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I had wanted to go with her, but Maya said she felt it might be more easily accepted if she did it alone. Something between mother and daughter and that maybe Hellen wouldn’t take it the wrong way. That didn’t change that I was currently sitting here with my stomach tied up in knots at the prospect of her being out there with a complete stranger.
“DNA is the only way you will know for certain. I’ve heard crazier stories of how parents are reunited with their children and social media has come a long way in helping parents reconnect with them. What was her story?”
“Got in with the wrong crowd when she was fifteen, ran away and all of that. Her boyfriend at the time was a bad boy. He ran drugs and partied all the time. At nineteen they were arrested, and she refused to roll on him. She was sent to medium security prison for ten years. She discovered she was pregnant while in prison and gave birth. Her rights were immediately terminated. The father overdosed two years roughly later in prison. She claims that she got her GED in prison and took college business courses. That she owns her own company with multiple locations all over the country for remodeling kitchens.”
“Alright, I’ll look into it and see if she is lying. I can run her name as well and see if there was anything she left out. I will say that it is typical practice for any mother who gives birth in prison to have their rights terminated, especially if they have a long stint ahead of them. It’s different if they are getting out in a month and even then the prison usually lets them go based on good behavior. As a general rule, if you have been a model inmate and you have a year or less on your stint and you get pregnant, they let you out. With Hellen having ten years they would have terminated right away.”
“How do you get pregnant while in prison?” I couldn’t help but asked.
“Either conjugal with a husband or long-term boyfriend, assuming it is approved by the warden. Or you get hot and heavy with a guard. It happens more often than you would think. Prisons try to keep the women with female guards, but it doesn’t always work that way. I had a friend in the FBI that investigated a case where the Warden was under investigation. He had slept with over a thousand inmates in his office. He was using the women to then smuggle drugs to the other inmates that he brought in.”
“Holy fuck,” I said as I shook my head. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. People could be cruel and greedy, but you wouldn’t expect a prison to be a place where sexual harassment lived coming from the Warden or the guards.
“It’s a fucked-up world we live in. Like I said, I’ll run her name and see if anything pops. DNA is the best move you can make. How is Maya handling all of this? That had to come as one hell of a shock to her.”
“It did. She doesn’t believe it, and I think part of her isn’t able to handle the prospect that Hellen might actually be telling the truth. That she could be her mother. I’m worried about what could happen to Maya if the test does come back positive.”
I was worried about the stress on the baby. She was going through a lot right now. Her whole life had been turned upside down. Yes for the better, but it was still a massive change she was going through. It would have been a lot if she wasn’t pregnant, but to add that into the mix, it was more than anyone should have to go through.
“You can’t control what the test results will be. All you can do is be there for her. I know she’s going through a lot. There’s been a shitload of change in a very short period of time. All that stress can’t be good for her or the baby. Maybe she needs a break.”
“What kind of break?” I was a bit worried about what that could be. I didn’t want Maya to leave or for us to slow things down. We were finally connecting, and I felt like we were developing real feelings for the other. She was quickly stealing my heart.
“Nothing crazy, relax. I just meant for you to take her out to another city. Waco or even Austin for the day. Take the day and be a normal couple or bring Zoey with you and go to the zoo or the mall. Be a normal couple and leave everything about her past and Hellen in your rearview mirror for the day. Let her recharge a bit.”
“That’s a good idea actually. We could take Zoey; it would be the perfect time to tell her about the baby.”
“She doesn’t know yet?” Lucas said, a bit surprised by that.
“I know I need to tell her. I guess I have been worried that Maya would need to leave and now that we know she is safe, I’m afraid of how Zoey is going to react. We kinda threw her into the lie, and now she was going to be a big sister. I don't even know if she likes younger children or even wants one in the house.”
There was a huge difference between playing with kids at the park and then living with one. We’ve never had a conversation about her having a sibling. There was no guarantee how she was going to react, and I had no idea how I would react if she said she didn't want a sibling. I knew it was too late; she was getting one whether she wanted one or not, but there was no telling how long the adjustment period would be. The easiest route would be if Zoey was excited for the baby, and I was truly praying that she would be. We needed a win here.
“I don’t think she’s going to have a problem with having a sibling. She is an amazing little girl, and she is going to love having a sibling to play with. I bet a lot of her friends at school have siblings as well.”
“Potentially. All I can do is tell her. But maybe doing that in a more casual setting would be easier on her. We could tell her together in the car on the ride to Austin. Then we could do some shopping and that might help Zoey and Maya bond more.”
“How are they getting along?”
“Perfectly. Better than I ever could have asked for. She loves anime, and they spend every night watching a couple of episodes of Naruto. And she normally reads her a chapter or two in a manga before bed. She has even been teaching her how to make little repairs and teaching her how to draw. Things between them are great.”
It was a massive relief that they were getting along so well. Maya could relate to Zoey in ways that Elizabeth had never been able to. Had never wanted to. I was thrilled for Zoey to have someone like Maya in her life, and I was hoping their growing connection would make Zoey happy to have a sibling on the way.
“See, you got nothing to worry about,” Lucas said with a big smile.
“You might be right. Okay, I’ll take ‘em up to Austin, and we can have a normal fun day. It’ll take the pressure off telling Zoey and on us.”
Now I just had to figure out a good day for the three of us to slip away and have a family day.
Maya
Webothsatdownat a table on the patio at the one cafe that was still open in town. A smile was plastered onto Hellen’s face after my offer to grab some lunch. I was hoping it would still be there when I asked her for a DNA test. This was really only going to go one of two ways. Either she was going to agree, or she was going to be pissed and storm out of here. I guess that would give me my answer. If she was upset by the idea, then she could have ulterior motives for being here. I didn't think a DNA test would be that out there for a request.
“This is a great little town,” Hellen said as we sat down.
“We haven’t been here that long, but from what the residents have said, it was a lot more lively before. The town slowly started to go downhill, and then people moved away. Now we have a half dead town we are trying to restore.”
“The area is beautiful and the architecture of the homes and the buildings here. They’re amazing. I can only imagine what the inside of the houses look like.”
