The hardest part was finding excuses to leave her family so she could have some privacy to do her searching. She’d finally had to fake being sick to get some uninterrupted time.
It had paid off.
While Joanna had snored, ensconced in the bathroom with the door closed, and the fan running, Mae had filled Lin in on what she’d found. “There aren’t too many pictures of him, but it doesn’t look like he’s changed much. And he’s rich. Some kind of businessman.” Mae had been digging, looking for every nugget of information she could find.
“Do we have other siblings?” Lin had asked, perched on the toilet, chewing on the ends of her hair.
Mae shook her head. “He never remarried when Mom left.” A nice way of saying that she’d faked her death, because once Mae started looking, it was as if clues intentionally popped up.
“Why would she do that?” Confusion wrinkled Lin’s brow.
“I don’t know.” But Mae didn’t appreciate it. A mother didn’t have the right to keep a child, in this case children, away from their father. Plenty of parents divorced and shared custody. Not to mention, why lie? Their mother had had ten years to explain why their father still lived, and they couldn’t see him. Ten years of silence.
Was it revenge? Mae wouldn’t have called her mother petty, and yet, she’d read the stories. Knew how divorce made some people crazy. Mother had tried to avoid that by running away. It explained her paranoia.
But it didn’t give her an excuse.
Mae wanted to meet her daddy. Which was why, in that bathroom, that same night, she’d sent him a message, an online search netting her a surprising email address.
She didn’t expect a reply, and yet it came within the hour.
Dearest daughter, it fills me with immense joy to hear from you. Please, let us not waste any time and meet at once. Your choice of location and time. Bring your mother if you wish. Let us end this terrible separation. Your ever-loving father. Ronin.
It was a more perfect reply than she’d expected. Saying all the right things. Eloquent. Eager.
It filled Mae with hope. And fear. What if her father was disappointed when he met her? Then she felt guilt. Because she’d done something her mother wouldn’t like.
How to tell her? Maybe she wouldn’t tell her quite yet. She could communicate with her father, meet with him, take his measure, and ease the transition. Show her mother that she had nothing to fear.
Mae and Lin would never abandon her.
So, she felt quite confident in making arrangements to meet him in a public place. After all, there were people around. They could easily call for help.
Then again, why would she need aid? This was her father.
He’d been so happy that she wanted to meet. Claimed he was hopping on a plane at that very moment so he wouldn’t be late to meet them.
A little too eager? Everything had moved faster than expected. Too fast. And now that Mae sat in a pizza shop, an old one in need of new paint, waiting for him to arrive, she couldn’t help but eye the door and wonder if perhaps she’d made a mistake.
Then it was too late.
He came from behind, the murmur in the shop dying being her only warning. She noticed the four other people inside paying attention to a spot behind her.
As if in a dream, Mae pivoted on her stool and saw him.
Taller than expected. Handsome, even if the pictures didn’t hint at the gray feathering his temples. His suit neat and unwrinkled. His expression smiling. “Hello. I am Ronin. You must be Mae and Lin. My daughters.” He held open his arms.
Lin threw herself off the stool to hug him. Mae moved more slowly. She couldn’t explain her trepidation. This was what she’d wanted.
She eyed the door. Then the still-silent restaurant. Why did they all watch her father as if waiting for something?
“You don’t greet your father?” The words sounded pleasant enough, and yet a glance at his face showed that his eyes were tight.
Angry? Or was that sorrow at her seeming rejection?
“Father.” She sketched him a short bow before hugging him, Lin moving aside to make room for her twin.
There was none of the warm comfort she got from her mother or Aunt Joanna. Even Ted, for that matter.
Blame it on her nerves. She’d done it. Found her father. Good or bad, there was no turning back now.
Conversation in the pizza shop resumed as Father led them to