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“11:15 a.m. It’s only 11:10 now,” she remarked, looking anxious like she’d missed something.
“No, you’re on time. We’re not going to do this on the street,” James said, nodding his head and signaling toward my father and Marnie, who were barely out of earshot.
“Is that them?” Erin asked, ducking behind James and showing how mindful she was of our delicate situation.
“It is. You’d have met them already if Tricia’s mother hadn’t died. Look, go on up there and I’ll find somewhere quiet where we can all talk. I’ll text you when we get settled, and you can come and join us. He glanced to me for approval. “How does that sound?”
“Perfect, would be great,” I agreed. “They know all about you, so it would be good to finally have a short get-together today.”
Erin nodded, leaned in, and kissed both James and me on the cheek. “Okay, see you soon, don’t forget to text, James.” Both James and I turned our attention to my father, my sister, and her husband, who had continued their conversation and missed our interaction with Erin altogether.
“Let’s all go get a drink,” James prompted. I took his arm and we wandered over to my father and I slid my other arm in my dad’s.
“Well done, Dad, that was a tough morning. I know life is never going to be the same for you. I know you loved Mom, and to find all that out about her after she’s gone has got to be heartbreaking.”
My dad looked me in the eye and shook his head. “I lived with someone for fifty odd years who was very difficult to please, very controlling, and highly manipulative. However, your mother had an incredible ability for making everyone do what she wanted and to do it her way, while never once thinking she was wrong. Knowing now what you went through has haunted me since the minute you told me. I must have been blind not to have seen the changes in you. I saw you every day and I never noticed. Shame on me.” The shattered look on his face told me how much my news had destroyed him.
“No, Dad, I remember being pregnant and how she behaved during that time, like it happened yesterday. Mom had you build a new barn and renew the fencing in the middle of winter, for goodness sake. I watched as she lined up chore after chore to keep you from spending time with me, in case you noticed my condition.” I said. His eyes looked up to his hairline and he looked back at me and nodded.
“Yeah, so that’s why there was no pleasing her that year.”
“I guess,” I stated calmly. “Come on, maybe we need something stiffer than coffee to drown our sorrows, or celebrate the fact she isn’t around anymore.”
“Yeah, and then perhaps I should hit a pawn shop with that ring to pay for those drinks.” His comment made us all chuckle, but deep down I knew he must have felt devastated, knowing my mom had been so evil as to shut him out from the most important decision his family had ever had to make.
* * *
When Erin walked into the bar, I waved her over. As soon as my dad saw her coming toward us, he stood from the booth and glanced toward me as if to confirm who she was.
“Dad, this is your granddaughter, Erin,” I stated, with a shaky, emotional voice, hugging myself. James rubbed my back.
A huge lump formed in my throat and my heart squeezed so tight when my dad pulled her to his chest in a hug. He clung tight to her as tears fell freely from his tired aged eyes and my chest tightened so much, I couldn’t catch my breath. It was one of the most touching moments of my life and a sob tore from my throat.
James pulled me closer, hugged me, and kissed my temple. When I stole a glance toward him his eyes glistened as well. Marnie stood motionless, looking helpless as she waited for our dad to take his time and for her turn to meet the niece she never knew she had.
James let me go and I slid out of the booth to hug my dad when he let go of Erin, letting me take care of him, while James introduced her to Marnie. There were tears all round by the time Franco was introduced, who for once looked moved by the touching scene before him.
“Drambuie and Coke,” Erin told James as she peeled off her jacket. Everyone sat down and James went over to order the drink. Smiling, Erin slid into the leather seat next to me. My dad was on the other side of me, and Franco and Marnie sat opposite in the large circular booth at the small Irish bar we’d found a block from the lawyer’s office.
“I can’t believe this,” she gushed, her face beaming with happiness as my dad, lost for words, reached out under the table and took my hand.
We spoke for a few minutes on the resemblance of Erin to me and how sorry my father was that he had been unaware of her. Then, by the time James had rejoined us, the conversation had turned to the will reading.
We all looked expectantly toward her, waiting to hear her tell us Mom had left her $10,000. As if she sensed we’d been waiting, she shrugged and told us.
“So the lawyer gave me a copy of my part of the will,” she began. “Apparently, my… your mom invested the ten thousand dollars she was given for the adoption.”
“I fucking knew it. As soon as I heard about that money, I knew what she’d done. She sold my baby. She took $10,000 in exchange for you?” My response came out like a question, but it was a note of disbelief in my tone. How could she do that to me? We all stared in horror at once, even James. My stomach rolled and I felt sick.
“That’s what it says,” Erin continued, as she reached into her purse and pulled out a single sheet of paper. She unfolded it. “Yep, says here the money was deposited the same day as I was born from my father’s account to one in your mom’s name in trust for me. She handed the paper over for me to read.
“Almost three quarters of a million?” Marnie asked, leaning over to read the will excerpt with me. Franco gave out a low whistle. My sister dug him in the ribs with her elbow and scowled darkly at her husband.
“She invested it. That’s what ten thousand dollars is worth if it had been invested wisely thirty years ago,” both James and I replied at the same time.
“Wow,” Marnie stated before quickly shaking her head. “At least she did that for you,” she added, addressing Erin.
“I don’t want it,” Erin replied. “Knowing I was bought is far different from thinking a couple stepped in to bring me up.”
