Glancing over to her as I drove, Mia just stared at me, her big brown eyes open wide and her mouth agape.
I swallowed and rubbed my chin. Shit. Did I overstep our boundaries?
“Do you want to know who he is? Where he is?” I asked carefully.
Mia looked out the window and exhaled. “I…I don’t…” She stumbled over her words.
“I’m sorry. It was wrong of me,” I pleaded with her. “Don’t be mad.”
“I just need to think right now,” Mia said plaintively continuing to look out at the road speeding by.
The rest of the way home we didn’t talk. Silence filled the car and weighed on me heavily. I’d been such an ass to take it upon myself to find Mia’s father. I sh
ould have asked.
When we got home, Mia went straight into our bedroom. Wanting to leave her alone, I sat at my desk in my office hoping she wasn’t packing her things to leave me.
After only a few minutes, she came into my office and sat on my lap. Throwing her arms around me, she said, “Theo, it was sweet of you to look for my father.”
“I just thought that maybe you’d want to know.” Opening a drawer on my desk, I withdrew two envelopes. “I thought we might find out about our histories together.”
She took the envelope with her name on it and put it on my desk. “I have a mother that loves me and raised me.” She jabbed her finger on the envelope. It crinkled with each jab. “This guy in here is just a man, a sperm donor.” She pointed at the envelope with my name. “Your situation is different. You should learn about your parents if you want to. If I didn’t know my parents at all, I’d want to know. “
Unexpectedly, tears came to my eyes. Mia’s lack of bitterness was incredible. She really was a remarkable woman.
But my bitterness was still sharp and pungent.
Could knowing who my parents were dull that ache?
Looking in my eyes, Mia took my face in her hands, “No matter what is in that envelope, it doesn’t change who you are.”
Pushing the envelope into her hands, I said, “Will you open it? I’ll lose my nerve.”
She took it from me and broke the seal. Reaching in, she took out a large stack of papers. The very first paper on top said what I most wanted to know.
My mother, Kelly Graham, was deceased. My father was unknown.
Devastation slammed through me. My mother was dead and my father, whomever he was, I’d never know.
Flinging the papers down onto the floor, I uttered, “Is that it? Is that all the information I’m going to get?”
Mia scrambled to her feet and searched through the papers. “There has got to be more information than that!” She held up a paper with a bright smile on her face. “You have a grandmother! Still alive. In Tennessee! There’s an address!”
In surprise, I took the paper from her. Reba Graham. Maryville, Tennessee.
I wiped my tears from my cheeks. “You want to go on a trip?”
“I’ll go anywhere with you,” Mia said kissing me on the lips.
I was so happy to have found Mia. She was the perfect woman for me. If she hadn’t been there, I would have never opened the envelope and found out about my grandmother.
Chapter 17
Mia
After finding out about Theo’s grandmother, we took a flight to Tennessee the very next morning. I floated on air and felt thrilled to be there for Theo when he really needed someone. The exciting prospect of one day being Mrs. Theo Wainwright became more real every day. Of all people in the world, Theo wanted me by his side as he met his only known relative.
In our rental car, Theo was unusually quiet. I didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts. We were the same in that way. If something was on our minds, it was best to let us linger in our meditative states.