Page 60 of Someone Like You
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Brooke had tried to call Maddie every day since she left. Twenty days in a row, three times a day, sometimes four. Not once did her daughter pick up. So Brooke would text, and she wasn’t the only one. Her dad and Elaine and all Brooke’s siblings had tried texting Maddie.
So far the only person in the house Maddie had texted back was Hayley. She still loved her sister. One thing Brooke was thankful for. Because in their darkest moments, Brooke and Peter truly believed Maddie was so confused, she no longer loved them. As if what they had done by not telling Maddie the truth about her identity was too much to forgive.
But then Brooke and Peter would hold hands and beg God to soften Maddie’s heart, to bring her back home. Never had Brooke imagined that in the fallout of telling their daughter the truth about her identity she might leave. That she would be gone three weeks and move in with her biological parents, or that she would reject everything about her real family.
Today Brooke’s appointments had been a blur of colds and ear infections and one broken arm. The whole time, every little girl was Maddie. The one Brooke had carried inside her, the one she birthed and held and loved from her first minute of life. Oh, to go back and do it all overagain. She and Peter would’ve told Maddie from the time she could talk.
Different DNA, but still our child. Adopted as an embryo but always a West. Always a Baxter.Those would’ve been their words as often as Maddie needed to hear them. Yes, they would’ve made that clear even if little Maddie couldn’t possibly have known the meaning of DNA or embryos. Never mind.
They would’ve told her.
Lunch was at the same time each day for Brooke and Peter. It was one of the joys of sharing the pediatric practice. No appointments noon to one. Instead they would take a walk and get coffee or lunch. Today they walked to Chopt, a new salad place a block from their office.
Just as they were about to go inside, Brooke’s phone rang. She had stopped hoping the call might be from Maddie, but just in case, she checked the caller ID. “Peter!” She dropped to a bench near the front door. “It’s her.”
The sidewalk outside the restaurant was quiet. Peter joined her and Brooke put the call on speakerphone. “Maddie? Maddie, thank God.”
Silence. And then only the most faint sound of someone breathing on the other end.
“Maddie?” Peter tried this time. “Honey, we’re both here. Please … talk to us.”
“Okay.” Maddie’s voice sounded beyond broken. “I … wanted to tell you a few things.”
Brooke’s heart raced. She was calling them, talking to them. No one could’ve forced her, so this could only be God working in her heart. “Yes.” There was a breathlessness in Brooke’s tone. She couldn’t help it. “We’re here, honey. We love you.”
“We miss you.” Peter seemed as desperate as Brooke to get the words out, tell her what she needed to know. “Every day we’re praying for you, sweetheart.” His voice choked up and for a few seconds he struggled to speak. “We’re so … so sorry.”
It took a long pause, but finally Maddie spoke again. “I know.” Anger still tinged her tone, but she was calling. That’s all that mattered. “First … Dawson has been helping me with forgiveness.” She was still fighting for control by the sound of her voice. “He’s been showing me Scriptures, praying with me.”
Dawson.Brooke’s mind raced. “The guy who came to the zoo?”
“Yes. He was in love with London. My … sister who died.” Her words held an unspoken accusation.
Only then did Brooke realize the gravity of the situation. “London … she’s …”
“She was killed in an accident. Almost two months ago.” Maddie paused. “That’s what Dawson came to tell me.”
The weight of this landed hard on Brooke’s shoulders. She could tell by the pain in Peter’s face, the same was true for him. He slid a little closer to the phone. “Honey … I’m so sorry.”
Brooke had no idea what to say. Had they told Maddie sooner, she might’ve found these people and enjoyed a friendship with her biological sister. Instead … “We’re both sorry. Your … her parents must be devastated.”
“Yes.” Maddie seemed a little calmer. She told them the names of the people she was staying with. Her biological parents. Another detail Brooke and Peter hadn’t known till now. “Louise and Larry Quinn. They have a guest room. And they’re letting me work at their family coffeeshop a few days a week.” She paused. “But I’m spending most of my time with Dawson. When he doesn’t have to go to the office.”
Maddie was helping out at her biological mother’s café? Questions filled Brooke’s mind, but they could wait. The entire conversation felt like something from a nightmare. Maddie was living with strangers in Portland and spending most of her time with some man they didn’t know. She wanted to ask her daughter about Connor. But that could wait, too.
Choose your words carefully, Brooke told herself. “Okay. So … you and Dawson … you were saying?”
“He’s been wonderful.” This was the best Maddie had sounded since they answered her call. “Every day he tells me … ‘Call your parents. Forgive them. That’s what God would want.’?”
All this time she had been frustrated at the guy who had flown to Indiana from Portland just to ruin their daughter’s life. But now Brooke understood. Her opinion of Dawson had been completely wrong.
The young man was on their side. How would he have guessed that Maddie didn’t know the truth about her birth?
A slight relief came over her and she felt Peter relax some. He sat a little straighter. “Thank you for sharing that, Maddie. We know … how hard this is for you.”
“Not really.” There it was again, her quick tongue and hard tone. She sighed, like she hadn’t wanted to sound that way. “So … the other thing is going to take a minute for you to understand.”
