Page 39 of Crazy for You
As if Dad knew what I was thinking, he typed, “Go. Just be home before dark.”
Normally, I would have rushed out without blinking an eye. “Didn’t you want to talk?” I set my board down and returned to Dad before dragging a chair next to him.
I held his hand and read the words popping up on the screen as he typed with his eyes.
“I have a letter that I want you to read to me aloud,” he said.
“Okay.”
At first, I thought he was going to tell me to take his computer, but Nan must’ve been listening through the screen because she walked out with a piece of paper in her hands. I didn’t know what to make of the pensive expression she wore.
I gently took the letter as though it held world-ending secrets.
She sat in one of the other chairs near the round table. “Your dad has asked me to be present when you read what he wrote.”
I knitted my brows. She sounded like a lawyer all of a sudden, but I also caught a hint of sadness.
The paper seemed to burn a hole in my fingers, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read what was on it.
The computer voice said, “It’s okay, sweetheart. Nan will help answer some questions for me. She’s been well-informed on the situation.”
Situation?It didn’t sound like she would be my guardian—or maybe she would, since Dad wanted her there.
I took in a breath and began.
15
“‘Dear Skyler:
“‘I will never forget the look on your mom’s face when she laid eyes on you. It was pure perfection—love, adoration, and something far greater than I can articulate. That day was the happiest of our lives. We both cried tears of joy when we finally got to hold you.
“‘I wish your mom was here to see how you’re growing into a strong individual and a beautiful woman.’”
I stopped reading aloud as my tear ducts turned into Niagara Falls. Dad and Nan cried too. “I’m not sure I can go on,” I said.
Nan tucked a stray brown hair behind her ear and set her glasses higher up on her nose. “Try. It’s important that you read the rest.”
My vision was blurry, and I didn’t see how I could. After one more intake of air, I picked up where I’d left off, when all I wanted to do was get on my skateboard.
“‘I’ve struggled with the right words, on how to tell you. I never knew if there would be a right or wrong time. Your mom and I agreed we would wait until you were a teenager, but then the accident took her from us. After that, I couldn’t bring myself to broach the subject, afraid that I would lose you too.
“‘And whether this is the right time or not, you need to know. So please find it in your heart to forgive me.’”
Pausing, I rubbed the sharp pain spreading through my chest and checked on Dad. His eyes were closed. Nan, on the other hand, was staring at her lap, or maybe the deck. My gaze drifted past her to Colton’s house. I wasn’t sure why—maybe to let my brain relax for a second.
Swallowing, I pressed on. “‘I will always and forever be your father, but I am not your biological father. Your mom and I adopted you when you were barely a month old.’” I read that last line to myself again, stopping on the word “adopted.” I was adopted.
It felt like my jaw came unhinged as the thin piece of paper between my fingers began to shake. I didn’t know how to process such shocking news. I read the first four words in the last line again. “Your mom and I.” That meant neither Dad nor Mom were my bio parents. In turn, it meant I had another mom and a dad somewhere in the world.
My vision blurred, but not from crying. I was seeing stars. I whipped my head at Dad as a ton of questions hit me all at once.Who are my mom and dad? Where are they? Why did they give me up?
He was staring at me, tears flowing freely, with so much sorrow written on his handsome face. Nan seemed to be holding her breath.
I tried to speak, but my tongue wouldn’t work. My mom wasn’t my mom. My dad wasn’t my dad. The two people who had loved and cherished me, who had given me everything I could possibly want, weren’t my biological parents. Confusion spiked through me, wound its way into my brain, and stopped on a flashing neon question:Why didn’t my real parents want me?I didn’t know whether to be sad or angry.
Suddenly, I felt numb from head to toe. If someone stuck a knife in me, I wouldn’t feel it.
“I’m adopted.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement to get my mind to unwind the meaning of that word.
