Page 53 of The Magic of Sea Glass
“Whatcha up to?” her mother asked, an indecipherable hesitancy lingering in her tone.
“I’m just wrapping a birthday present for someone.”
“Already making friends?”
“Actually, yes… surprisingly.” She definitely hadn’t planned on it, but it had all just happened.
“That’s lovely to hear.”
“Except now I have cameras following me around.” She explained to her mother what she’d agreed to.
“You should be excited,” her mother said, of course, thinking differently than Lauren would.
“Why would that be exciting in the least?”
“Because, without even trying, look at what happened. You ran away from your old life, only to still be planning weddings and doing TV shows. That’s the person you were before the accident. Maybe that’s who you’re still meant to be.”
Lauren shrugged off the suggestion. “I’m not so sure about that.” She didn’t want to start a debate. “But I do feel like I belonghere, somehow.” She held the two ends of the wrapping paper together and applied a piece of tape.
“I have to admit that I worried about you living somewhere without Andy, or anyone else you know. I was scared that you’d close right up and things would get worse.” Her mom became silent. There was still something unsaid hanging in the air between them that Lauren couldn’t put her finger on.
“You okay?” Lauren asked.
Her mother was quiet just long enough to make Lauren pause. She stopped wrapping and sat down on the floor to give her mother her full attention.
“There’s this thing I’ve recently learned about, and I’ve been wanting to tell you for a little while, but I was waiting for a good time, given your state since Mason…”
“I’m fine. Tell me.”
Her mother cleared her throat. Whatever she had to say must be pretty big or she wouldn’t be so hesitant—that wasn’t like her mother at all. Lauren went over to the sofa and sat down, curling her legs underneath her.
“Okay… Well, you know how I’ve finally been going through Gran and Gramps’s things?”
“Yes?” It had taken her mother months after inheriting her parents’ home to begin the task of going through a lifetime of belongings. She was planning to have Lauren help, but it proved too difficult for her, so she and Lauren’s father handled it.
“I found some paperwork in their house.”
Lauren drew her knees up, patiently wondering what all this could be about.
“It turns out that I was… adopted.”
“What?”
“They never told me.”
Lauren covered her mouth. Gran and Gramps weren’t actually her blood relatives? The very last thing she could handle was another unknown, another what-might-have-been. Just when she had a tiny glimpse of who she was supposed to be, her own family history was now being ripped out from under her. “Are you serious?”
“Most definitely. I can only imagine how you’re feeling right now.” Her mother’s breath came down the line quietly, not matching Lauren’s short, surprised inhalations. There was blood running through her veins that she didn’t know. Why was she only finding out now instead of all the years before Mason’s death, when she could’ve handled it better and been strong and supportive for her mother?
“While I was floored at first and confused,” her mother continued, “in a strange way, I’m at peace with it. I had a wonderful life with my parents. I was loved by them and I felt fulfilled in everything I did.”
Lauren’s mind was going a hundred miles an hour, and she was barely able to take in what her mother was saying. It was all such a shock to her system. “Did Gran and Gramps leave any indication at all as to who your birth parents were?”
“No. I’ve found nothing. Except that I was adopted here in Tennessee.”
“That’s still so hard to believe.”
“I was calling to check on how you were doing first, not to dump all our family secrets on you right away.”
