Page 29 of Catching Dreams

“What would we do with it when you come on the road with me?” I asked her. I never had pets as a kid. It was not high on my priority list.

“We could help watch it!” Camden exclaimed.

“I think we could do that,” Penelope said.

“I always wanted a kitten, but Mimi was allergic,” Molly explained.

“Then we’ll get one,” I told her and kissed her forehead. “I’m actually not allergic to cats!”

A few minutes later, Penelope gave an excited shout and held up an orange stand mixer that looked to be just fine. “We have a survivor!”

Molly laughed along with her friend and gave her a hug. Who knew one out of nine mixers was a reason for celebration, but I smiled as I watched them get excited.

“And, of course, it’s Tiger Orange!” Molly said with a huge smile, but then her expression turned serious. I turned to see what had changed her mood so suddenly and saw my former teammate–the one I had asked to deliver the chair and umbrella, the same one that had gone on a walk with Molly and made her upset somehow–standing behind me. Dominic Anderson, the Tiger’s second baseman. I didn’t know him as well as some of the other guys on the Tiger’s team, but I had never had an issue with him.

“Hi, Dom,” Molly said quietly.

Dominic gave her a half smile and said, “Hey. I talked to my mom, and she’s going to be here tomorrow. She wants to meet you.”

Molly just nodded, and I was even more confused about what was going on. Why would Dominic’s mom want to meet my wife? So I just bluntly asked, “What is going on?”

Molly sighed and took my hand. “I think our two hours are about up. Let’s go back to the motel and talk, ok?” I nodded and squeezed her hand.

“Do you want me to come?” Dominic asked Molly.

“Not right now, but I do need to get your phone number,” Molly said as she handed him her cell phone. Why was my wife getting my former teammate's phone number? I pulled her closer to me as if to tell him she was mine.

I looked at Penelope with my eyebrow raised, and she just shrugged her shoulders. “I want to know what’s going on, too.”

“I’ll tell you soon, Pen, I promise. We need to get all the answers first,” Molly said as she let go of my hand to give her a hug.

She took my hand in hers again, and we began walking to the motel. She didn’t say anything on our walk back, and I didn’t press her for answers. Yet. As soon as we were inside the hotel room and the door was shut, I looked at my wife expectantly. “Baby, you have to tell me what is going on because I am really lost.”

Molly nodded and walked over to a fire-safe box on the nightstand. It hadn’t been there before, and I wondered where it had come from. I didn’t have to wonder very long.

“I remember my Mimi gave me this for my sixteenth birthday. What sixteen year old wants a lock box? I remember being mad because I had wanted a DVD player, not some box. I was rude to her and hated the gift.”

“You were a typical teenager. I’m sure she understood,” I told her.

Molly sat down on the bed, and I sat next to her. I didn’t say anything else and just let her tell her story. “When one of the Red Cross volunteers found this box, I couldn’t be more grateful for that present. I wanted to call her so badly and tell her how sorry I was for acting the way I had. Inside the box is all I have left of my parents. Their wedding invitation and wedding pictures, pictures from their prom night, pictures of my mom while she was pregnant with me, my dad’s baseball pictures and pictures of my mom with my grandparents. There are even some drawings I had made for my parents saved here. I had forgotten all about this box when I heard about the tornado.”

“I’m so glad you found the box,” I said and kissed her temple. I still had no clue what was going on with Dominic Anderson.

“Well, when I opened the box, this was the first picture I found,” she told me and handed me the photograph.

I had to smile at her little red pigtails and the tiara. She was covered from head to toe in chocolate cake. The two young adults, probably the same age if not younger than Molly and me, standing on either side of her had to be her parents. Her mom had her same strawberry colored hair. Molly definitely had her mother’s smile, which I could tell because her mom was grinning at the camera. Molly’s dad wasn’t much taller than her mom and had sandy brown hair. He only had eyes for his little girl in the highchair and was making his birthday girl giggle as he was eating some cake off her finger.

“I was looking at this picture when Dominic’s voice from behind me asked how I had a picture of his parents.”

“Wait a second. What?” I asked. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

Molly gave a small, humorless laugh. “That was my reaction, too. Dom and I went on a walk and talked. Apparently, he was adopted, and his parents never hid that fact from him. It was an open adoption, and he says his parents met his bio parents. They were teenagers and not ready to give their baby the life he deserved, so they put him up for adoption. When he was a teenager himself, he started asking questions about his birth parents. His mom and dad told him that, sadly, when he was eight, they got word from the adoption agency that his birth parents had both died in a car accident. They gave him some pictures of his birth parents, and he kept one hidden in the top drawer of his dresser. He told me he felt guilty about always looking at it because his mom and dad are amazing parents.”

“So that would make him four years older than you,” I said. All this new information was swirling in my head, and I was trying to remember all the details I knew about my wife’s parents. I looked back at the picture still in my hand, and I could see Dominic’s resemblance in Molly’s mom’s eyes and her dad’s hair color. When Molly just sat there, seemingly lost in her own thoughts, I continued by asking, “Why didn’t your grandparents tell you that you had an older brother?”

“That’s the million dollar question. That’s what I had to process in my own head,” Molly said in a sad, quiet voice. Tears began streaming down her face as I pulled her up into my lap and cradled her. “Why would they hide that from me? If he’s really my brother, we missed out on so much time together. I just don’t understand why they didn’t tell me.”

I gently rocked her back and forth while she cried into my shoulder.

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