“Now start from the beginning.” The officer bellowed as he walked to the other end of the room after pressing the record button down on the old brittle tape recorder. Jackie blinked hard with a sigh, preparing to clear her mind once and for all.
“April 22, 1990, Donna called me-”
“State her entire name.” He interrupted, his voice calm but harsh.
Jackie huffed, rolling her eyes before she continued. They were lucky she was here in the first place. If they wanted the information that only she could provide, they’d better watch their tones and provide her with more than a warm cup of coffee! “Donna Edwards…” She raised her eyebrow out of irritation, “called me at work and asked me to meet her at a motel just outside of town. She seemed nervous. Insisted on speaking to me in person. Once I got there and saw the child sleep on the dirty stained sheets, I understood why. The adoption agency that I was working at recorded each phone call and Donna knew it.” She took a long pull from her cigarette. “She told me she needed to save her marriage. Tamon was ready to divorce her and threatened to take Paige with him since he legally adopted her as his child the day after they got married.” She explained, dumping the ashes into the small glass ashtray provided by the officer interviewing her. “I asked her where the child came from and she told me she saw her sitting outside with another child, a boy, not that much older than her. She told me she’d been watching this little girl for some time now and the family was no good for her so as soon as the opportunity presented itself, she ran into the yard and took her. To cover her tracks, she cut the child’s hair and pricked her foot, smearing the blood onto the clothes she was originally wearing and left them in the woods not too far from the child’s home. Donna wanted me to draw up official papers for the child to help conceal it further. Had she not given me $1,000 up front, I wouldn’t have believed she was going to pay me at all! So that night I took the girl home with me to study her, chart any special marks, moles, or freckles for the record. Donna came and got her from me, took her home, and 3 months later, Tamon was dead. After that I cut all ties with Donna. We haven’t said a word to each other since.” She ended with a sigh, a relieved sigh.
“And when her husband contacted you about the child?”
“I told him whatever I could to get him off my back but he wasn’t going for it. Became suspicious.”
The detective stood, walking slowly around the table, his eyes still planted firmly on Jackie, “Twenty plus years and now you’re turning yourself in? Why?” He rubbed his chin silently pleased with the amount of answers he was getting.
“Because,” She released a puff of smoke from her lips, “whoever talks first get’s the deal, right?” She winked before her face turned stone cold.
Locked away in the comfort of her quiet room for a little over two weeks, she ignored the non-stop ringing of the phone and knocks at the door. It wasn’t important. She was convinced of that. By now the word had spread, passed from mouth to mouth until it’d been misconstrued and made out to be a rejected soap opera episode. She hit the ignore button for the 8th time in the row, rolling onto her back in a more comfortable position rubbing her puffy red eyes with the back of her hands, irritating them further. As the house phone began to ring, Alani sighed out of frustration, her cell phone ringing at the same time. At the end of each ring a message followed. Concerned voices, reaching out to her, begging her to pick up.
The phone rang again, as she sat on the soft stool of her vanity, a person unfamiliar to her starting back with the same sad expression. She didn’t know this girl, the one looking her in the eyes, eyes that weren’t her own. She touched her puffy lids that covered her hazel eyes, Pam’s hazel eyes. Her fingers trailed down the bridge of her nose, Joseph’s nose. Alani frowned, looked away from her face, Mya’s face. The sad lost little girl in the mirror. That sheet of paper was as clear as the features on her face. Pam and Joseph were in fact her parents. The kind of mother and father she’d always wish she had, were her’s all along.
As the answering machine cut on, an unexpected voice began to speak,
“I’m probably the last person you want to hear from but I thought I should tell you…” She paused, taking a deep breath, “the police arrested Donna this morning. Apparently Jackie turned herself in and told them everything. How she helped my mother cover up the kidnapping and created fake documents for her. She has been charged with kidnapping and they are trying to charge her with Tamon’s death. The detective said she refused to talk. She just sat there with a smirk, staring at the wall.” The sound of a train blasted through the phone before she spoke again, “Anyway, you’re going to get a package from me in a few days. A tape you really need to watch. With the tape will be a phone number for a guy named Lewis. Melvin Lewis. He was Tamon’s lawyer and is expecting a call from you.” Alani could hear the hesitation in her voice. “Alani…I’m sorry! Sorry…” The machine beeped at the end of the message.
“A tape…” She mumbled, recalling the tape being mentioned in the last entry of the journal. Pulling it off of the edge of the vanity, she flipped through the pages, scanning them until she found what she was looking for. Finally finding the page, she exhaled, reading it once again.
July 24, 1990,
It’s over. I’ve had enough of this marriage and all the things that come along with it. The fighting, fussing, the cruel treatment my girls face at the hands of the one person who is supposed to love them. They deserve more! Will have more if it’s the last thing I do! I made sure I excluded Donna from my estate this morning. The mother of my children or not, I’m done taking care of her and nurturing her selfish ways. I told her she has a few days to find her own place and this time I mean it! Our lives won’t get any better until she is gone! I have every intention of allowing her to visit the girls but, only if she get’s professional help to deal with her jealousy over the girls. It’s not normal. Nothing normal about it! I look at her now and question how I couldn’t ever fallen in love with such and evil person! I don’t regret it. Don’t regret my girls at all but, wish they didn’t have to deal with her. There is a feeling in my bones. Something telling me to watch my back. I doubt Donna would do anything to try to hurt me or the girls but then again, I didn’t think she’d be jealous of them either. I asked for a copy of the changes I made to the estate. Lewis suggested making a tape so the changes are stated with my own words. He seemed worried. Wasn’t too sure if I was losing my mind or really sure about this but I am! My girls are my world, my everything, and if by chance they have to grow up without me, they’d be set for life and never want for a thing.
Tamon
Before Alani had the chance to put a good amount of thought into this tape, there was a tap at the window. “Open the door Alani, we need to talk." He tapped again. The wind picked up, blowing snow into his face and hair, "C’mon Alani! It’s cold out here!” He wiped away the fog his breath caused on the ice cold glass. She moved slowly from her position on the stool yanking open the door, “Haven’t you heard” She dragged her feet across the floor, “Alani doesn’t exist.”
“Then who are you?” He followed behind her.
“I’m Mya! The daughter of a cop, kidnapped and raised in a family that treated me like shit and did everything they could to break me emotionally and you know what Quest? It worked! I am the biggest emotional wreck on this fucking planet! I cry about everything! Cried because I didn't have a family! Cried because I do have a family! I searched! Prayed for a family that would love me and be all that I dreamed and now that I have them, I don’t know what to do!”
Quest grabbed her arm, sitting her on the bed wrapping his arm around her, forcing her to face him, “I’ll tell you what you do. Go to them. Let them show you what real love is.”
“I can’t do that! I can’t just barge into their lives-”
“Stop!” He shushed her. “You wouldn’t be barging into their lives because they’ve always wanted you. Never would have let you go if there had been a choice. You have to understand Lani, they believed you were dead for more than twenty years and now that they know you’re not, they want you back! They want to make up for everything they missed with you!”
“But what if I'm not want they want?” Her eyes began to fill up again.
“You’re their daughter and sister! All they want is you!” He kissed her cheek gently, caressing her shoulder with his other hand. “Now, as much as I love to see you sitting here half naked, I need you to get dressed. We have somewhere to be.” Quest mumbled against her jaw.
“Where are you taking me?” She whispered, watching him move toward her closet.
“I'm taking you home.”
They must have been expecting her, stood in front of the window waiting for the black car to pull up with her in it. The door opened before as she reached the stairs, their faces held smiles, watery smiles of completion and happiness. Alani hesitated, grabbed Quests’ hand and squeezed it as hard as she could. Her heart was in her throat, tears threatening to smear the make-up she used to cover up the bags under her eyes. “Calm down!” Quest squeezed her hand back. As she stepped inside, Quest took her jacket, leaving her side for only a second.
A second too long, she thought as she stood before them, Pam, Joe, Ahmad, and Tiff. She played with her fingers, avoiding their gaze, a shy smile curling her lips. They stood there, staring at her as she stole glances from them, slowly lowering her hands. It was like looking at a ghost, staring into the face of their missing baby, lost sister. A baby who was no longer a baby, a sister who’d grown up to be a beautiful woman, an unrecognized success story. Without warning, Alani rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Pam, releasing half of the weight that was sitting on her chest. With her arms still tucked underneath Pam’s arms she motioned for Joe and Ahmad to join them.
This moment was surreal. Filled with overwhelming emotion that she never imagined. Wrapped tight in their arms felt like home. A place that Alani never wanted to leave, a place Mya would never have to leave. As they pulled away too happy for tears, Pam cupped her cheeks, a bright smile matching her own, “We can take it slow! Keep the relationship we had before all this. All of us.” She looked back at her husband and son. Alani shook her head within Pam’s hands, “I was hoping we could build a new one. As a family.” Pam pulled her into another hug, this time unable to hold back her tears. My mother... She thought as she tightened her her hug.
“Alani!!” She spun around at the sound of a child’s voice calling from the kitchen behind her. “Mylie?” She whispered, scooping her into her arms.
“Guess what!” Mylie screeched excitedly, “Me and Lulu get to live with you and have two grandma's, and a baby cousin!”
“But how- I thought you were adopt-” Alani stopped as she noticed Quest’s family walking out of the back room.
“Quest came up with the idea of sitting in the agency until the director changed her mind. With my dad and your dad there, a cop and a lawyer, she had no choice but to turn Mylie over to us!” Keetan beamed, rubbing Quests’ arm. “If all of us being there wasn’t enough, Quest signed the papers behind you. So Mylie has two parents now.”
"Yup!" Mylie added. "Mylie Edwards-Morell!" She giggled.
Alani’s jaw dropped. “He did? You did?” She faced him unable to hide her smile. Quest rubbed the back of his neck, “You were right! It’s impossible not to love her!” Alani threw her arms around him, kissing his cheek wildly. "I love you!" She kissed him tenderly. "You just keep amazing me! You saved me from a dark alley, gave me a home, and gave me the family I've always dreamed of! You're like my human good luck charm!" She laughed. He kissed her back, running his thumb across her chin, "As you are to me!" Staring into each others eyes, they smiled as they heard Mylie ramble on and on about what she’d call Pam and Carla. “Honey, I’m much too young to be called Grandma so we’re going to have to come up with something else!” Carla induced a chain of laughter. As Alani turned and watched them interact with Mylie, she felt the final weight fall from her chest. Her world felt completed, every worry within her heart diminished with the smiles around the room. The smiles of her family. She welcomed Quests’ arms around her waist as she cherished this moment. The moment of peace she'd always longed for. “Marry me.” He whispered in her ear, igniting an instant reaction. Alani spun around in his arms, “What?” Her brows pointed downward with her confusion.
“Marry me!” He repeated with a chuckle.
She shook her head in disbelief, “Quest, you really don’t-”
“I really do.” He placed his finger on her lips, shushing her for the second time today, “You’ve been all I could think about since the day you tried to hit me over the head with a table lamp. You pushed me to go back to what I loved and through that I discovered a new love! I am the happiest I’ve ever been and with you and Mylie, it can only get better! You once told me to give my heart what it wants, well, that’s you! Always has been you! Believe it or not, this is all because of you! I’ve fallen head over heels, madly, hopelessly in love with you Alani, and it’s all your fault!”
** I want to thank you all for traveling this road with Alani. For enduring her every emotion and setback in her quest for true happiness, and also for watching her grow. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time out to express their feelings toward my characters or just to let me know that they were reading this. THANK YOU!
