“I didn’t think I would ever hear from him, not after all these years. I figured…well, we all figured that he didn’t want to have anything to do with us. With that side of his family.”
I lean forward, furrowing my brows.
“He was just a kid, Mr. Silvers, when the accident happened. How could he have made that choice for himself?”
“No, of course he didn’t. But Annie would have brainwashed him. She never liked us, and as he grew up, she would have turned him against us. That’s what we all figured.”
I am even more confused now. Reed’s mother’s name was Annie. Is that the Annie he is talking about?
“How could she have influenced him? She was…dead,” I said.
Matthew looks confused now too.
“Annie died?” he asks, and I sit back in my chair. What is going on?
“You didn’t identify her body?”
“When did Annie die? Oh my God!” Matthew covers his mouth with a hand. “How old was Reed when she died?”
I can feel my heart thudding in my chest like a jackhammer. I don’t have a clear picture of what is going on yet, but I can sense I’m about to uncover something big. Something that could change Reed’s life.
“As far as we know, Annie Silvers, Reed’s mother, died in the accident. In the hospital.”
Matthew is staring at me like I’m speaking another language. It looks like he doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
“But she was…she was doing fine…she was sitting up and crying and holding Reed in her arms…when I left her. How did this happen? What happened to her?”
I don’t have the answers, and I’m glad Reed isn’t here for this.
Matthew has his head in his hands. I haven’t seen his face in a few minutes, and I’m not sure if he’s crying or not.
I am desperate to find out what’s happening and get to the bottom of this, but I also know this is sensitive information, and emotions are running high. I am waiting for him to look at me himself, of his own accord.
Several more minutes go by before he finally faces me again.
“So you’re saying Annie died in the hospital? On the night of the accident?” he asks.
I lick my lips, trying to keep my composure and not hurry this.
“That is the information we have, but I haven’t seen a death certificate yet.”
Matthew’s nostrils are flared. I can see that his neck is beginning to turn red.
“Who raised Reed? Where did he grow up?”
I gulp. I had a feeling this question was going to come up.
“He was taken in by social services. He was brought up in a few different foster homes around the city.”
Matthew sucks in a deep breath and sinks in his chair. With one fist, he bangs the table, and I’m glad we’re sitting outside. He looks angry, almost defeated.
“Why weren’t we told? Why didn’t anybody contact me?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Silvers, and I’m trying to find out. Not a lot of information is readily available. We will have to go through a long and arduous legal process in order to get the official files on Reed from the social services.”
He runs a hand through his hair, a lot like the way Reed does. I can’t help but observe these little nuances, small familiarities between the two men. How different would Reed’s life be right now if he grew up around his extended family?
Matthew seems like a good man. A genuinely nice person who wishes things had gone differently.
“I want to help you in any way I can, and I want to meet Reed. Do you think you can arrange that?” he asks.
I don’t want to commit to anything because I haven’t decided what I will tell Reed.
“I will be in touch with you,” is all I can say.
Matthew rubs a hand over his face, leaving his skin looking raw and pink.
“And I can tell you now, Annie is still alive. Look for that death certificate and you won’t find it. She is the one who abandoned her son,” he growls, and all of a sudden, I’m feeling empty and cold.
9
Reed
It’s Friday, and I’ve booked a table at my favorite French restaurant for eight tonight. The last two days have been some of the toughest of my life.
After I saw Ella nearly naked, after I had my hands all over her delicious bare body in nothing but that strikingly pink lingerie—I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her.