AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Nine
Everything was happening at such a rapid pace, Heath could barely keep himself from feeling dizzy. One minute he’d been talking to Parker and Jason about the possibility of finding family members and the next Parker was telling him he’d found his aunt. Aunt Mara? He honestly had no memories of his mother’s sister. He kept racking his memory trying to come up with flashes of memory, to no avail. Did she look like his mother? Was her hair long or short? Would he remember her in some way? What would he call her? What answers would she provide about his birth parents?
; They had decided to meet up at the Silver Spoon diner, just to keep things casual. He had already reached out to his parents, who had suggested the meetup spot. Both were very encouraging about meeting his biological aunt. Neither felt unsettled at all by his desire to dig into the past. Heath knew that many adoptive parents resented their kids trying to find their biological families. Not Penelope and Jude. They fully supported him.
Although Heath felt a little bit funny about seeing his father after spotting him with the mystery woman, he knew that he couldn’t avoid it much longer. It wasn’t for him to judge the situation since his folks had separated, although he did feel protective about his mother. No matter what else happened, Heath didn’t want her to get hurt. He prayed on a daily basis about their marriage. Surely where there was so much love there was a shot at reconciliation. After all, he and Bella had achieved it.
With Bella at his side in the passenger seat, Heath drove to the diner at the appointed time. He was full of hope and nerves and curiosity. When they walked through the doors of the diner, Bella held tightly to his hand. “I’m so happy for you, Heath,” she whispered. “Today is like getting a piece of yourself back. A part of you that you didn’t even know was missing.”
Heath squeezed her hand. He had a huge lump sitting in his throat. He was too nervous to respond, but having Bella at his side meant the world to him. Heath knew with a deep certainty he wanted it to always be like this.
As soon as Heath spotted his parents, the hairs on his arms stood up. A woman was sitting with them at a booth and she was facing in their direction. Heath stopped in his tracks the moment he laid eyes on Mara. A strange sensation crept up his back. As if in slow motion, she stood up from the table and began walking toward him. When she stopped a few feet away from him, Heath could see tears pooling in her warm brown eyes.
“Heath!” she cried out. “I can’t believe it’s you.” Tears flew down her face. She was looking at him with an expression of wonder etched on her face.
“Aunt Mara?” he asked, feeling something stirring inside of him at the sight of her. She was hauntingly familiar to him, although it felt like a lifetime ago. With her short, dark hair and warm brown skin, she did resemble his mother.
She reached out and took his hand. “I never thought I’d see you again. Not in this lifetime.”
His father and mother stood up from the table. “Why don’t the two of you sit down so you can talk?” Penelope suggested, waving them toward a quiet booth in the back of the diner.
She sent Heath an encouraging smile.
“That way you can have your privacy,” Jude added, moving toward Heath and placing his hand on his shoulder in a gesture of support.
Heath turned toward Bella. “Come sit with us. I want you to know everything.” He turned toward Mara. “Mara, this is my girlfriend, Bella. Bella, this is Mara.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Bella murmured.
Mara smiled at Bella. Heath could see her gaze lowering to Bella’s burgeoning stomach. “It’s very nice to meet you as well, Bella.”
Bella nodded and trailed after them as they headed toward the booth.
Heath sat across from Mara, while Bella scooted in next to him. He couldn’t get over how much his aunt resembled his mother.
“Do you remember me, Heath? I know you were little when Camila died. It’s hard to hold on to those memories.”
“A little bit. Flashes of memory. You used to watch me sometimes I think.” He frowned. “Is that a real memory?”
Mara nodded. “Yes. I babysat you from time to time.”
Heath nodded. “We used to watch Disney movies. Lady and the Tramp.”
Mara chuckled. “That was your all-time favorite. I was a bit younger than your mother. We were almost ten years apart in age. I was away at college when your mother passed away. I want to let you know that because I was only nineteen I was pretty helpless to step in and take you. I only found out about the adoption after it happened. They put you in CPS and things moved quickly from there. I didn’t have any rights in the situation.” She seemed to be fighting back tears. “Please know that I would have tried to keep you, even though I was young.”
“I ended up with a great adoptive family. I don’t want you to feel any guilt over it. There are so many things that confuse me though. I have memories of a loving, devoted mother who did everything in the world for me. Then all of a sudden everything changed. I remember her taking pills and being out of it. Our world changed almost in an instant. Can you tell me about it?”
Mara let out a sigh. “Ever since she was young Camila struggled with depression. It got worse after she broke up with your father. She really sank into a depression at that time. Camila was a beautiful person, but she was fragile. She turned to pills and alcohol to lift her spirits. All it did was complicate things. She became addicted.”
“There wasn’t much I could do since I was a teenager myself. It felt like a hopeless situation. We didn’t really have any family so there wasn’t anyone to turn to. The services for addiction were very meager at the time. And sadly, Camila resisted it at every turn.” Mara swiped away tears with the back of her hand. “She loved you Heath. Love isn’t even a strong enough word for what she felt for you. But she was sick. She couldn’t rise up from the bottom of the addiction pit. And she overdosed on pills and alcohol, probably trying to numb her depression.”
“I remember being loved. I remember her touch.” He heaved a huge sigh. “I can’t forget finding her cold body and knowing that I was all alone in this world. I loved her very much, Mara. And that love was returned. I’ll always remember that love. I just needed to understand why she left me.”
“Heath, I’m not sure I understand how things spiraled out of control so completely. I was all the way across the country in California at UCLA. I wish I’d been at home. I wish I’d been able to help her.”
“And my father? What about him? Can you tell me anything?” Heath asked. He only had fleeting memories of a tall, good looking man who’d walked in and out of their lives but he’d never called him daddy. He knew next to nothing about the man. “Is he still alive?”
