Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,64
doctor had assured me that since I’d been active before I’d gotten pregnant, physical assertion wasn’t to be feared. The sun had hung directly overhead as it signaled noon, and made me wish for a hat to shade me and my oversized body. I wouldn’t have been upset that a hat would have hid my face either. I’m sure it burned with shame and guilt. Cam had no idea what I was doing.
If I hadn’t been so nervous, I would have purred like a pleased cat basking in the air conditioning, but instead, my hands rattled with fear as I briefly spoke with the receptionist. I had called ahead, and they were expecting me. A woman with graying auburn hair came to fetch me, and I followed her into the elevator and then through a complicated layout of hallways once we’d arrived on the second floor.
I uselessly wiggled in the plush chair she showed me to, uselessly seeking the comfort that had been denied my swelling body for months.
“I’ve been looking over the information you provided for us earlier, Ms. Adair,” she said as she rifled through a manila folder with my name scrawled across the tab.
“Is there a problem?” I sat on my hands to battle their nervous tremors. Nothing else seemed to work.
“No, not at all.” Her long, thick hair curled just the slightest bit at the ends, and I chose to focus on that rather than meet her prodding eyes. “Adley?”
I had no choice but to look at her then. There was something terribly motherly about her deep, tawny gaze, and for a second, I’d had to fight everything inside of me not to break down and beg her to hold me.
“Hmm?” I responded. My throat was too clogged to try for actual words.
“Before we go any further, I think it’s important to understand the reasoning behind your decision. I see a lot of scared girls who are convinced this is what they want, but when the time comes to go through with their decision, they can’t do it. A lot of people get hurt when that happens, and I’d like to prevent that.” Her voice was soft and reassuring.
“I have to ask you, Adley, why do you want to give your daughter up for adoption?”
I pushed myself out of the memory and back into the car with Fran as something horrible occurred to me.
Fran was a mother – a real one. She couldn’t have been older than me when she had gotten pregnant with Maria. Our situations had been the same, and yet, our decisions had been very different.
“Do you think I’m evil for giving the baby away?” As soon as I asked the question, I knew I didn’t want to know the answer. Fran was the closest I’d come to making a real friend in a very long time. What if she saw me as a monster?
Her brown eyes jerked to my face with disbelief.
“Give the baby away? Adley, you didn’t leave her in a trash can at prom! You gave her to family that desperately wanted her. Why would I think that was evil?”
Relief gushed through me. I hadn’t realized how important it was for me to hear that from someone who actually knew me.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve never actually discussed any of this until I came here.”
“So the only feedback you’re getting is from Madeline?” Her face was sharp, eyes wide, and forehead had crinkled with concern. “It’s a miracle you haven’t gone postal on the whole set.”
I laughed. “She does leave something to be desired when it comes to positive reinforcement.”
“I love her, I do…but this life has screwed with her head so much I’m afraid she’ll never be normal.” Fran looked genuinely sad at the thought.
I knew Declan’s negative feelings about the lead actress’s posse, and about some of them, I agreed, but Fran really cared for Madeline. I could see it in her face. If he could see her expression at that moment, I doubt he’d ever waste another breath refuting the genuineness of her involvement.
“Normal might be a stretch.” My face contorted unintentionally as I tried to word it gently. “Sometimes when I’m talking, I look at her and I swear she’s plotting my murder…after production has wrapped for good though, of course. She’d never do anything to endanger her career.”
“I actually think she likes you,” Fran admitted with an abashed smile. “She’s just a very confused and misunderstood girl…Or, at least, I have to tell