Elisabeth Naughton - Wait for Me

“He doesn’t hate you, Kate. He’s confused. There’s a big difference.”

“Doesn’t seem like a big difference to me.” She studied Simone. “You’re allowed to have your own personal life, Counselor.”

Simone’s brow wrinkled, and Kate sensed she wanted to say something but didn’t.

“So is that why you came by today?” Kate asked.

“No.” Simone extracted a folder from her briefcase and drew in a long breath. “I got the DNA report back. I wanted to talk to you about it first. I called Ryan earlier. He’s meeting me at my office this afternoon.”

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat. Here we go. “Okay, let’s have it.”

Simone passed her the file, waited and watched as Kate scanned the page. “It’s a preliminary report, Kate. But it’s a pretty good match. They’ll want to take samples from Mr. and Mrs. Mathews to match parentage. I’m told they live in Seattle. I don’t believe they’ve been informed of your possible identity yet.”

Kate set the file on her desk. Rising, she walked on shaky legs to the window and crossed her arms over her chest where she blew out a calming breath. Then another that did little to slow her racing pulse.

It was true. She was Annie Harrison. Ryan was her husband. Julia was her daughter. The reality of the moment cut right through her, grabbed on to her heart and squeezed tight. She’d lost five years of a life she didn’t even know. And now she was left with…what? A family she couldn’t remember and a future that didn’t look any brighter than it had five minutes ago. If anything, that future looked a thousand times more confusing.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she forced herself to speak. “I had a feeling it was going to work out this way.”

“I think everyone did. If it’s any consolation, I think they already know. I got that sense from Mitch last night. Maybe that’ll make it easier.”

“I expected it, but it doesn’t make it easier.” Wiping the tears from her face, she turned. So many thoughts, scenarios, questions swam in her mind, but she couldn’t focus on those yet. Pain lanced through her chest at what would inevitably come, but she tried to breathe through it. Knew she just had to get it out there. “Okay, Counselor. Time to earn your retainer. I have a son.”

Simone looked up sharply.

Kate’s lungs felt three sizes too small, but she forced herself to go on. “He’s four and a half. When I woke up from that coma, he was almost three years old. I didn’t bring it up before because I had to be sure before I pulled him into this.”

Kate closed her eyes to block the tears. “When I asked you for legal advice, should I turn out to be Annie Harrison, it was with Reed in mind. I think it’s probably a safe bet he’s Ryan’s son. He looks a lot like him. I’ll want to have him tested as well, just to be sure.”

“Of course.”

“And I want to tell Ryan about him. I’d appreciate it if you’d not say anything today.”

“Of course not.” Simone jotted a few notes on her legal pad.

Kate massaged the scar on her head, thoughts of Ryan circling in her mind. Of Julia’s reaction to her. Of what they would both say and do when they found out about Reed. “He’s going to want to get to know Reed, in the same way I’m going to want to get to know Julia. It could get sticky with visitation issues, etc. He already doesn’t like me. I don’t see this making things any better.”

“We’ll work it out. Don’t worry about that. Ryan is a fair and honest man. Regardless of what the press says, regardless of how he’s feeling right now, he’ll cooperate.”

“I’m not so sure.” Kate ran her hands through her hair as tears filled her eyes. Why did this hurt so bad? She should be happy. Ecstatic that she had her answer. She finally knew who she was. Why wasn’t that enough?

Simone skirted the desk between them and wrapped her arms around Kate. “Just breathe. We’ll get you through this. I promise.”

Kate closed her eyes. Focused on the push and pull of air in her lungs. Centered herself on that one small thing she could do now. Everything else…everything else would work itself out. She had to give it time. Her head knew that even if her heart didn’t totally understand.

She pulled back and wiped her eyes. “Thank you. I…I appreciate everything you’re doing for me. I appreciate your help and friendship. I didn’t realize how much I missed having a friend around until now.”

Simone smiled. “I liked Annie a great deal. We were good friends. But I like you a lot, too. I’d be your friend whether I’d known her or not.”

“I appreciate that too,” Kate whispered. She dried her face and looked at Simone again, this time knowing she could get through the emotional fallout from this so long as she stayed focused on her goal. “There’s one more thing I’d like to discuss.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“I’ve been doing some research, trying to find answers. It was only speculation before, but now that we know for sure… I don’t know if it will make a difference in the long run, but I need to know what happened to me. Jake knew something. He had to. There has to be a reason he lied to me. Was I living a double life? Did someone intentionally try to hurt me only something went wrong? Did I run away from my family? I can’t go through life not knowing the truth.”

Simone leaned back against Kate’s desk. “Go on.”

Kate paced in front of the window. “Well, from what I can deduce from the crash records, my body was never recovered, obviously,” she added sarcastically. “But there was a body in my seat.”

“Correct.” Simone went back to her briefcase, flipped through her file on the crash. She’d obviously done some research herself. “The manifest shows you checked in on the flight, which means the stewardess did a head count and your seat was accounted for after the bulkhead doors closed. You’d made it through security with your boarding pass and ID. And your personal belongings were recovered after the crash—your suitcase, but also your purse, specifically, found wedged under a seat. Ryan identified it.”

“Do you think he still has it?”

“I don’t know. I could ask. What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just hoping seeing it might bring back a memory. I’ve had no luck at that nursing home. They won’t even let me through the door anymore. But I really feel like that’s a starting place.”

“They haven’t returned my calls, and I don’t have enough here to get a court order to go through their files.”

“I know.” Kate pinched her throbbing forehead. “If I could just get in their record room myself.”

Simone reached back for her file and opened it on her lap. “Where is it? San Mateo?” She skimmed the information she’d jotted down. “You know, I think I’ve got a friend whose mother is in this home.” She bit her lip as if pondering their choices. “I might be able to get inside, go in to see her.”

Kate’s brow lifted. “You wouldn’t be suggesting something illegal now, would you, Counselor?”

Simone frowned. “Why do you call me that?”

“What?”

“Counselor.”

Kate shrugged. “I don’t know. You are one, aren’t you? Does it bother you?”

“Yeah, I am one. And no, it doesn’t bother me. It’s just weird that you and Mitch use the same word.”

“Not so weird. Not anymore.”

Simone stood and tried to smile. “No. I guess not anymore. Tell you what. I’ll make a call, talk to my friend and find out if her mother’s really there. If she is, I’ll let you know, and we’ll decide what to do from there.”

“Okay.”

Simone gathered her things. “I’m going to meet with Ryan. You take some time and figure out what you’re going to tell him. If you want me to be there, we can set it up in the office. However you want to handle it.”

“Thanks, but I think I need to do that on my own.”

“Okay.” Simone shot her a quick smile. “I’ll call you after I speak with him today.”

Simone’s gaze snapped to the door when it pushed open. Ryan and Mitch stepped into her office, presenting a unified front.

Brothers.

Regardless of their individual characteristics, they were brothers at heart, and it showed. Ryan with his sharp, clean, good looks, and Mitch with his rugged, outdoorsy ones. They were roughly the same height and build, but so different in every other way.

She rose, stepped to Ryan, hugged him quickly. “I’m sorry for all of this.”

“Thanks.” He pulled back. “I’m sorry about Steve too. I…I should have called you.”

“It’s okay. I understand. These things are hard. They bring up emotions we don’t always want to deal with.”

He nodded. Her gaze cut to Mitch. He’d gotten a haircut and shaved off the goatee. He looked good, but she missed the wispy curls near his collar.

Dragging her gaze away from him, she rubbed her hands together. “Okay.” She moved back behind her desk, switching to lawyer mode. “Have a seat, and we’ll get started.”

“She’s not coming?” Mitch asked.

“No. I’ve already spoken with Kate. We felt it best to do this separately. She wanted time to absorb the results before she spoke with either of you.”

Mitch and Ryan exchanged glances. She noticed their apprehension and took out the test results. No sense prolonging their misery. She handed a copy to each of them. “These are the preliminary DNA reports. It’s not entirely conclusive, but I think you’ll see it’s close enough. We’ll need to get samples from your parents, Mitch, but I think we can say with ninety-eight percent accuracy, Kate Alexander is Annie Harrison.”

Ryan leaned back and closed his eyes. Heartache raced along his features, but she could tell from his quiet reaction he’d already expected this news. As Kate had said, however, knowing didn’t make any of this easier.