“Oh, I don’t know, I just love that name-Mindy. It was my biological mother’s name, too.”
“Oh, really?” Tom said, intrigued at this revelation. “You mean you actually know who your real mom is?”
“Not exactly. All I know is that her name was Mindy. I’ve got a picture of her holding me when I was a baby. I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. You want to see it?”
“Of course I would.”
Erin opened her backpack. Tom sat down beside her and waited as she located her billfold and began thumbing through it.
“Here it is,” she said, taking one of the photos out of a transparent sleeve. She flipped it over and showed Tom the back, which had writing in blue ballpoint pen. It read, “To my lovely daughter. Please know that I will always love you.” At the bottom it was signed, “Mindy, your mommy.”
“See, she even signed it,” Erin said proudly.
She flipped the photo over. “There we are-my mommy and me.”Tom stared at the photo. It was in color and showed a young woman about twenty or so holding a tiny baby in her arms The woman was Mindy Conkel!
Tom looked closer. No doubt about it, the woman in the picture was Mindy.
He was dumbfounded. Not sure what to do or say, Tom struggled for the best way to deal with this.
“She’s very pretty. How in the world did you get this picture, anyway?”
Erin continued holding on to the picture lovingly. “I think my first foster parents gave it to children’s services who in turn gave it to me after I’d been adopted by my second foster family. Since I had already been told that I was an orphan I guess they figured I may as well have it.”
“Did you ever want to find her-your biological mother?” Tom asked curiously.
“Of course! But I haven’t known where to begin. I heard that you could trace your family tree online so I tried that once, but had no luck. It really helps when you have a last name to start with,” she added dismally.
“I wonder if you could post that picture on the internet. There’s a chance that someone might know who she is,” Tom suggested, feeling more and more guilty the further he went with this charade.
“I tried that, too. In fact, Kyle put it online for me, which is about the only nice thing he’d ever done for me. We never heard back from anyone. It’s useless. I’ll probably never know who she is-or was.”
Tom wanted nothing more than tell her who her mother was. And that he knew who her father was, too. That it just so happened that her dad was the same man sitting there with her right now.
But he couldn’t do that. Not yet, anyway. He had to be certain that he was truly the girl’s father before running the risk of leading her on with something that might not be true. And the only way to be absolutely certain would be for them to have their DNA tested.
Furthermore, he wanted to be sure of Mindy Conkel’s feelings on this. After all, she had given Erin up for adoption in the first place. It was really her place to decide if Erin should know who her biological mother was. Somehow, he was going to have to track her down and find out what her thoughts would be on seeing her daughter again after all these years. Perhaps he could find out Mindy’s whereabouts from Donnie when he came to.
Tom stared thoughtfully at Erin for a moment as she continued studying the wallet print in her hand. Did she look anything like him? She did have brown eyes and hair, just as he did. And her face was rather long and thin like his. And didn’t the shape of her nose resemble his, or was it just his imagination?
Suddenly, the bizarre nature of this entire situation hit him straight on. What in the hell were the astronomical odds of he and Erin and Donnie Shortridge all being together in this house right now at this very moment? The world was virtually deserted right now for all he knew, yet here he was with a daughter he never knew he had and the man who had once been married to her mother There had to be a reason for all of this.
But what was it?
He had no idea.
He would have to think about this.
But first, he was going to have to get some sleep. His thoughts were so jumbled up now that it was useless to try to make any sense of anything.
He observed how Erin was looking longingly at the photo in her hand. His heart bled for her. The girl had had a miserable life through no fault of her own. Yet she still yearned to know who her mother was. And no doubt, her father, too.
It was enough to make him want to break down and cry.
He gently placed his hand on her arm. “Well, you never know, kiddo. You may still find her some day. I wouldn’t give up if I were you.”
She smiled as she continued staring at the photo. “I know I’ll never give up. Even if she doesn’t want me in her life, I want to know what has happened to her. And why she had to give me away. This photo proves she loves me. I think she had to do it for a good reason. And whatever the reason was, I know that I’ll forgive her. I just want to know her!”
Tom put his arm around Erin and pulled her against him. “If you want, I’d be more than happy to help you find her in any way I can.”
“Oh Tom, that would be so nice! And I’ll help you find your wife and kids.”
Tom had almost forgotten his own family for a moment. Almost. This was all just too much to bear. All he could hope for was that things would be better in the morning.
“Well, I’m ready to take that shower and turn in.”
Erin slipped the photo back into her wallet. “Me too.”
Tom got up. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay. Night.”
“Night, Erin.”
Tom went upstairs, undressed and took a long, hot shower.
After changing into a pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt, he quietly descended the stairs to the living room. By the light of the fire, he saw Erin snuggled up on the sofa under the blankets. He went over to where she lay, leaned down and kissed her gently on her forehead.
He went into the kitchen to check on Donnie. The hillbilly was still out like a light and breathing regularly. With luck, the bastard would be out for another eight hours so he and Erin could get some much needed sleep.
Tom returned to the living room, picked up one of the blankets, sat down on the recliner and covered himself up. He felt a bit more focused after his shower and had come up with a plan for tomorrow morning. He would take Donnie aside, safely out of earshot of Erin, and ask him where he might find Mindy. If he refused to comply or claimed not to know, he would be out of luck. If he flatly refused to talk, Tom would use some kind of tactic to get him to speak. What that would be, he had no idea and in fact hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Then after making certain that Donnie was securely bound, he and Erin would take a drive down to Smithtown. Tom would make up an excuse for going there-maybe tell her that his family could possibly be there with relatives or something.
The truth of it was, Tom now found himself obsessed with the idea that Erin might be his daughter. He had to find out if it was true. And locating her mother would be a start.
Tom pondered why he had become obsessed with the truth about Erin and came up with a very good one…
She could very well be the only family he had left on earth.
Tom glanced over at the sleeping girl, wondering if she would ever be able to forgive him if she were indeed his child. Would she be as forgiving of him as she was of her mother?
Only time would tell.
Tom felt his eyes get heavy. He finally gave in to the absolute need for sleep, closed his eyes and fell into a dead slumber.
CHAPTER 15
“Tom? Can you hear me?”
The voice seemed far away. Miles and miles away.
“Tom, please wake up!”
He wondered how long the voice had persisted. It seemed like he’d heard it for the last hour or so. He wished it would go away. He was so damned tired “Please, Tom! Open your eyes!”
He realized now that the voice was not going to go away. He was going to have to get up, damn it!