The Switch (21 page)

There was a long moment of silence before she felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder. “You’re a good girl. I’m sorry, honey. You know this is nonsense. We won’t speak about it anymore.”

Lisa cried for a moment longer as she tried to calm herself. It had all been so much—too much all at once. What had she been thinking bringing it up with her mother? She’d known what it would do. It would have been better if she’d introduced Tia as a friend, let them meet, but never told Rose the truth. Now it was too late.

Tia was home checking out dinner. Danny had agreed to meet her and the girls at her place this time, and he’d brought some pasta dish he’d invented. It looked interesting, she supposed, as she gave it another stir in the casserole pan. Tomato sauce, pasta, meat and olives had to be good, right?

He phone rang and after Lisa introduced herself, she blurted out, “I spoke to my mom this afternoon.”

“What did you tell her?” Tia’s hand paused on the spoon, her breath catching.

“She’s so upset. I shouldn’t have told her.” She filled Tia in on the details, or at least enough to get the picture.

Though it stung a little, Tia pushed it away for the moment. This wasn’t about her. “My mom is still in denial about everything, so don’t hold it against yours,” Tia soothed. “Maybe she’ll come around when she’s had some time to adjust.”

“She knew your name as soon as I mentioned it. Apparently she watches your show all the time.”

“Yeah?” Tia felt a smile slide onto her face. Mona had caught the show a few times. She mentioned it to friends and acquaintances mostly as a claim to fame, but she wasn’t interesting in the cooking segment itself. It felt kind of good knowing the woman who had most likely given birth to her enjoyed her segment. Tia wondered though, if Rose would refuse to watch it again, after the way she had reacted to the mere possibility that they were related.

“So how are you holding up?” she asked Lisa. “Have you thought more about the DNA test?”

“Yes. I’m still not sure that I want to meet your family, but I’d like to do the test, to be sure before I make any other decisions.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll have your part of the kit sent to you.” Tia looked down when Tristi tugged on her pant leg.

“Hungry. Want eat.”

Tia covered the microphone on the cell. “Good idea. How about you go get Danny and your sister?” She could hear Samantha’s giggles along with the deeper rumble of Danny’s laugh coming from the living room. From the sound of it, Samantha thought she was getting away with giving him monster tickles.

“I appreciate it,” Lisa said from the other end of the line. “I’ll keep in touch. I’ll let you go now, I’m sure you’re getting ready to eat soon, if I didn’t interrupt your meal.”

“You didn’t interrupt, and thanks for calling.” Tia said goodbye and ended the call as Danny came in, letting Tristi tug him by the hand. Tia leaned back against the counter. The thought of Huntington’s disease hadn’t been far from her mind since Lisa had mentioned it the previous day, but it didn’t make her want to burst into tears anymore. Even the research she’d done hadn’t freaked her out when she’d looked for more information about the disease that afternoon.

“Who was that?”

“Lisa. She agreed to be tested.”

He took her hand. “Good. How are you holding up?”

“Better. The call didn’t make it worse, anyway. I think we’re headed in the right direction.” That was true. She made a decision to keep the positive parts of this in the forefront of her mind.

Great.” Danny leaned in and brushed his lips across her cheek. “Let’s eat, I’m starved.”

“Hey, that’s my line!” Samantha said as she climbed into her chair.

Tia smiled and brought the casserole a la Danny to the table.

* * *

The test kit arrived. Ron went through the swabbing process yet again, and returned the kit. Tia didn’t tell her dad or Wes about the Huntington’s disease. There would be time for that when she had more information. Tia kept in touch with Lisa, and knew she was also trying to wait for answers before jumping to conclusions or thinking too far ahead.

Work and school and recipe testing continued on as before. A picture arrived in the mail from Claire and Carl’s wedding—Carl wearing black pants and a tan dress shirt with the tails untucked, Claire in a white cocktail dress holding an enormous hot pink gerbera daisy instead of a bouquet. They looked as incredibly happy as Claire’s emails proclaimed that they were.

The wait for the DNA results was interminable. Tia worked diligently on her recipes, saw Danny as much as possible—which meant visiting him at work a few times in addition to their dates—and exchanged emails with Lisa nearly daily.

Still, her search for more information about whomever might have switched them was crawling, when it moved at all. Tia had begun researching the doctor and staff. Unfortunately, she hit dead ends at every turn. The hospital administrator still refused to help out, so Tia headed back to the library. She learned the local newspapers were on microfiche, which would be far easier to handle than the cumbersome archive books, and was much more convenient.

She took an hour or two each morning starting with files dated a year before her birth, and moving two years past her birth looking for any article referencing someone who worked at St. Marks, especially in OB.

Very little came up, and what did turned out to be more dead ends.

Finally, after checking the testing website for three days, the DNA results came through. Ron was Lisa’s biological father.

Tia picked up the phone while she stared at the screen. Her hands trembled as she dialed Lisa. The call went to voice mail, making Tia want to growl. “Hey, it’s Tia, the results are in. We weren’t wrong. Call me.” She hung up and stared at the screen for a long moment. How did she feel about the results? She wasn’t sure. It wasn’t as if it was a surprise she hadn’t been born to her parents, or that she hadn’t been convinced that Lisa was their biological daughter, but actually seeing the results on the screen was disorienting.

This was really true. Lisa should have been raised by Mona and Ron. Tia should have been the one whose father died when she was young, whose mother was ill with a genetic disease that might have been passed along not only to Tia, but to her daughters as well. The thought had her stomach clenching with anxiety. She’d done some research on Huntington’s disease. It was definitely not something she looked forward to experiencing, and all too soon, if she had gotten the gene.

She supposed she ought to wait for similar results between herself and Lisa’s mom, but didn’t see the point. This was enough for her.

The question was where to go from here.

Lisa received Tia’s message as soon as she finished her phone call with a customer. Before the message ended, she was typing the lab’s web address into her browser. Yes, she should have figured Tia’s word was good, but she still had to see for herself.

Tia was right.

Lisa sat for a long moment, trying to figure out what that meant. What came next? Then the bell rang over the door, she looked up, put on an automatic smile and took care of the customers.

Through the final hour of work, end-of-day tasks, and the return trip home, Lisa’s mind kept returning to the test results.

Her mom was already upset about the mere suggestion that there was a mix-up in the hospital. How would Lisa explain the test? And did it really matter? Besides the obvious point that she would never suffer from Rose’s genetic disorder, that she wouldn’t have to worry about passing it along to any children she might someday have, how did this affect Lisa? Did she want to get to know Tia’s family? The two women had shared a number of memories over email while they waited and Lisa thought she might want to meet them, at least. Even if only out of curiosity.

By the time she arrived home, she knew she had to tell Rose. That night. Whatever else happened, her mom deserved to know. Lisa didn’t know how to bring it up again.

She entered her apartment, dropped her keys in the ceramic dish by the front door, hung her purse on the hook behind the door, and slid her coat over it. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket, then called Tia back.

The phone rang twice before Tia answered, “Hey, Lisa. Did you get my message?”

“Yeah, I went online and checked it out for myself.” She opened the refrigerator door and looked for something dinnerish. Half a carton of eggs, the last cup of milk, some butter, mayo and ketchup glared back at her. “I’m not really sure how I feel about it now that I know.”

“I understand. I stared at the results for way longer than I needed to, trying to make myself believe they were true when I was tested. Have you told your mom yet?”

Lisa shifted the mayo to the side and found a small chunk of semi-dried cheddar. It would do. “Not yet. I’ll have to soon. I have no idea what to say. She got upset when I talked about it before and,” she paused, sucked in a breath in an effort to keep herself steady. “I can’t stand the thought of hurting her.”

“I know. I still have to tell my mom that we did the DNA test. She’s not going to be happy. I mean, I think she’ll adjust. You’re in retail, after all, and she sure does love to shop.” There was a smile in her voice, a teasing edge to it.

“And my mom always loved cooking.” Lisa shredded the cheese into a bowl. “She despaired that I’d ever learn to do anything more complicated than spaghetti or scrambled eggs.” She hadn’t gotten much past that, so her mom’s fears had come true.

“Then maybe she’ll accept it pretty well after all,” Tia joked. There was a pause, then she continued, “Danny’s coming over in a few minutes. I’m going to have him watch the girls for a while so I can visit Dad. He didn’t want the password for the website. Said he’d rather have me tell him right out then go crazy checking it for himself.”

“Maybe I should have done that too.” Lisa set aside the cheese and cracked two eggs into a bowl. She really should do some shopping tonight. Sandwiches were easy to fix, but she was out of bread and a little variety was good. But that was for after she talked to her mom. “Do you feel as lost and confused as I do?”

“Oh, yeah. Does it sound bad to say that I’m glad if someone has to go through this with me, that it’s you? Not that I would have wished this mess on you, but . . . ”

Lisa understood but didn’t want to think about it. She redirected the conversation. “Didn’t you say there was another woman you thought it might be?”

“Yes, and Claire was nice, very nice, but . . . okay, honesty here, she was so excited about the possibility that it might be her, that I was a bit overwhelmed and a lot intimidated. And it made me wonder what her family was really like if she was so anxious to find a different one. “

“I wish my family had been bigger; sisters and brothers and plenty of cousins around. I miss my dad. He and I were so close.” Lisa had to swallow back the pain that still rose when she thought of her father. His death had been devastating.

“You’ll have to tell me all about him. Samantha!” Tia sighed. “Sorry, my girls are going wild. I guess I need to corral them. Let me know how it goes with your mom and we’ll see how you feel about it all in another day or two.”

“Thanks.” Lisa said goodbye and slid the food from the pan and onto a plate. She had no idea how she was going to tell her mom.

* * *

“Hi, Mom,” Lisa entered her mother’s room at the nursing home. “How are you feeling today?”

“Sweetheart! I’m fine. What brings you by tonight?”

“You.” Lisa took the chair beside the bed. “I haven’t been by for a few days.”

Rose studied Lisa over her bifocals. “Something’s on your mind. You’re fidgeting with your purse strap.”

Lisa stopped herself and set the purse on the floor. “You’re right, of course.” She licked her lips, which felt suddenly dry, and wished she’d brought along a drink.

“Well, that’s better. Do you like my hair, Vera permed it when she was in a couple days ago.”

This was sounding more than a little familiar. Not a good sign. “You remember me telling you about Tia Riverton coming to talk to me?”

“Tia Riverton?” She tapped her lips with a fingertip. “Is that the woman from the news cooking show?” Rose’s lips puckered in thought. “When did that happen?”

“A couple of weeks ago. She came into the store.” Lisa wet her lips. Rose didn’t remember. What did she say? Could she stand going through all of that again?

“How nice.” Her mother beamed at her. “I hope she spent a lot. Those TV people make so much money.”

“She picked up something for her daughter.” Though she wished it were different, Lisa decided to keep the truth to herself. The emotional turmoil of going through the disclosure of their biological relationship again was more than she could face. Since there was no guarantee Rose would remember this time, either, it would be easier to keep it a secret—even if it did make her heart hurt. “She’s really nice. Maybe I’ll bring her by to meet you some time.”

“Oh, I’d like that, dear. Now,” she set a hand on Lisa’s arm, “tell me, are you dating anyone special?”

Lisa forced herself to smile and sat back in her seat to chat.

* * *

Spreading the news was far easier for Tia. Ron accepted the results with no fuss. “All right, let me know if she wants to meet me. I
am
kind of curious about her.”

Wes’s response was similar, though he showed a little more interest in meeting Lisa than Ron had. The big issue was telling Mona.

“What do you mean you found her?” Mona asked when Tia announced that she’d located Lisa. “How do you know it’s her?”

 
Tia shifted her hot cocoa from one hand to the other on the tabletop of the coffee shop where she’d met her mom. “She did a DNA test with dad. She’s the one.”

Hurt filled Mona’s face. “You didn’t tell me? You didn’t have me take the test? Why not? Am I not good enough?”

Though Tia had expected this to be a difficult meeting, she had hoped she was wrong. “I know how stressful it was for you when you took the DNA test for me, Mom. Since only one of you needed to match to be sure, I didn’t want to put you through that again. Dad’s nerves always were a little less fragile than yours.” This was mostly just soothing nonsense, of course. Mona could handle anything. She was just a lot more difficult to deal with when upset.

“That’s true. I am fragile.” She dabbed a finger at each eye, as if catching imaginary tears before they could fall and ruin her makeup. “Though I wish you had told me about the tests, I suppose it was for the best. But tell me about this Lisa.”

There was only so much Tia could say, largely because she didn’t want to tell tales about Lisa without her permission. She filled in some of the basic details and discussed her impressions from their first meeting.

Mona listened attentively, then pulled out a paper from her purse. “Now, give me her phone number so I can call her. I have a million questions to ask and you don’t seem to have any of the good answers. If she’s my other daughter, then I need to get to know her.”

Despite the demands, Tia refused to pass on Lisa’s contact information. She wasn’t going to let he mother push Lisa into meeting or talking if she wasn’t ready. She promised to have Lisa contact Mona when she was ready.

A few days passed and Tia wished Lisa would contact her to let her know how things had gone with Rose.