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I got off the exam table and grabbed my stuff before we both headed out. We got into Charlie’s truck just as my phone beeped. I dug it out of my purse and saw that it was an email from the lab. Charlie had paid extra to have Hellen’s DNA test put through on a rush and the results were in.
“The results are in,” I said as I stared at my phone, too afraid to open the email and read what it would say.
Charlie reached over and placed his hand in mine as he spoke, “No matter what the results are, we will get through it.”
I wasn’t too sure about that, but I knew the only way to move forward would be to read ‘em. I opened the email, and it had a lot of scientific explanations about how the results were calculated. I opened the attachment and saw a bunch of scientific crap, but at the bottom of the page it told me what I needed to know. Probability match was ninety-nine percent. She was my mother. Holy shit.
“She is,” I said, completely in shock.
This hadn’t been the results I had been expecting. I figured Hellen was confused and that she easily mistook me for her own daughter. It was logical. I never expected to have to deal with the possibility that she was my mother. That I had a mother out there that had looked for me. That didn’t want to give me up but had no say in the matter.
“Okay, it’s okay. We know now, and now the ball is completely in your court. It’s up to you how you want to proceed and what you wish to do about Hellen.” He was trying to be supportive, and I appreciated it. At the same time though, I was kinda freaking out so his words not real helpful.
“I don’t know what to do. I never thought I would have to figure this out.” Fuck, what the hell was I supposed to do?
“What you can do is take a couple of days to process all this new information. And then maybe we have Hellen over, and you can speak with her about any boundaries that you want to have in place. We take it all one step at a time. I can text her for you and let her know the results and to come by for dinner in a few days if you want.”
I knew she deserved at least a phone call, and it should come from me, but right now my mind couldn’t even function enough to handle that. All I could do was give a nod and allow for Charlie to handle this. Maybe in a couple of days I will be in a better mind frame to handle what all of this meant for not just myself, but for this baby as well.
Charlie
Attheknockatthe door, I turned to look at Maya. I could see she was nervous, not that I could blame her. Finding out that a complete stranger was your biological mother wasn’t a small pill to swallow. Especially because she had never expected for a parent to appear in her life. She was taking it very well given everything that had happened to her. I knew there was still a bit of a shock that she was going through, but my hope would be that once it faded she would be okay with having Hellen in her life.
“You ready?” I asked as I placed my hands on her biceps and rubbed them gently.
“I don’t know if there is a ready for this. But it’s too late to turn back now,” she said with a shaky smile.
“Everything is going to be okay. And if you get overwhelmed or need a break just say so. And remember, you don’t have to make yourself fit in her life. She has to fit into your life. Regardless of the circumstances, you were taken from her and spent eighteen years in foster care because of the choices she made. You don't have to make this work; that’s on her.”
I didn't blame Hellen for the choices she made when she was young. She was a teenager that was preyed on by an older man. Her family should have been there for her to prevent it from happening. However, they failed, and as a result, Maya had to grow up in a hostile environment. She was the victim in all of this, and it wasn’t on her to adapt to Hellen, but the other way around.
“Yeah … okay,” she said, and I could tell that she was trying to be okay with all of this, but it was just going to take some time.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead before I moved away and went over to the door. After opening it, I could see Hellen was just as worried and nervous about this dinner as Maya. For some reason that made me feel better, because it meant that they both understood how important this was and what was at stake. I felt bad for Hellen, because again she wasn't the villain in this story.
“Hellen, it’s so good that you could come by for dinner,” I said with a warm smile as I moved back and made room for her to enter.
She walked through with a kind smile, but her whole body was tense. I wanted to try and make her feel better or at least make her feel a bit more at ease. I could see her eyes moving all around, trying to take everything in, but also trying to see what she could learn about Maya as well. There wasn’t really much of anything in the house that would indicate who Maya was, something we needed to change. She didn’t really have photos from growing up, nothing that she had been able to truly keep while being on the run for five years. Anything personal and it could link back to her original life, something she couldn’t afford to have happen.
It was something we needed to make a real change on. I wanted her to feel like this was her home as well. That she could bring her own style into it. Maybe we should do a family photo together to get us started? It was something we could worry about on another day.
“Thanks for coming by,” Maya said, slightly awkwardly, but she was trying.
“I’m happy you invited me. You have a lovely home. The bones are remarkable. And these floors,” she said as she tried to take it all in. It was clear that Maya was related to her. Their love for architecture was hopefully something they would be able to bond over.
“I told you they were amazing. They will look breathtaking once they have been refurbished,” Maya said before she turned and headed towards the kitchen. “Dinner should be finished.”
“Why don’t I get you a drink? Do you have a preference?” I offered.
“Oh, just water is fine with me,” Hellen said with a small smile as we walked into the kitchen.
We had decided to cook something simple, spaghetti and meatballs, because we didn’t really know what she liked, and we felt it was a safe option. I went about grabbing drinks for all of us while Maya grabbed the food and set it on the table. We all sat down, me and Maya on one side with Hellen on the other.
“This smells and looks delicious,” Hellen said as we began to serve our food.
“Thank you. I hope you like spaghetti,” Maya commented.
“I love it. I will pretty much eat any home cooked meal. I don’t tend to get very many of them.”
