My Heart is Yours (15 page)

J
uliana was back at
Princeton for her second year. Sam was still working at the
library, saving up for college. Jason had gotten a job. He couldn’t
afford to go to college either. He also didn’t think he was good
enough to go to college. They both worked five days a week. Sam
worked from ten to four and Jason worked from nine to four. Three
nights a week Sam took night classes at her local community
college. All the free time they had was spent together.

It was Friday night; Jason and Sam were walking home
from the movies. He had his arm slung around her shoulders. He
pulled her to him and planted a quick kiss on top of her head.

“Have you talked to Juliana?” He asked.

“Yeah. She’s doing well. Busy with classes.” Sam
said.

Jason looked over at Sam. Nobody else would be able
to tell, but he knew how much it bothered Sam that Juliana was at
Princeton and she wasn't.

“You know, you’ll get to go someday too, babe.” He
said.

“To Princeton?” She said sarcastically, turning
toward him.

“Well, uh, I don’t know about Princeton.” He said,
scratching the back of his head and grinning a little. “But you
will get to go to college. I mean, you’re way too smart not to
Sam.”

She laughed. “Why thank you, Jason.” She kissed him
on the cheek.

He slipped his arm around her waist. “You’re
welcome. And you will go to college someday. I promise.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” She cocked her head
to the side.

He smiled, then leaned down and kissed her.

“L
ook, I told you to
stop calling.” Craig said as he slammed the phone down on the
receiver.

“Who was that?” Sam asked as she walked into the
kitchen to make dinner.

“Nobody. Don’t worry about it Sam.”

“Old girlfriend?” She smirked.

“Cute.” He said, messing up her hair. “Really, Sam,
don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.” She shrugged.

“She’s not here right now.” Sam heard Craig say as
she walked into the room. “By the way, how did you even know she
lived here?” His free hand was flailing about like the person on
the other end of the line could see him.

Sam turned to him with narrowed eyes. The only she
living here was her, Sam.

He sighed. “Yeah, Samantha Marie Ramsden."

“Craig.” She said. “Who is that?”

He waved her off. “Don’t worry.”

“Craig, come on, if that’s for me, give me the
phone.” She reached out her hand.

“No.” He swatted her hand away.

“Give me the damn phone Craig.”

“Hold on.” He said into the phone. “I don’t like
your tone of voice Samantha.”

“Seriously Craig?” Sam cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not
sixteen anymore. Let me have the phone.”

“Fine. Just let me-”

“Give me the phone.”

“Okay. Here. You’re not gonna like it.” He handed
the phone over to her reluctantly.

“Hello?” She said and listened to the response on
the other end of the line.

“Yes, this is Samantha Marie Ramsden.” Sam said.

“Your last name before you were adopted was
Williamson?” The female voice on the other end of the phone asked.
She spoke in hushed tones.

Sam froze in the middle of tucking a piece of hair
behind her ear. She barely remembered her last name before she was
adopted. What was this?

“Yes. Why?” She asked cooly.

“We’re calling from the prison your father is in.”
The woman answered like this was the most normal occurrence in the
world.

Her heart froze this time. “What?” It had been
fifteen years.

“The prison your father is in. Kevin Williamson.”
Now the woman sounded unsure.

“Why?” Sam said slowly.

“Your father is very ill right now. We don’t know if
he’s going to make it. He would like to speak with you.” The woman
answered in her hushed voice.

“He’s not my father.” Sam spat out.

“Excuse me?” The woman stuttered.

“I said, he’s not my father.” Sam repeated
louder.

“Well.” The person on the other end of the line
hesitated. There was a crackling of static in the background. “He
is your father and he’d like to speak with you.” They said
finally.

“Is this even legal?” Sam asked.

“Excuse me, miss?”

“Seeking me out after adoption.”

“Well, because of your unique circumstances it
wasn’t really a closed adoption.” Sam heard the static again.

Then it hit her. “You’re not doing this through
official channels are you?”

There was a small noise on the other line, like the
person began to say something but decided against it.

“Like I said, no, I won’t speak to him. He’s not my
father. And I don’t want to speak with him. Ever.”

Sam turned to slam the phone down on the receiver
but before she could heard a soft voice say, “I only wanted to help
a dying man speak to his daughter again.”

“I’m not his daughter.” Sam said just as quietly and
hung up.

She turned to look at Craig sitting at the kitchen
table. She pulled out a chair, sighed and sat down next to him.

“I told you you wouldn’t like it.” He said.

She finally tucked the piece of hair behind her ear;
the one that she had stopped tucking when she froze. “How long have
they been calling?”

“A few months.” He looked at a scratch in the
table.

“A few months? Why didn’t you tell me? And did you
ask her if it was legal?”

“Of course,” Craig said. “She wouldn’t stop until
she talked to you, I guess. Same person every time. And I didn’t
tell you ‘cuz I knew you wouldn’t want to talk to him.” His ice
blue eyes met hers.

“I could’ve told them that myself,” she said, but
her eyes were gentle.

“I know. I just, I know how you feel about your
parents.” He shrugged.

“Like I said, those people were never my parents.
Our parents were my real parents. Just like you, John, and Matt are
my real—very overprotective—brothers.” Sam grinned.

“Yeah. And I was your legal guardian for a couple of
years.” He reminded her.

“Yup. I remember. You had to take care of a teenage
girl.”

“Oh yeah, that was fun.” Craig nudged her
shoulder.

“Oh come on, like I was really that much trouble?”
She pushed him back.

“All teenage girls are trouble,” he said
sternly.

“I was not trouble. I was on the honor roll, I never
got arrested, or drunk.” She smiled smugly.

Craig blinked. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“See, I wasn’t that much trouble.”

Craig laughed. “No. I guess not. Try to keep it that
way.”

Sam stuck out her tongue at him.

“Hey, babe,” Jason said as he opened the door to
Sam’s bedroom.

“Hey.” She said smiling, jumping up from her bed to
kiss him. He put his arm around her waist lifting her feet off the
floor.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Sam.” He gave her a quick kiss.
“So, how was your day?”

“Well, besides work, pretty interesting.”

“Yeah, why’s that?” He sat down on her bed and
patted the spot next to him. Sam went to sit down.

“The jail my biological father is in called,” she
said as if they were discussing the weather.

“What?” he asked. “Why?”

“Apparently they’ve been calling for a few months.
Craig was trying to hide it from me. But I walked in on a phone
call a couple weeks ago and then again today.”

“Were you mad at Craig? For hiding it from you?”
Jason asked.

Sam shrugged. “Yeah, a little at first. But he was
just being an over protective big brother, so . . . whatever. It’s
okay.”

Sam paused, some seething anger beginning to take
hold of her. She took a steadying breath. “My biological father . .
. he wanted to talk to me.”

“He wanted to talk to you?” Jason asked. “After
fifteen years?”

“Yeah.” She felt that seething anger creep around
her again, until Jason’s hand brushed against hers, and then she
relaxed.

“Why now?” Jason asked as he intertwined his fingers
with Sam’s.

“Apparently my ‘father’ is very sick and they don’t
think he’ll make it and he wanted to talk to me. This woman who
called broke a bunch of rules trying to contact me. She could lose
her job.” Sam said with a sense of awe.

“Did you talk to him?” he asked, thinking he already
knew the answer.

“No. I haven’t spoken to him or seen him since I was
five, why would I want to now? And why would he want to talk to
me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because he may not make it and
wanted to talk to his daughter one last time.” Jason said, even
though he really didn’t want Sam to talk to her father. He didn’t
deserve to talk to her.

“I’m not his daughter. Except for that unfortunate
blood relation. He was never a father to me. And if he wants to
make up for his ‘mistake’, too bad. Some mistakes are too big to
fix.”

Jason kissed her forehead, then pressed his forehead
to hers, giving her a small smile. She smiled back and cuddled up
to him. He wrapped his arms around her. She sighed happily. Her
father didn’t matter. She had everything she needed right here.

***