Were we going to have another Blanca Type Incident?
I mentally prepared for another demonstration of why these people were so darn nice but my preparation wasn’t enough.
Nowhere near.
“You look just like your mother,” Tom Savage said and his six words hit me like six sharp blows and my body jerked with the power of them.
I swallowed, wondering if I heard him right then whispered, “I’m sorry?”
The Rock Chicks and Ralphie were closing in and I felt Hector’s heat hit me as he drew nearer. But I only had eyes for Tom Savage.
“You know my mother?” I asked when he didn’t repeat himself.
“Knew her, yes,” he answered.
I put my newly exposed hand to the counter and held on. It wouldn’t do to collapse in a dead faint. That wouldn’t exactly say Take Charge Sadie.
“It seems, when we were little, we knew each other too,” Indy put in and my eyes moved to her. She was fishing in the back pocket of her jeans and she pulled out a picture, stepped toward me and handed it to me.
I took it and looked down.
In the picture was a little redheaded, blue-eyed girl, maybe two years old, and a baby. The little girl was sitting on a couch with the swaddled baby in her arms. You could tell she was giggling into the camera, pleased as punch to be holding her living doll.
The baby’s head had a shock of ultra-light, golden-cream-strawberry blonde hair.
The little girl was obviously Indy, the baby… me.
“Oh my God,” I breathed, not taking my eyes from the picture. I took one step back then two then ran into something solid. Hector’s hands settled on my shoulders as I stopped retreating and stared at the picture.
Finally, I looked up at Tom. “How…?”
Tom took a step toward me, his eyes moved to Hector and he stopped.
He looked back at me. “Lizzie, your mother, was a friend of my wife, Katherine.”
I blinked, unable to process this because, frankly, it was un-processable.
My Mom and Indy’s Mom were friends? How could that be?
“She was?” I asked.
Tom nodded. “Katherine and Kitty Sue, Lee’s Mom, were thick as thieves all their lives. They met Lizzie in high school and she became part of their tribe. They were both bridesmaids at your Mom’s wedding.”
Instantly I felt saliva fill my mouth and I swallowed it down.
This couldn’t be true. It simply couldn’t be true.
Could it?
I didn’t know anything about my mother. I had nothing of her but my memories. My father had removed all traces of her after she left us. No photos, no trinkets, no letters, not a stitch of her clothing. Nothing. We never spoke of her after she left. Not once.
“Mom and Dad are on vacation in Hawaii. They’re coming home on Sunday,” Ally piped in, I came out of my thoughts and I looked at her. She was staring at me too and she didn’t look like feisty Veronica Mars at all. Her look was both gentle and concerned.
It was too much to take in so, confused, I asked, “What?”
“My Mom, Kitty Sue, your Mom’s friend, she’s in Hawaii. We’ve called her and she told us to tell you she’s looking forward to seeing you again when she gets back.”
I was shaking my head, still not understanding, but Ally kept on.