Page 22 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

She loosened her grip on her. “Do my sister and I have the same father?”

“No.”

Wow. Talk about being unlucky in love. Two daughters and no fathers for either of them. Maybe Amber didn’t need to find her dad to understand why things hadn’t worked out with her and Russell. Maybe it was a maternal bad-luck-in-love gene--one that kicked in once they stopped believing in themselves and their power to determine their own futures.Boom! Here’s your bad luck, ma’am.

But how had these secrets not burned up her mother? To have two children out of wedlock. To give one away. To be rejected by two baby daddies. So many secrets. So much sorrow.

Maybe Thompson women were stronger than they thought.

“Can we find her?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Amber.”

Amber needed to know what her sister was like--what she herself might be capable of achieving. Would finding her missing sibling show her mother that she didn’t need to keep her secrets any longer? People traced long-lost family members all the time. It had been well over twenty years ago and nobody would judge a teen mom for something like that now. Nobody was perfect, and as Scott said, everyone had secrets. So why not own up and move past it? Bury the sorrow under love and discovery? Stop wondering and regretting and start living.

And at the end of the day, maybe her father wasn’t who Amber needed to meet to figure herself out, maybe it was her sister. And maybe, just maybe, finding her would help set their mom free, as well.

* * *

Amber’s motherhadn’t said yes, but she hadn’t said no when Amber asked if they could find her sister. She’d simply asked Amber to let things sink in first.

Well, things had sunk in and Amber was excited and hopeful. There was no way she couldn’t try to find her. What if she had nieces and nephews? What if she and her sister had tons in common? She couldn’t resist trying to find out.

She wouldn’t tell a soul. She could keep it a secret. She wouldn’t betray her mother’s trust and confidence.

She could do this. And it was so easy. There were piles of websites and forums where adopted children were seeking their biological parents or siblings, and vice versa. Some sites allowed her to type in birth dates to narrow down the search--even though all she had was the year, a possible January birth, the fact that it was a baby girl, and the city she had been born in. But so far Amber had found four possible matches.

As a precaution, she’d added her name to the government’s application system--a sibling searching sibling. She’d had to mail information and documents proving her identity but it would take them several weeks to confirm who she was, as well as search for any possible matches in their system. But that was easy, too. And if her sister had granted permission for family members to contact her, then Amber would have something. Otherwise, her name and information would remain in the database until her sister added herself--if ever.

Amber decided if she got as far as finding her, and had contact information, she would discuss the search with her mother. At that point, she figured, Gloria wouldn’t be able to resist meeting her long-lost baby girl.

With a renewed desire to get to the bottom of the secrets surrounding her, Amber sent messages to the four possible matches on the nongovernment website. While it was a discouragingly small number, with no obvious feeling of “this must be her,” at least it wasn’t thousands of people she had to sift through with her limited information.

Amber’s phone rang as she hit “Send” on the last message. It was Liz, calling as John Abcott’s receptionist, requesting a meeting in the lawyer’s office ASAP.

That couldn’t be good.

What did Russell want now?

* * *

Amber satacross from the lawyer, wondering why he’d called her into his office. Did John know about how to track down her sister, and want to help? No, that was a silly idea. He knew nothing about Gloria’s secret baby. Amber was suspecting secrets where there couldn’t be ones now.

He tapped his fingers on the table he used as a desk and cleared his throat, then adjusted his reading glasses on his nose. “How are you doing with everything that’s going on?”

“Okay.” Amber had poured herself a coffee from the pot near Liz’s reception desk, and turned the cup around in her hands. The liquid was so dark she was afraid to drink it; even with cream and sugar added it had a lethal look to it. “You still have the old soccer team photos in your reception area.”

John had coached her soccer team all through the years, as well as sponsored jerseys and fees through his office. He’d been on parent council and organized all sorts of other things for kids in the community. How the man ever found the time was beyond her.

“I do,” he said, taking a sip from the water glass to his right. “How’s your mom doing?”

“Fine.”

John was a lunch regular at Benny’s, which was a mere block away. If anyone knew how Gloria was doing, it was likely customers such as John.

“Good. She always wanted to travel, and now that you’re all grown up I keep imagining her just up and taking off one day.” Her mother wanted to travel? How many secrets did that woman have? “I’m actually heading out on a trip next week, which is what made me think about it.”

“That’s nice.” Amber checked her watch. Usually the two of them sat along the bar in Brew Babies, shooting the breeze and sharing several bowls of nuts, as well as a few vodka shots, but she really didn’t have time today. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have a conference call for work in half an hour. Sorry to hurry things along, but what did you need me for?”

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