Edge of the Heat 6 (3 page)

He focused his eyes on his mother’s writing, and began to read, his eyes automatically correcting her mistakes.

JT, my dearest son. You mustn’t think any less of me when you read this letter. I don’t know if your life would have been better or worse if I had not done what I did 30 years ago, but I do know that no one could have loved you more than I did. Than I do. You have been the best son in the world, and that is why I must tell you the truth now. You deserve it.

This is so hard. It is so hard for me to bring myself to write the words. I’ve tried to say them to you a dozen times in the last 20 years. No two dozen times. And I was never able to. I was afraid you would hate me. Please son, don’t hate an old lady for wanting to have a child.

JT, you aren’t my son. I adopted you. When you were younger, I lived in fear that this would come out somehow. There were a few people at the hospital that knew, but they all promised they wouldn’t tell. Every day you went to school I prayed you would come home still blissfully unaware of this fact. And you never did find out. And when you would ask about your father, I never knew what to say. The circumstances of your birth were so strange. I don’t have any idea who your father is. Or even your mother. But I will start at the beginning.

One night, I was floating in the Labor and Delivery at Westwood General Hospital. I normally worked in the ICU, but Labor and Delivery was short. I volunteered. Some angel made me say I would do it when they asked for volunteers. I was 32 years old, and had almost given up on finding a husband and having babies. I know I was never the prettiest woman, but even the ugliest woman can find a partner. I don’t know what it was about me that men didn’t like. I still don’t know. My opinionated nature? But this is about you, not me. I wanted a baby so bad. I’d always wanted kids. I was beginning to consider adoption, but it’s hard for a single woman to adopt a child in this country, and I didn’t have the money to go overseas. I was thinking about fostering children, just to be able to hold a child in my arms and heart for a little while.

And then God gave me you. A young, lovely lady was brought into the hospital by a taxi driver. He said he had picked her up on the side of the road, screaming and obviously in labor. She never even got a chance to give her name, because she was unconscious by the time she got to us. The doctors cut her open and delivered you. And you were placed into the custody of the state right away. Because your mother died on the operating table. They weren’t able to stop her bleeding. She was young. Maybe 16 years old. She had no identification on her. No one knew who she was.

They gave you to me that evening. You were small, but breathing on your own. But you did seem to need constant care. You would scream if no one was holding you. I held you all night and fed you from a bottle. You had wise eyes and a tiny shock of dark hair. I knew you were special right away.

I said I would work a double shift so I could hold you all day too while they decided what to do with you. Your mother had no identification. No one ever claimed her. The police couldn't figure out who she was. By the end of my second shift, the state had already come down to take you into protective custody. I asked what would happen to you and they said you would be placed with a family who would take care of you until your biological family was found. I asked if I could take you, and they said I could, if I signed up to be a foster parent. I did on the spot and took you home with me that afternoon. It was scary, but wonderful. I was torn from that very first day, because I wanted what was best for you, so I wanted your family to be found. But I also wanted you to stay with me forever.

I called my supervisor and arranged for a leave of absence of a week. When I still had you at the end of the week, I made it two weeks. When it seemed your family would not be found, I made it a year. I had enough money put away to allow me to stay home that long.

You were the most precious little baby on the planet. You did want to be held constantly, but I didn’t mind that at all. You grew swiftly, and by the end of that first year, you were walking and trying to run the household already. You were a very precocious child. When you were 3, they let me adopt you legally. I was thrilled, but sad at the same time.

You see JT, there is more to this story than just what I have outlined in this letter, and what you already know.

JT, you were a triplet. There were three babies. Your sisters were smaller than you, and both looked very different than you. But I don’t know what happened to them. The state never considered trying to keep the three of you together. And I never thought of trying to take you all. And that haunts me to this day. Once I went home with you, I don’t know what happened to your sisters. The state took them and wouldn’t say where they went. And to this day the records are closed.

I’m sorry JT. Sorry I never told you. And sorry I can’t tell you more about your sisters. I am just thanking God that he didn’t take me home before I got a chance to share this with you. Now it is your choice to try to find them or not.

I wish you a lifetime of love, happiness, and joy, my son. You deserve your every wish to come true. Tina will welcome me at the gates and we will be your guardian angels from now on. I love you son. I couldn’t love you more if you came from my own blood. Please forgive an old woman her secrets. Love, Mom

JT skimmed the letter quickly, a few plump tears rolling unnoticed down his face. Adopted? Sisters?! He went back to the beginning and read it again, slower this time. And then he read it one more time. He sat back in his seat and squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could. Would he open them and find this was all a dream? It couldn’t possibly be true, could it? If he were really adopted, it would explain a lot about his life, but completely shatter the rest of it.

The skin on his face tingled and his heart raced. The plane lurched underneath him and he barely registered it. The roller coaster his mind was on shoved all other thoughts and concerns aside.

Sisters. He had not one sister, but two? He had triplet sisters who shared his birthday and blood with him? He was part of a family he’d never met, never even known existed? And how could he find them? His mother hadn’t left any clues. JT put his head in his hands, his eyes still squeezed tightly shut. Could he even deal with this right now?

He couldn’t. He had to get his mind straight for the task ahead. His mother was gone. His sisters (
sisters!
) barely existed to him. But his friend needed him now. And Marines who found themselves emotionally distracted in the Middle East oftentimes found themselves dead.

Purposefully, deliberately, JT refolded the letter and put it into the envelope. He folded the envelope into a tiny square, repacking the grief, shock, disbelief and hope in his mind in the same way. He unzipped his duffel bag and shoved the envelope deep into a zippered pocket. In his mind, he did the same.

He sat down in his seat and proceeded to get his mental state under control. Colonel Clarkson was no one to mess around with. He would need all his wits for the coming hours and days if he were going to make it off of Camp Patriot with his rank and his job still intact. And he fully intended that if anyone was going to be demoted and kicked out of the Marine Corps and maybe court martialed, it would be Colonel Clarkson. Not him, and not Shane.

If only he knew what really had happened that night. Well, that’s what he was determined to find out.

T minus 48 hours

Daniela’s family home

Dani threw clothes in her bag hurriedly. She didn’t have time to run to her apartment upstate, so she’d just have to make do with what she had here. She certainly didn’t have much that was appropriate for an assignment in the Middle East though. Luckily, she thought she should be able to catch up with Uncle Kevin in Kuwait City without too much trouble. He had an office at Camp Patriot, just outside the city. She could dress normally in Kuwait City. No hijab, the veil that covers the head and chest traditionally worn by Muslim women (and non-Muslim women traveling or living in Muslim countries), was mandated there.

That’s how she was viewing this. As an assignment. She wasn’t being sent by her station, but she knew once she told them where she was going for a short vacation, they would find something for her to report on. That was fine with her. Business always took her mind off the troubles in her personal life.

She went over what her dad had finally admitted to her in her mind. A week ago, Uncle Kevin had paid off every debt he ever owed in his life. What possibly came to about almost 2 million dollars in debt. Dani’s mind boggled at the amount. Uncle Kevin couldn’t be making more than $180,000 a year. Even with the overseas pay and the hazardous duty pay and the housing allowances he was getting. And his wife had bought a new million dollar (at least) house and a new car and put their son in a new, expensive school, all on the same day. So yes, something smelled bad about all of this.

Her dad had said that he went around to all of Uncle Kevin’s bookies and asked if he hit it big on something. And the answer had been no. He’d then asked Uncle Kevin’s wife if they had hit the lottery. She’d said “No, Kev just finally got smart about business.”

Dani’s dad had mulled that over for a few days, before finally deciding it meant the worst possible thing it could mean. Kevin’s business was the Marine Corps, and there was no money in that. Unless he was doing something illegal. And horrifying.

He had then called Uncle Kevin. Every hour for a few days. Uncle Kevin would not answer, and would not call back.
Maybe he’s on a mission
, Dani had offered. But she didn’t believe it either.

So now she was going to find him personally. Her father hadn’t wanted her to go, but he wasn’t going to try to stop her. What could he do? Dani was 28 years old now, and had been jetting around the world on assignments for 6 years. Her mother wouldn’t want to know about any of it. She would just kiss Dani goodbye, and ask her to call if she met any cute boys. To her mother, she was forever sixteen.

Dani finished filling the bag, and checked her phone. Her fancy reporter’s app had found her a fare that evening and it only had one stop, meaning it would only take 15 hours. At $12,300 for first class it wasn’t cheap. Economy was almost a 10th of that but the only last-minute economy fare left stopped four times and took 32 hours. She hesitated only a second before pressing BUY. Her station would refund it all to her if they found work for her. And if they didn’t? Maybe she could borrow some money from Uncle Kevin. She snickered at her bad humor and grabbed her bag, heading for the door.

She’d already said good-bye to her dad in the back yard, so she headed straight for her mom on the couch. It seemed her parents were rarely in the same room these days. She didn’t want to think about what that meant. She had enough of her own issues to work out - she didn’t want to add her parents’ issues on top of them.

“Bye, Mom. I’ll see you in a few weeks.” She kissed her mom on the cheek.

“OK sweetheart, I love you.”

“I love you too, mom.”

Dani headed for the door, happy to have gotten away with no admonishments about men or boyfriends.

“Oh Daniela, I wanted to tell you, I saw Tim’s mother the other day. She said that Tim was back in town and wanted to see you.”

Dani turned back, her mouth open and her eyes wide. “Tim Burk?” she sputtered, a little too loudly.

Dani’s mother smiled neatly. “Yes, that nice boy you used to date in college.”

Dani shook her head. “He wasn’t a nice boy, mom. I don’t want to see him.” She turned on her heel and practically ran out of the room. So much for getting out of there unscathed.

***

Dani managed the drive to the airport without any major thoughts in her head. She even managed to make it through TSA and boarding without anger or guilt. But once she settled into her first class airplane seat, the frequent scene of some of her very best work and hardest thinking, the barriers in her mind broke down.

Tim Burk wanted to see her? For what? To remind her of the old days? To try to get her back? To get back at her? Her mind cast back to the last time she’d seen him. They’d been in a court of law. She’d been 22 years old, he’d been 24. The wheels of justice move slowly, and his trial and conviction for putting a line of bruises down her face and neck during college hadn’t happened until after they’d both graduated.

Her dad had effectively kept her from dating all through high school, doing things like sitting on the porch and cleaning his rifle when boys had been scheduled to visit her. So when she’d gone off to college, she didn’t have a lot of experience with members of the opposite sex. And somehow the first boy she’d picked, a supposed “nice boy” that actually was from her hometown, was a boy who thought it was OK to beat up on his dates.

She thought back to their short whirlwind romance. He taught her how to dance, she introduced him to sci-fi movies. They’d both entered the relationship as virgins, and Dani had shed that status eagerly and with something like relief. She never wanted to save herself for a husband, but she knew she would never be ready for casual sex either. Tim had been perfect. He was as inexperienced as she, but they had managed to muddle through sweetly, working their way towards familiarity with that most intimate of acts. For Dani, there had never been major fireworks, but she thought she had loved Tim, and she certainly had enjoyed their mutual exploration.