“I made a career of it. I was successful. I could actually pay my bills with the money I made, and then some. I didn’t want handouts from my parents, but they gave me lavish gifts, anyway. They were proud of me. They were flawed people. I understand that. But… good parents. Then… all hell broke loose.” She looked up at the ceiling, squeezing the moist tissue in her hand. She closed her eyes, fighting the onslaught of tears that threatened to come. “My father died in a boating accident, just like I told you. Well, it was all over the news. There was a lot of hoopla about it, because as I said, he was—”
“Prominent and well respected.”
She nodded. “Yes. Right. Well, wouldn’t you know it? All of that press buried the dead, and woke it up, too.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. She hadn’t told a soul this story… not a one. “Jack… once I tell you this, there’s no turning back. I will have revealed something that could destroy everything dear to me—the little that’s left.”
“Seems to me that’s what needs to happen. The truth ain’t cheap. Time for a wreckin’ ball, so you can be free from this.” He calmly sipped his beer, giving her the time she needed. After a minute or two, she built up her nerve to continue.
“My father died, the press ran story after story about it, and before you knew it, a Black woman came forward, claiming her baby was stolen from her by him.”
Jack remained still, as if nothing she uttered had surprised him.
“She said that… uh…whew… shit!” The tears came again, stinging her eyes. He placed his beer bottle down, took her hand and squeezed it.
“Come on. Get it all out,” he urged.
“This Black woman got on the news and said that she gave birth to a baby girl in the hospital at age twenty-three. She said that my adoptive father, Matthew Milton, approached her after the police and social services had gotten involved about her pregnancy. Her pregnancy with me.”
“Why was she being spoken to by the police?”
“She was a drug addict. I was born addicted to drugs! I was small, barely breathin’! I almost died!” Her chest heaved up and down and now, she could barely see through the flood of hot tears. The truth though was far from blind. “This lady, who claimed to be my mother, said she saw my father on the news, and the bad memories all came back. She said he wrote her a check, and told her to go away. She said he and my mother took me away from her, but she didn’t wanna give up her baby. Said she was going into treatment. She already had other children, and my parents had none. Well, naturally this all hit the fan.
“I confronted my mother about it, and at first she tried to shame me. Tell me I was crazy to believe such a thing, and how could I ask her something like that, with my father not even cold in the ground? I left this alone for a bit, but I knew better! My career started suffering. People were looking at me funny… treating me differently. I was deeply depressed over the loss of my father, and now this! My birth mother apparently was terminally ill, too. Said she wanted to get this off her chest before she died. She wanted to look into her daughter’s eyes before she was deceased. She was doing all of this on the news, Jack. People were seeing my personal life, live and in living color, and I had no say in how it went, or how it played out. It was like being trapped in a television show, and you weren’t told the lines, but you better say them right or face death.” She gripped her shirt, bunched the material around her heart and sobbed.
“Sit up.” He yanked her arm, then gently raised her chin with a tilt of his fingers. “Finish.”
She resented him at that moment. Hated him, and loved him a bit, too.
“…So, I went back to my mother. Angelique. I made her tell me the truth, Jack. We got into it so bad that I physically took her in my arms, and shook the hell out of her! ‘TELL ME WHAT YOU DID! TELL ME!’ She finally broke down. My parents tried to adopt, but it was taking too long in their opinion, even with all of their connections. Then, this girl, well, young lady, fell into their lap. My father was a prosecuting attorney. Criminal law. He used his influence to get that baby… to make… to make my mother happy.” She blew her nose once again, then kept on.
“They gave my birth mother five thousand dollars, and a promise that her criminal charges would all go away… vanish… She could run… She could run far… far … away… into the night.”