to use that word in relation to me.”

“I’m sure it does.”

“Get this, she’s an elementary school teacher too.” I smiled. “She has a partner, Dina, who she’s been with for the past fifteen years and they have a seven-year-old son. Kara has a cousin from my side of the family.” I shook my head. “God, that seems so weird to say. When for all these years, it’s been just me.”

“Well, I don’t know how you’re feeling, but I’m happy for you to be able to meet them.”

“I’m not really sure how I’m feeling about it all. I guess it’s human nature to want to find out more, but…” I sighed. “I don’t think I’m going to tell my father about this just yet.”

“Why not? You not telling him about it is the same as him not telling you that you were adopted. And I’m guessing it’s for the same reason he decided to keep the secret for so long…because you’re afraid he might be hurt by it?”

“Yes,” I whispered. It was all so coincidental that they found me right after I learned about being adopted. Would my father think I sought them out? I swore to him that he and my mother were my parents and I couldn’t care less who gave birth to me. “I don’t want him to think I found them because I wanted to know who my real family was.”

“You didn’t.”

“I know, but what if he thinks I did?”

“Steph, I think your dad knows you better than that. Besides, unless you have some pretty powerful connections, there was no way on earth you would’ve gotten that information so quickly.”

He was right. I’d never researched it before, but I was certain finding out information on adoptions required one to go through a lot of red tape on both ends. Which got me wondering how my birth mother had tracked me down. How long had she been looking for me? Why was she looking for me? These were all questions I could get the answers to tomorrow, if I was brave enough to ask them. “The whole thing just seems so surreal to me. I was finally coming to terms with the fact that I was adopted, and now meeting the woman who actually gave birth to me is going to be a whole new shock to the system.”

“Just see what she has to say, and then take it from there.”

I nodded and forced a smile. “Well, at least now you can put your mysterious woman in the car case to rest.”

“Yeah, but that still doesn’t help me with the mysterious man in the ocean.” His voice wavered in defeat.

“Jack?” I focused on the twinkling Christmas tree lights, trying to fight the emotion building up in my eyes. “Today, when she got out of that car and started to approach me, everything came back to me from that day.” I finally turned my head in his direction, giving up on the battle with my feelings. He reached for my hand, and I oddly took comfort in it. “I pushed that memory so far back into my subconscious, that I was foolish enough to believe it didn’t exist anymore—but it does.” I focused deeply into Jack’s eyes, which were begging me to go on.

“When she came walking up that sidewalk, I envisioned a few different scenarios—none of them good. But the fact of the matter was, I knew I had options. I could’ve let Max go after her…he’d probably lick her to death.” I managed a laugh. “But maybe he would’ve scared her enough to make her run the other way. I could’ve screamed for help to the next-door neighbor who was outside. I could’ve maybe controlled the outcome if something bad were to happen.” I stopped and took in a sharp inhale. “That day, when that car purposely came at me, there was nothing I could do. I didn’t have time to play out different scenarios in my head. I had nowhere else to go.”

Jack threw his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. “And I’m so sorry, Stephanie.”

“Don’t be,” I whispered. I waited for him to return his gaze back to me before continuing. “It wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t my fault. I know for years I made you feel like you were to blame because of the circumstances, but what I never told you was I blamed myself just as much because I couldn’t protect him. I should’ve been able to save him. I was his mother…”

My tears, my sadness, and my pain wouldn’t allow me to get the rest of the words out. Jack pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly, rubbing my back in small circles. He buried his face into my shoulder, and when I felt the dampness of his tears soaking through my shirt, I realized for the first time the burden he’d been carrying around for years as well. I wasn’t sure how long we sat there, holding each other, but it was something that was long overdue, and something that should have happened years ago. Perhaps if it had, we’d still be married.

“I’m the one who’s sorry, Jack,” I whispered. “Sorry for making you bear the brunt of everything.”

“Stop. It was an accident. One that neither one of us had control over.