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Chapter 12
Dev’s gaze shot to Kiana.
She stepped back, her face blanching white beneath her dark skin. “What did you say?”
“Her name was Kiana Samantha Durbin,” Swede repeated. “Kiana, did the foster care people give you the name Kiana?”
Kiana shook her head. “No. They told me I knew my first name when I came to them. That I said my name was Kiana, but I didn’t know my last name.” Her gaze met Dev’s.
He went to her, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, holding the cell phone out so they could hear what Swede had to say.
“Kiana is a common name in Hawaii,” Swede said. “It could be a coincidence that your name and the name on the birth certificate match. Did you say you did a DNA test?”
Kiana nodded.
“She did,” Dev said for her. “The results haven’t come back yet.”
“Wait to get excited until you see those results,” Swede advised. “I hate to get your hopes up only for the results to shoot them down.”
Kiana swallowed hard, nodding. “Right.” She drew in a deep breath. “What were the other names?”
“The second baby girl’s name was Bobbi Jo Akana, and the third child, also a girl, was Augustina Ro Akana. She’d be about twenty-two years old now.”
“Were any of the fathers named on the birth certificates?” Kiana asked, pressing a shaking hand to her throat.
“Kiana’s father was listed as Samuel James Durbin,” Swede said. “The other two girls didn’t have a father listed. I searched for a Samuel James Durbin in Hawaii, going back for any information I could find around the time baby number one was born. I found a Samuel Durbin assigned to Hickam Air Force Base as a young airman. He was transferred to Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska two years after Kiana’s birth. He was killed in a vehicular accident a week after his arrival.”
Kiana gasped. “Joe Akana said Martina told him that the father of her first child had left her, saying he’d be back for them. If that father was Samuel Durbin, he couldn’t return for them.”
“Because he was dead,” Swede said.
“They weren’t married,” Dev added, “and apparently, he hadn’t told the military about his child, so they didn’t know he had a dependent.”
“Martina must’ve been eighteen by then. She was homeless, with a baby to feed and no job.”
“She had to be desperate to give up her child.” Dev pressed a kiss to the top of Kiana’s head.
“She could’ve been my mother,” Kiana whispered, her voice choking on a sob.
“Like I said,” Swede cautioned, “wait for the DNA results. I’m still looking through Meredith’s social media. I’ll let you know what I find there. Out here.”
After Dev ended the call and dropped his cell phone into his pocket, Kiana turned her face into his chest and shook with silent sobs.
Dev held Kiana until she ran out of tears. His shirt was damp, but he didn’t care. This woman who’d grown up in foster care, never knowing her mother or where she’d come from, had just been told who her mother and father might have been.
“I’m sorry,” she said, pushing away from him.
“For what?” He tipped her chin up.
She laughed, shakily. “I made your shirt wet.”
“I don’t care.” He stared down into her tear-ravaged face. “Are you okay?”
Kiana gave him a watery smile. “I don’t need a DNA test to know Martina Akana and Samuel Durbin were my mother and father. And I don’t need a DNA test to know Meredith is my sister. I think I knew she was a part of me the moment we met at our foster home all those years ago.” She clutched his shirt. “We have to find her. And once we do, we’ll find Tina M., our other sister.”
“Damn right we will,” Dev said and kissed her full on the lips. “And when everyone is back where they belong, I’m going to take you on a date.”
She laughed. “Do I get a say in it?”
