Page 46 of Question Everything

“I’m going with you,” Kyle said.

“Me too,” said Conor.

“Me as well,” said Tim.

She tried to clear the tears from her eyes. She had expected this news about Daisy to cause a commotion. The last thing she wanted was to put Kyle at odds with his family, but now it seemed that they were all rallying behind her once more.

“Thank you. For everything,” she said. The next thing she knew, Kyle reached over and helped her out of her seat and pulled her into his arms.

“We’re here for you…I’m here for you,” he whispered in her ear. “Everything will work out, you’ll see.”

For as much as she wanted to believe him and never leave the warm circle of his home, his family, or his strong, reassuring arms, she feared that if the results of the test proved otherwise, that if she wasn’t Daisy’s mother, she’d lose this man forever. That was the kind of heartache that she could not imagine.

An hourlater they’d made it to Orleans and Kyle pulled the car into the pharmacy parking lot. He’d convinced his brothers to stay at home, not wanting to make this any more difficult for Mia. As he shut the engine, he turned to her and said, “Whatever happens, I’m here to help you, Mia.”

“What if it turns out that I did do something terrible, Kyle. What then?”

“I can’t imagine that’s true. I have a good sense of people, and you don’t strike me as a hardened criminal,” he said with a smile.

“I know that you’re trying to make me feel better, and I do appreciate that, but I’m questioning everything.”

“There’s a simple solution. I’ll go get that test, you’ll do the swab, and we’ll expedite it. We’ll know soon enough. Wait here.”

He got out of the car and hurried into the pharmacy. Mia sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, willing herself to remember the truth.My name is Maeve. My name is Maeve. Think!”But nothing came to her. She drew in a deep breath, took off her seat belt, opened her car door and stepped into the cold air so that she could check on the baby. At least her little girl didn’t seem bothered by the chaos of their lives; she was sound asleep. The grey, overcast sky mirrored her mood; it looked like a storm was brewing. Too nervous to sit, she waited, leaning against Kyle’s truck until she saw him return, holding a small brown paper bag.

“Mission accomplished,” he said, handing his purchase over to her.

She reached into the bag and pulled out the blue box, turning it over in one gloved hand. “Let’s hope this works,” she said.

“Let’s do it in the car. It’s freezing out here,” he offered.

They both climbed into their seats, and she removed her gloves and ripped open the cardboard flap, the instructions, swabs and vials inside spilling out onto her lap. She read over what she was supposed to do. It was simple enough. She dipped a tester into her mouth and rubbed it against her cheek. Then she placed it in the container provided for that purpose.

“I hate to wake the baby, but I don’t see as I have a choice if we’re going to mail this off now.”

“Maybe she’ll sleep through it. You don’t have to get it much past her lips to swab her cheek.”

“Right,” Mia replied, hopping out of the car one more time and opening the rear passenger door. She took the swab meant for Daisy and slowly replaced the baby’s pacifier with it, rubbing it as best as she could to obtain the sample cells. Then she put the pacifier back in place, happy to see that while the little girl stirred, she didn’t wake up crying. She quickly put the swab inthe appropriate container and got back into the front seat where she filled out the provided form that was to go with the test.

“Okay. Let’s go to the post office,” she said. “I’m going to expedite this somehow.”

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Kyle responded.

He drove to the post office and Mia could feel the adrenaline running through her veins. This was it. She would get the answer to at least one of her issues by the beginning of next week. If she had concrete proof that Daisy was her daughter, that would be one big battle less for her to fight. Once he pulled up in front, she said, “This won’t be long. Then we can go to Stop and Shop and get whatever is on Sibby’s list.”

“Right,” was all he said.

She quickly made her way into the small building and was immediately struck by the quaint charm of the interior. It almost looked like she’d stepped back in time; the wooden counter was worn down with wear and there were colorful Thanksgiving decorations hanging over the service area. There was no one else inside except for her and a lone employee who gave her a huge smile when he realized he had a customer.

“What can I do you for, young lady?” the uniformed worker asked. He had grey hair and a bushy mustache.

“I need to mail this, and it needs to be dispatched overnight,” she stammered.

“Well, I can certainly help you with that,” he said, pulling out a blank label and both a large and a small envelope with red trim. He held both up. “What’s your pleasure?”

“The smaller one will do,” she said, suddenly realizing that this man would now be in on her secret. He would see the contents of her package and the name of the company where it was to be mailed. She reached for the pen that was attached to a string at the side of the window where she stood and began to fill out the label. She finished copying the address from thetest instruction insert she’d brought with her, stuffed the vials inside the envelope with the completed form and sealed the envelope. Then she handed it all back to the postal worker, who immediately put it on the scale.

“That will be $10.80,” he said.

---