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“I’m sure you’re wondering why we flew you out here. If I was in your position, that’s the million-dollar question I’d be asking myself,” Lom speaks up. His hair is chocolate brown, with a slight curl to it.
“My curiosity is getting the best of me,” I admit. “I know coming out here has something to do with my adoption, obviously, but from the way the two of you are looking at me right now, I’m getting anxious. What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
I’m barely an adult at just nineteen years old, but one thing my father always taught me was that I needed to be able to read the room. I’m doing just that right now, and the room is telling me that there’s something they’re not revealing to me.
Lom looks directly at Ruslan, and if that isn’t a confirmation, I don’t know what the hell is. “Xava, we’re not just your relatives. We’ve discovered that you’re our sister, our full-blooded sister.”
I lean back in my seat as pure shock takes over every aspect of my body. I’m their sister… which means I’m Nazyr and Eset’s sister as well, according to what Rolando told me about the family tree a little bit ago. I don’t know what on Earth I’m supposed to say right now.
“I… I don’t understand. Or maybe I just don’t have all the information. You and your siblings, were you all adopted as well?” I’m trying my best to make sense of it.
“No, we weren’t. We were… raised by your biological mother. Our biological mother,” Ruslan tells me. He’s trying to do it with care, but there isn’t a way he can delicately deliver this news. He and my siblings were raised by our biological mother, but I was cast aside like the red-headed stepchild. I do not understand why. I don’t understand any of this.
“Do you know why I was adopted out? Was I unplanned? A child of an affair? I… this isn’t making sense to me. My whole life, my adoptive mother told me she adopted me from someone within our family, someone who couldn’t afford to take care of me. From the looks of things, the family does very well for themselves, so why was I thrown away like garbage? Why was I not good enough to be raised with the rest of you?” I know my questions are coming out like bullets from a gun, but I deserve to have answers.
All my life, I assumed I was the daughter of someone who couldn’t afford to take care of me. I never thought I’d be part of some wealthy family, but from the looks of it, this is exactly the case.
Lom looks over to Ruslan, and they both stare at each other, not saying a word.
“Come on, tell me.” It’s like the two of them are trying to figure out what to say to me. Are they trying to get their story straight, or are they not sure what to tell me? Do they even have the answers I’m seeking? I have no idea.
Ruslan clears his throat and takes a moment before he speaks up. “Xava, we all understand this is unexpected. This news can’t be easy to take, and I’m sure you’ve felt like you’ve been lied to your entire life. We didn’t know about your existence until very shortly before we extended an invitation for you to come here. This is going to be a lot to take in, and I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of questions as I tell you all of this.”
As Ruslan speaks, I can feel my heartbeat in my head. My blood pressure has to be going up. My adoptive mother told me that I was important. She was always making remarks like that when I was a kid, so is this why? She must know all about what Ruslan’s about to tell me. She has to.
“Our father is an Umarova, which is our surname.” Ruslan motions between himself and Lom. “Our family is one of the oldest families in Chechnya, specifically Grozny. What I’m about to tell you is going to be a lot to process, but every single thing I’m telling you is true about our family. Understand?”
I nod. “Yes, please tell me what’s going on.”
Ruslan takes in a deep breath. “Your biological mother, who is also our mother, had frozen embryos she made with our father many, many years ago. I was born, and then Lom. I’m still not sure if we were products of those embryos or not, though I’m going to assume we are. Our father was killed after Lom was born, and our mother married again. She had two more children, Nazyr and Eset, who we presumed were her husband’s children. We recently discovered that they were not his children, but instead, they were embryos she made with our father. You were an embryo. She had a surrogate carry, and then she had one of our cousins raise you. She wanted you tucked away for safekeeping as an insurance policy in case the rest of us ever perished. At least she’d be left with one living child from the Umarova line.”
“Why would one child from the line matter?”
“Because the Umarova line is important here. We’ve been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. If the Umarova line were to die off, I’d hate to see how the city is handled.” Lom is the one speaking now, and while I’m trying to understand, I’m having a really hard time comprehending what he’s saying. I feel like I’m someone who has a puzzle in front of them, but only half of the pieces are here. Maybe with time, I’ll get the rest of the pieces, and I’ll be able to put the puzzle together.
“I’ll put it plainly. Our mother was sick. She wasn’t right in the head, and then she put her own selfishness above everything else,” Ruslan interjects.
Was. Ruslan is saying “was”.
“What happened to her?” I ask, afraid of whatever the answer is going to be.
“She died.” Ruslan’s tone is ice cold. There isn’t one ounce of care in the world coming from him. It’s as if he’s saying a terrorist is dead, someone that he couldn’t give a damn about.
I don’t know what I expected. The way he said “was”. It couldn’t have been anything good. “As we said, we didn’t know about you until recently. We wanted you to come out here, meet the two of us, and then the rest of our family,” Lom goes on.
“My wife and I discussed you staying here with us, but I also made arrangements at a nearby hotel in case you needed time to process everything. We can talk more in greater detail about things soon, but this is the heaviest of the information, in my opinion. Are you comfortable with staying at a hotel? Rolando will be posted outside of your door.”
Rolando’s been driving me places, but is he some sort of security as well? “I don’t understand. Why would Rolando need to be outside of my door?”
“We have men who guard each of us and our families. We’re powerful people here in Chechnya, and there are those who wish to take it from us. Rolando being posted with you is for your own safety,” Lom fills me in.
I nod. “I see.”
“If you want, we can meet up tonight for some dinner with the family,” Ruslan suggests.
“I think that would be a good idea.” I need some time to process what they’ve said and some time to come up with any other questions I might have.
What I really need to do when I get into my hotel room is call up one of my best friends. Yara’s also adopted, and I know if anyone can understand the way I’m feeling right now, it’s going to be her.
