Authors: Bec Botefuhr
“Hey buddy what’s wrong?” Nate asks.
“Fuck,” Ryder snaps again.
“Ryder, what’s wrong?” I ask, standing.
Sandy is awake now and standing also.
“You girls need to sit down.”
I look at Sandy and her eyes narrow.
“Why?” I ask.
“Just sit Maya!”
We sit around the table and watch him pace backwards and forwards across the room.
“I got answers tonight.”
I feel my throat go tight.
“About?”
“About your parents,
”
Sandy grips my hand and squeezes.
“Ok…”
“It’s bad. It’s really fucking bad.”
My eyes burn, “They are dead, aren’t they?”
“No.”
“They aren’t?”
Ryder sits down and takes my hand, and Sandy’s. Uh oh.
“I have been searching for months, with no leads. I got one the other day and I chased it up, hoping it was wrong. It turns out it was right. I am so sorry to do this to you girls but you deserve the truth. First, I am going to say this; your parents aren’t your parents.”
“What?” I cry.
“Just listen, those people who left you ran because they were in trouble. They aren’t your parents. Their names are Cathy and Ben Clarke, and they are criminals on the run.”
“I don’t understand,
” I whisper. Sandy is dead still beside me.
“Listen, I searched high and low, unlocked files and came to dead ends. Then I came across a news report one night, it had a date and I recognized that date as your birthday Maya, so I
read the article. It said a baby girl was stolen from the hospital. I got curious, so I searched further and found that baby was never returned.”
I can’t breathe.
“So I read on, only to realize two years later another baby was stolen…”
Sandy’s hand goes limp.
“So I researched it further, and the birthdays match up. The only way to be a hundred percent is to do a DNA but I am afraid it looks like those babies were you two. The people that stole you fled from the country around when you said your parents went missing. Someone was onto them, and they freaked out. You were put into foster homes after that, but no one knew you were the missing babies, so no one came for you.”
“So…” I croak, my voice shaking,
“We aren’t sisters?”
“I am afraid it doesn’t look like it.”
“And we were stolen?”
“Yes, but only DNA will confirm that.”
Sandy stands and is out the door before I can stop her.
“SANDY!”
I stand and run after her, I chase her all the way down to the beach. She is on the sand, beating it with her fists. I grip her and wrap my arms around her shaking body, and we both scream and cry.
“This isn’t happening,
” she wails, “It can’t be.”
“It’s going to be ok, not
hing can tear us apart.”
“We were stolen!
It’s so horrible. The people we thought loved us were criminals.”
“I know,
” I whisper, “I know.”
“I want to know
Maya; I want to know if we are those kids.”
“I know.”
“I need to go for a walk, I can’t breathe.”
I nod and let her go, I can’t move from my position on the sand. I wrap my arms around my body and rock. My parents, the ones I thought loved me, are liars and criminals. I feel like someone has torn my heart out and stomped on it. Who are my real parents?
God the pain they must have felt all those years. I can’t imagine the damage that would have done to a family.
I feel as set of arms go around me, and I realize it is Ryder. He crushes me close to his chest and whispers in my ear over and over until I feel calmer. When he lets me go, I look up at him under the
moonlight; I reach up and stroke his cheek. He grips my hand and kisses all my fingers, then helps me to my feet.
“It’s going to be
ok; we are going to finish this for you.”
“Do you know who our parents are?” I whisper.
“I have located the two families who lost their babies on those dates. They are both in LA.”
My heart skitters.
“They are?”
“Yes.”
“How do we know for sure?”
He sighs,
“A lot of tests; we need those two families to find out for sure.”
“So what?
We just rock up on their doorsteps and say hey I am your long, lost child, can we get a DNA?”
“Basically,
”
“I can’t think about this right now, it hurts too much.”
“I understand, and for what it’s worth, I am sorry baby.”
I snuggle into him,
“I love you for what you have done, I honestly do.”
“
I would go to the ends of the earth for you Maya, that much you know.”
CHAPTER 4
NATE
“Aw shit buddy, she looks awful.”
Ryder sighs and stares at Maya, who is sitting by the pool staring at nothing.
“I don’t know what to say to her, I can’t make it better. She just got the worst bomb dropped on her.”
“Yeah, it was pretty bad. Do you know how Sandy is?”
“The same, though she is dealing with it better.”
“Maya’s been through a lot, with her family and the
murderer last year, she has likely had enough.”
“I want to help her.”
“You’re doing your best.”
Ryder
smiles and turns, looking directly at me. I was always a sucker for his aqua eyes. I met Ryder at a young age and have felt strongly for him all my life. The only issue we have ever had was my feelings for him. I have tried to scrap them, tried to move on and fall in love somewhere else, but I always end up back with him, and he is straight as nails.
“How’s Trey?”
I frown, “Fuck Trey, he is being a jerk.”
“Ouch man, what happened?”
“Are we talking like a bunch of females Ryder, because that would be creepy?”
He grins, showing me those perfect damn dimples.
“No, I’m just asking my buddy how his lover is going.”
“He isn’t my lover, he’
s old news.”
“Ah come on Nate, you liked him.”
“Until he found out about my feelings for you.”
Ryder frowns.
“He still isn’t over that?”
“Not a bit.”
“Sorry buddy. I’m sure it will work out.”
“What about you anyway, how’s things with Maya?”
“Good, she fucking drives me wild.”
“
I think you drive her wild.”
“How did you two go the other night?”
“We sorted it.”
Ryder nods, staring at her, “Is she going to be ok with it?”
“Are you ok with it?”
He turns back to me and stares.
“I have always known she had stronger feelings for you, I also know it isn’t a threat. It’s different for us.”
“She adores you, that’s for damn sure.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s why it doesn’t worry me. Besides, it isn’t like you are going to run away with her.”
I snort a laugh, “Nah, you’
re safe there.”
“Do you love her back
, Nate?”
I stare at the pixie like girl sitting by the pool and sigh, “You know I do bud, just not like that.”
“She would die if anything happened to you.”
“Yeah well, I’d die if anything happened to her,”
Ryder smiles weakly, “I’m worried about her.”
“Oh?”
“After finding out
about Janelle, and then the killer, then kissing you and being shot down…now this.”
“Ah, now I feel fucking bad again. I never meant to hurt her.”
“I know that, so does she, it’s just hard on her.”
“I
explained why I would never put her in the position we put Janelle in.”
“She is ok with it, but it still bothers her deep down.”
I sigh, going back a moment to the year I fucked Ryder’s fiancé just to be with him. It was dirty really, I couldn’t stand the woman. Ok, she was hot and all but she was a bitch. It was erotic all the same, and watching him fucking her while…
“She looks sad,
”
Ryder’s voice snaps
me out of my thoughts.
“I am going to see her.”
“Thanks buddy.”
I stand and walk over to the
pool; I sit down beside Maya and wrap my arm around her. She always smells like lavender and vanilla. The girl is so tiny she slides into my arms like a child; I rest my chin on the top of her head.
“How you doing
, bubba?”
“I just
can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Give it
time; it will be confusing for a while.”
“I feel so bad for that family, if it really is true. Ima
gine having your baby disappear?”
I shudder,
“Fuck, it would be horrible.”
“Imagine if Jasmine just got taken away from you.”
I stiffen; the thought of anyone touching my daughter would destroy me.
“I couldn’t imagine it.”
“What if they don’t want me Nate?”
“Aw sweetheart, they would be mad not to want you.”
She looks up at me and smiles, she is so darn cute.
“I love you
, do you know that?”
I grin,
“I know that.”
“Why are you two always so good to me? I got lucky finding both of you.”
“Well, I say we are the lucky ones.”
She leans up and
smacks a kiss against my lips. She is the only girl I would ever let kiss me, and she knows it.
“So, how’s Trey?”
I huff. “Your man over there was just asking the same question.”
“And?”
“It’s over with.”
“Aw Nate, I wish that wasn’t the case.”
“Look, I am going to talk with him tonight but it doesn’t look good. I don’t think we are right for each other.”
“You were fine until you kissed me and flared up the past. Tell me Nate, when you guys were away, did you have fun?”
I stiffen, and then sigh, “Oh yeah.”
“Then give it a chance, he made you happy and I miss you being happy.”
I poke her. “Come on, I haven’t been so bad.”
She makes a little gap with her thumb and forefinge
r, “Just a little.”
I smack a kiss to her head.
“I will try, ok?”
“
Ok...”
I head over to Trey’s later that night. When I open his apartment door, I find him just out of the shower. He has a towel wrapped around his waist. I can’t deny the man has a fantastic body. He is hot. He smiles at me, showing perfect white teeth. I throw my keys on the bench and walk over to him, Maya is right, before all the drama started, I did only want him.
“I am not going to walk out of here until we solve this, whatever way that has to be.”
I grip Trey’s towel and yank it off, impressive.
“And how will that be?” he says in a husky tone.
“However is best.”
He drops to his knees and unbuckles my belt, well here goes, the way we always solve a good argument…
CHAPTER 5
MAYA
“Please Ryder, I am asking you to give it to me.”
He frowns,
“Any other time you said those words I would melt, but…Maya this isn’t a good idea.”
“It’s my choice.”
“And I don’t think it will help.”
“That is for me to decide.”
He sighs and grips my face in his hands. “At least let me come with you.”
“I have to do this alone.”
With a growl, he hands me the address.
“Be sure this is what you want.”
“I know what I am doing.”
An hour later I am standing out front of a large house, it’s so beautiful and rustic my mind has a hard time wrapping
around it. The house has been around a while, and probably repainted a hundred times, but it’s beautiful. It is wooden, with wrap around decks. It is three stories, surrounded by a beautiful garden. I stare at the old swing on the porch and wonder how many times these people sat there and thought of the baby they lost.
I am standing on the side walk staring at it when a man steps out
the front door, my eyes swing towards him and I feel my heart jump into my throat. He is in his forties and is very handsome. He has dark hair, and is covered in tattoos. He looks rough, but his face is sweet, kind even. He is tall and muscular, and when he turns to look at me, I see his eyes are a mirror image of my own. I gasp.