Chapter 7
Shortly after her mom left for work, Jo picked up the phone and called Alex. Though Alex had had to work that day, she would be finished and home by this time. So she called her.
“Hey,” Jo greeted her friend when Alex answered the phone, “you won’t believe what my mom told me today.”
“Oh yeah, your mom was telling you all about turning eighteen or something like that. So what is the big secret?”
“She let me read a love letter my dad had written to her right before he died. And she told me that their marriage and my birth were secrets, and that his family never knew. I have grandparents that don’t know I exist! Isn’t that insane?”
“Really? But why didn’t she ever tell them?”
“My dad didn’t want anyone to know until some business thing he was doing was finished. And it was the weekend he went to New York to finish that business deal when he was killed. Mom told me he was in a taxi and the taxi lost control and crashed.”
“So your dad’s parents never knew he got married and had a baby?”
“Right. And after he died, my mom figured if he had wanted to hold off telling them, there must be a reason. And since she had no way of knowing what his reason was, it might still be relevant, and the secret should still be kept, so she never said a word. She even went to New York to my dad’s funeral, and saw her in-laws there, but never said a word.”
“That must have been hard on her.”
“Probably, her parents died right as she was finishing high school, one after the other. Her dad died of cancer, and then her mom died two months later from a heart attack. So maybe she was looking forward to her in-laws being parents to her, too?”
“Yeah, they could have been. Sometimes in-laws get along, sometimes they don’t, but the fact that your dad didn’t want them to know about you guys yet makes me assume that they might not have gotten along. I mean, your dad had to have some kind of reason for hiding you two away.”
“But we will never know what it is.”
“Did your mom suggest that you go find your grandparents?”
“Not in so many words,” Jo answered. “She hinted that they seemed well-to-do, and that if I was to hunt them up, maybe there would be money for college or something, but when I cornered her about why she didn’t want to claim money from them, she told me that she didn’t want to seem like a gold-digger. Having a supposed wife and child show up at the home of a grieving mother and father seemed callous to her, but I don’t want to be a gold-digger either. Besides, if they even had an inkling that there could have been a family, we would have been really easy to find, with me collecting survivor benefits from my dad all this time.”
“But, Jo, if your dad didn’t tell them, why would they even think to look?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Jo sighed, exasperated. “I guess I’m torn. On one hand, I would love to have grandparents. I’ve never had any. On the other hand, maybe they don’t want someone to dredge up painful memories after all these years. Or, maybe they would totally shoot me down, and accuse me of trying to make a claim on an inheritance or something. That would be embarrassing and devastating. After doing okay without their money all these years, to have them accuse me of only appearing to try to weasel money out of them would break my heart.” She sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You don’t have to decide all at once, do you? It’s not like you have an expiration date, and at the stroke of eighteen years, all claims are null and void, right?”
Jo chuckled. “Alex, you say the craziest things. Hey, if you’re not busy, why don’t you run over here and read my dad’s letter. Mom also pulled out a few photos for me to see, and her marriage certificate and my birth certificate. I know they aren’t remarkable, but mom talked more about dad today than ever before in my whole life. I feel like I know him better,” she said.
Jo heard Alex talking to someone in the background. “Okay, Mom said it was fine for me to come over. I wasn’t sure if she needed me here for anything. I will be there in a few minutes.” And they both hung up.
At the sound of a kitchen timer going off, Jo went into the kitchen and turned on the light. It was just getting dim in the house, not even dusk outside yet. In the Northern California summers, it wouldn’t be dark until ten o’clock at night. She pulled the cake from the oven and set it on the counter to cool. She then flipped through the photos again while waiting for Alex. She looked at the photos of her mother, eighteen years earlier. She was still as beautiful today, Jo acknowledged. She was shorter than Jo now, but still as slim as in the photos. Jo smiled at the pictures as she looked at the last one, and set them down on the table.
It didn’t take Alex long to arrive, and once she did, she picked up the letter first, to meet Jo’s dad, before she began looking at the photos.
Alex put the letter down, and her eyes were misty. “Wow, he really loved you guys. That was a sweet letter.”
Jo smiled and began walking Alex through the photos. She had sorted them chronologically the best she could guess. There weren’t many, maybe thirty in all.
“You could use these photos to prove you knew your dad, couldn’t you?” Alex ventured. “I mean, if they doubted your claim, that is. Maybe your grandparents would be thrilled to know you, and wouldn’t question your claim to be their grandchild. I mean, you don’t know how they will react until it happens.”
“I know all that, Alex. I guess what I don’t know is how it would all affect my mom. No matter what I do, she ends up hurt.”
Alex looked at Jo, stunned. “How do you see that, Jo?”
“Well, let’s say they wanted to know me. Once I showed up, and they rejoiced, and bought me presents, they would eventually become justifiably angry at my mom for keeping me from them all this time.”
“Okay, I could see how that would be bad, but what about the other?”
“If I go find them, and they refuse to acknowledge me, say my dad was never married, and deny us even the proof we have here, then my mom would be terribly hurt that she got my hopes up. She would blame herself for my pain.”
Alex pondered a minute. “Hmm. Yeah, I can see what you are saying, but, Jo; you’ve only had a few hours to think about all this. I think you should take more time. Give yourself a week, then decided if you want to find them. And after all, they may not be easy to find. Becker is not a rare name. Search for Becker in New York, I’m sure there are thousands of them. And, they could be dead already. I mean, your mom’s parents are, right?” Jo nodded yes. “Well, give yourself a week. Then make a decision, and follow through. And whatever happens, don’t stress over it. If it’s meant to be, it will happen.”
Jo smiled and hugged her friend. “Alex, you are always so calm and sane. You seem so much older and wiser than me.”
It had started to get even darker in the mobile. Alex and Jo were sitting and chatting in the kitchen, when the phone rang. When Jo answered, her mother was on the line, and let Jo know that two of the other cashiers had finally come in, so she was coming home a little earlier than planned. In fact, she was leaving right then, and would be home in about ten minutes. “Great, Mom, see you then,” Jo replied, and hung up.
Jo pulled the leftover soup out of the fridge and poured it into a big pot to begin re-heating it on the stovetop. Alex asked Jo more questions about what her mom had told her about Joe Becker and the business trip. They continued chatting, and soon the soup was hot. Jo poured it into three bowls then set one in front of Alex and one at a place for herself. “We won’t wait for Mom. She should be here any minute, but knowing her, she might have stopped off for something. I can reheat it if she’s too long.”
The girls dug in, Jo not realizing how hungry she had gotten. She laughed. Alex looked at her questioningly. “It’s funny,” Jo told her, “I could hardly eat this morning in anticipation of the ‘big secret’ mom was going to tell me. And I was wondering why I was so hungry.” Alex smiled.
They ate soup, and careful not to soil them, looked through the last of the papers. Birth certificate, marriage license, other important papers regarding her father. Jo decided they should probably be put away so something didn’t happen to them, so she began gathering them all up. She stacked the photos in a neat pile on top of the papers, and grabbed the whole bunch to take to her mom’s room where her mom kept them safely in some box. She assumed the box would be open on the bed, and just as she entered the bedroom, the phone rang again. She stepped over to the nightstand and picked up the phone, expecting it to be her mom explaining why she was delayed, but a man was on the other end of the line.
“Hello?”
“Is this the Becker residence?”
“Yes, may I help you?”
“Is this Miss Becker?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Miss Becker, I’m terribly sorry to have to tell you this,” the man began.
Jo’s heart stopped. She felt it drop and thud into her stomach as she waited for the next words.
“Your mother has been in an auto accident, and she is seriously hurt. Is there any way you can get to the hospital?”
Jo stood, stunned. She was sobbing, and saying “No, no, no,” over and over. Alex ran in to where she was, and took the phone hanging from her limp hand.
“This is Jo Becker’s friend. What is going on?”
The voice at the other end told Alex the same horrible news Jo had just heard. Alex asked pertinent questions, such as, which hospital, when did it happen, would she be okay? Then she thanked the man, and told him Jo would be there as soon as possible. She hung up, ran into Jo’s bedroom and grabbed the shoes from beside the bed. Back in Jo’s mom’s room, she pushed Jo onto the bed, and put her shoes on her feet, and tied them. Tears were running down Alex’s cheeks too, but she knew she had to be strong for Jo. She had to get Jo to the hospital while there was still time. She went into the kitchen to make sure they had turned off the stove from cooking the soup, grabbed Jo’s house keys sitting on the counter, then led the blubbering Jo outside, and locked the door behind her.
It was almost dark outside when Alex pushed and pulled Jo out to her car. She noticed a pungent odor in the air, but didn’t even stop to consider what it was. Her priority was getting Jo to her mom before it was too late. She shoved Jo into the passenger seat of her beautiful mustang, and Jo collapsed, head hanging down over her knees, sobbing. Even though Alex knew not having a seatbelt on was illegal, there was no way she was going to force Jo upright to belt her in. The police would just have to understand. This was an emergency. Besides, bent over as she was now, you couldn’t even tell anyone else was in the car with her, Alex thought.
She drove carefully, though. Not having her friend belted worried her. What if someone hit them? And she was crying, too, so the tears made it harder to see the road, but they arrived at the hospital within fifteen minutes of the phone call.
They entered the emergency room, Alex holding Jo upright. Jo was shocked, but coherent. Still, she let Alex do the talking.
“We are here to see Linda Becker. She came in from a car accident.”
The lady at the desk looked through a clipboard. “I don’t have anyone by that name,” she said as she looked up.
Alex tried again. “B- e- c- k –e –r. They just called fifteen minutes ago, and we were told she was critical. Which department would she be in if not here?”
The lady looked through her clipboard again. “There is no Becker here, and besides that, we have had no accidents all evening. The last one was over four hours ago.”
Alex and Jo looked at each other in disbelief. This was the hospital the man had said. Why wasn’t she here?
“Ma’am, is there any way you can check the hospital across town for Mrs. Becker? The man said she didn’t have long to live, but I was sure he told us this hospital.”
The lady was very nice, and agreed to check the other hospital. Yes, they had an accident come in within the last hour, but no, it was two men. They had no record of a Linda Becker.
Jo stood silent. The shock had drained her of energy, and where she should now be feeling relief, she felt empty. And even though these people say her mom was not in an accident, Jo still felt the loss. She reached in her pocket to pull out her cell phone, and dialed her mom. No answer. She looked up at Alex, dumbfounded.
“I don’t know what happened, Jo. This was not right. How could someone do that to you? And where is your mom?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Maybe we should go to the police.”
“And tell them what, Alex? That I got a crank call and believed it? And that it was really mean?” It was then that Jo realized she was gripping something for dear life. Her fingers were aching, but the realization hadn’t sunk in that she was holding onto something. She lifted her hands and looked. She was still grasping the photos and important papers that she had gone to put away when the phone call came. She held them out, to show Alex.
“Look what I’m holding, Alex,” Jo broke a smile. “Isn’t that silly? I’m still holding my mom’s papers and stuff.”
Alex, relieved to see Jo coming back to herself, smiled with her. “You could have left them in the car.” They both laughed, the tension broken, and then turned toward the exit to leave.
“I will keep calling my mom. She has to be home soon.”
Jo took two steps toward the exit door, but was stopped abruptly when the double doors on the other side burst open and a gurney was wheeled in with a bloody person on it. The victim was in a neck brace, too, and there were tubes everywhere. One of the paramedics pushing the rolling bed was shouting medical stuff to a doctor that had met them at the door.
“Female, age thirty-nine. BP, 80 over 60, lacerations covering her body, broken jaw, tibia, three broken ribs. Left lung collapsed. Internal injuries as well. She was hit hard. Other driver was drunk. Her femoral artery was nicked; she’s losing a lot of blood.”
“What’s her name?
“Linda Becker.”