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“Oh, no,” I hear Eva’s muffled voice.
I stand up faster than I realize, sending my chair flying, and it lands with a loud bang against the floor as it falls over behind me.
The familiar-looking woman looks right at me, blinking with bafflement.
“Mom?”
Frozen to the spot, she struggles to comprehend what is happening.
“Lincoln,” she gasps.
CHAPTER 24
Lincoln
I’m having a moment out of the Matrix; when everyone slow-motion spins and then a colossal blow to your torso shoots you across the room and sends you flying backward. Exactly like that, I’ve taken a close-range cannonball to my gut.
Screams of confusion get trapped in my throat and I can’t make sense of what’s happening.
Fate is fucking with me. On a gargantuan level.
“This has got to be a joke?” I spit out.
The woman standing across from me looks like she’s in agony, but not for me, not for my pain, but for hers.
My dad angrily turns around in his seat.
“Did you do this? Is this a setup?” He’s almost shouting at me when he rises to his feet. “You said if you found her, you would tell me.”
“I didn’t find her!” My heart batters against my chest.
“Did you do this?” I look down at Violet. “Did you know? Is this what you did? Did you go behind my back and find her? Have you known her all along?”
She opens her mouth, but no words come out.
“Sorry, what is going on?” I hear Anthony say, confused. “Did you say mom?”
Olivia covers her mouth with a shaking hand. She moves her head left and right in small fierce jerks. She mumbles words behind her fingers.
“So what is this, then? And why is she here?” My father is raging now.
The whole restaurant goes quiet.
My father and I have a stare off.
“I didn’t do this. I promise.” My eyes plead with him to calm down.
I’ve imagined so many scenarios in my head of how I would meet my mom. Would we meet for a coffee or a meal? Maybe she has a house that I would go to or she would come to Scotland. However, finally meeting her in the flesh, like this, among a roomful of strangers who do not know what is going on, this was never what I imagined.
And I hadn’t exactly envisioned a butterflies and hearts reunion. It was always going to be difficult. But I am not prepared for this. None of us are.
I needed time to think about meeting up with her and I had no plans of doing it soon.
My father gave me permission, but I needed time to make sure I was ready and I was making the right decision. For everyone.
The manager appears at our table and tries to calm my dad down. “Please, sir, settle down or you must leave.”
“Oh, I am leaving, alright.” I’ve never seen him so angry. “I cannot believe this.”
