Page 64 of The Temptation of Truth
As the phone rings,I check under the stalls for the tenth time to make sure I’m actually alone.
Iamalone. I made sure of it before dialing the number, but I’m also a little paranoid right now. If this were to get out to the media...I cringe. It would be a circus, and the tiny bit of privacy I’ve managed to cling to would go up in smoke. My palms start to sweat just thinking about it. Fuck, it’s the last thing I want?—
“Hello, this is Alaina Caldwell.”
My back stiffens immediately, and I force a swallow before responding.
“Ms. Caldwell. Hi. It’s Mabel Rossi.”
“Yes, hello, Ms. Rossi. How is your tour?”
“Good so far. We’re in Adelaide this weekend, so the venue is smaller than we’re used to. I’m looking forward to the more intimate setting.”
“More intimate meaning eleven thousand people instead of ninety thousand?”
“Exactly,” I say with a laugh. I always forget how different our situation is from so many other artists. I shake my head with a smile and switch gears. “I want to thank you foraccommodating me with the time difference. I know it’s early in New York.”
“It’s not a problem. I’m glad we can make it work. I was beginning to worry you’d had second thoughts.”
I glance at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and sigh. “Honestly, I did.”
And third. And fourth.
It was my conversation with Aurora that finally solidified my decision. I’ve been replaying it over and over in my mind. The way she talked about her family. How much pain I heard in her voice when she spoke of them. She loved them fiercely, and they were taken from her. She can’t see them, or hug them, or laugh with them ever again. There are no future plans. No birthdays. No vacations. The chance for those opportunities is gone, and my heart broke for her.
And then...
You must have had a name, she said.
Is that true? If they’d kept me for a few weeks, they must have named me. Right?
I watch my brows bunch together in the mirror as the questions in my head grow louder.
What if I did have a name? What if I was more than just an abandoned baby? What if I waswanted? What ifmychance isn’t gone? My chance for plans and birthdays and vacations. What if it’s all right in front of me, and I’m wasting it?
“Well, I’m glad to hear you didn’t completely change course because I’ve got some news.”
My lawyer’s voice is positive despite it being four-thirty in the morning where she is, and it stokes the embers of nerves in my chest. Excitement. Anxiety. I’m feeling it all, so I cut right to the point.
“Did the private investigator find my birth mother?”
I can hear the smile when she answers.
“She did.”
My head is in a fog as I leave the bathroom.
My birth mother is a vet tech living in Georgia with her husband and two kids. And she’s young. That’s the part that has shaken me the most. My birth mother is only forty-four, meaning she was only fourteen when she had me. She was practically a kid.
Fourteen. That’s the age of her oldest daughter. Well...
Her second oldest daughter, I guess.
I have two sisters. Fourteen and twelve. Brynn’s age. Would they be friends? Cousins, sort of, I guess. Do my sisters look like me? Do they know about me? Do they listen to my music?
My thoughts are spinning.
I have a mom and two sisters who are out there living happily in Georgia. The private investigator gave my lawyer all their information. Address, phone numbers, emails. I know where my mom works. I know where my sisters go to school. I know one of them plays basketball and one plays piano. I know all of it. I could call them right now if I want to. Could fire up the jet and show up on their doorstep.
